[Siriushardware]

If you haven't already see it please read this ASAP -

Thanks for that, I will check it out at the first opportunity, It seems from looking at the pictures in that thread that it might be possible to put spacers underneath the ECU to lift it up higher and raise it more above the potential water hazard level - but I agree that keeping the drain holes clear is the better option. I'm really pleased to have found a whole forum dedicated to this one Vauxhall model, you obviously all know your stuff.

 

[Siriushardware]

Pongo esto de aliexpress, 28.7US $ 33% de DESCUENTO|AUTOOL Velocímetro inteligente para coche, pantalla digital X50 Plus con medidor de velocidad y voltaje, alarma, indicador de temperatura, OBD, OBD2|Lectores de código y herramientas de escaneo| - AliExpress, da mucha información y comparando los datos con el menú oculto, se funciona bien.

caaa, thank you for that link - although I was really looking for a dedicated temperature gauge only, that unit which shows a few more parameters will do nicely for the time being.

 

[Siriushardware]

Following the AUTOTOOL clue from CAAA I have come across a couple of similar items from amazon UK

AUTOOL X60 OBD2 Code Reader Head Up Display Car Digital Speedometer Battery Voltage Tester Gauge with Engine Charging Voltages & Temperature, Over-speed Alarm for 12V OBDII All Vehicle : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Buy AUTOOL X60 OBD2 Code Reader Head Up Display Car Digital Speedometer Battery Voltage Tester Gauge with Engine Charging Voltages & Temperature, Over-speed Alarm for 12V OBDII All Vehicle at Amazon UK. Free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

AUTOOL Car HUD Digital Meter Alarm Speed Water X50 Plus Temp HeadUp MPH/KMH OBD Driving Computer Display Support 12V OBDII Diesel Vehicles : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Buy AUTOOL Car HUD Digital Meter Alarm Speed Water X50 Plus Temp HeadUp MPH/KMH OBD Driving Computer Display Support 12V OBDII Diesel Vehicles at Amazon UK. Free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

These are not necessarily the best prices available, it's just to illustrate the existence of the products.

 

[Siriushardware]

I don't have one yet but as far as I can make out those units let you choose from quite a wide number of parameters which ones you want to display on the 5-6- information 'areas' so they may possibly let you move the temperature display to the large numeric field which in most online images of the unit is showing the road speed. It might even let you show the same parameter on more than one field so you could have the engine temperature represented as both digits and as a 'thermometer scale'. I suppose the only way to find out is to try one. Maybe someone here already has one?

I was also wondering if it is possible to turn the display upside down in those Autotool units so you could mount them in an underslung position rather than on top of the dash or console.

 

[Siriushardware]

Thank you for the information regarding that multi position unit. However I would not place anything like that on the pillar between the windscreen and the door, because the plastic pillar covers on mine are marked 'airbag'. Anything attached to the pillar cover could turn into an unguided missile if the airbag goes off.

 

[Siriushardware]

I looked into the Autotool X60 in particular but whether it will work on a given car seems very much a matter of luck, see this Youtube video from Autotool themselves here:-

Looking down the comments to which Autotool are frequent responders it seems as likely that it will not work as it is that it will. Criticisms include not being able to control the unit's beeper (owners often disconnect it) and the display being too dim due to bad placement of the light sensor which the unit uses to 'know' whether it is light or dark. Several users have replaced it with a fixed resistor to keep the display at a fixed bright level. Others report that the unit often hangs and has to be restarted. It all sounds a bit hit-and-miss for something which costs in the mid tens of GBP.

Does anyone have one of these working properly in a Corsa D?

 

[Siriushardware]

Thanks for confirming that the X50 Plus is OK in your car, unfortunately it is the X60 I am most interested in as it is relatively small compared to the others.

I have sent a query to Autotool who are of course in China to ask them about compatibility with my Corsa and also a non-Vauxhall vehicle which like these, does not have a dashboard coolant temperature gauge. I'll feed back what they say here if I get a reply.

What doesn't help is this table from the company's own website section regarding the X60 (not X50 or plus). It is so badly worded that it is not clear whether the random cars in the main table are ones which are known to work or ones which are known NOT to work.

 

[Siriushardware]

And here, sadly, is the answer, exactly as received this morning directly from Autotool. I stress this is with respect to the X60, not any other model.

Sincere greetings,
Thanks for your message. Sorry, our product can NOT compatible with your car. Sorry for the inconvenience.
If any questions about the product, please feel free to contact us.

For the record they also say the X60 is not compatible with a 2009 Citroen C3 1.4HDi, another fairly mainstream / popular car which does not have a coolant temperature gauge.

 

[Siriushardware]

I've been looking at another widely available model which you can find by searching on something like 'OBD2 HUD P10'. It's a bit more basic, doesn't let you choose the composition of the display, like the Autotool units - you just choose from a number of preset screen setups but some of them do show the coolant temperature. Like the Autotool units it seems to have a wide exclusion list (for example no French or Italian cars). I think I am going to have to order one from a UK seller and rely on Paypal or Amazon to claw my money back if it does not work.

One thing I have seen is that these devices often contain the wiring for several different interface conventions but usually the car will only support one and might get upset / confused if the wiring for the additional interfaces is left connected - so I have seen a couple of references to people pulling the 'unwanted' interface connections out of the hud display's OBD2 plug so that only the 'right' connections are connected to the car. One more minefield to negotiate.

 

[Siriushardware]

Well, going on caaa's statement that the X50 Plus is OK in his Corsa D which is just a year different (older) than mine, I have ordered an X50 Plus but I have ordered it through a vendor I know won't quibble if I find it does not work and needs to be returned.

As before, I'll feed back here about any success (or lack of).

 

[Siriushardware]

Not for me as I don't really have the space or facilities to do anything more than very basic work on cars, to me breaking open the coolant system and then having to drain and refill it is quite a major, messy job and proper replacement coolant is not all that cheap either.

I take the view that the car already has a coolant temperature sensor and the information from it is available in digital form from a handy socket on the inside of the car, so surely it makes sense to just read that information out if possible. It also has the advantage that the 'hidden menu' temperature gauge and the plug in temperature gauge should both read exactly the same temperature which is reassurance of a sort, one checks the other.

 

[Siriushardware]

The X50 Plus has arrived but I am going to wait until Saturday morning before I try it just in case it fritzes up the CANBUS. I don't really want to do that, but especially not when I am just about to go to work or leave work.

 

[Siriushardware]

Update: Deep breath and plugged the X50 Plus into the diagnostic socket without turning on the ignition. The unit powered up and tried connecting through every protocol / data rate combination it knew (a surprisingly long list) and then announced that it could not connect.

Attempt #2: Turn the key to the 'live' position first, where the dash lights and indicator comes on - with the OBD2 connector already plugged into the diagnostic socket, plug the USB-style connector on the other end of the cable into the unit - unit turned on and very quickly paired up with the car - a few steps through the display mode menu and it was showing the coolant temperature on the large digits, but in Fahrenheit.

Into the menus and there is a global setting for Imperial / Metric units - changed that from default Imperial to Metric and the unit now displays temperature in degrees Centigrade. I don't know whether the Metric / Imperial setting can be defined individually for each property but I suspect not, so for the UK where we like our temperature in Centigrade and our distances in Miles, this could be an awkward problem.

Long story cut short, I went out on quite a long journey today, stopped in several places so the car was turned off and on again several times, the display unit started up every time in the same display mode as I had left it in. When I turn the car off the display stays on for a length of time determined by its power-off timer setting which I have set to the shortest possible time.

I was interested to see that the temperature rose to about early eighties and then stayed there (and this is also what the temperature readout on the 'hidden' menu says). The fact that it goes to a specific temperature and stays within 2-3 degrees of that temp suggests that everything is normal (ie, thermostat working). My previous car (diesel Astra G) also hovered in the early eighties.

So, it's a provisional thumbs up for the X50 Plus, at least for this 2013 Corsa D Diesel. I can't guarantee that it will work with your specific version, so I advise buying from a supplier that you can return the unit to if necessary.

 

[Siriushardware]

why use a separate gauge?

Um, because I can't be bothered to do the three presses / one long press and then several more presses at the start of every single journey, nor should I have to, GM should have provided a coolant temperature gauge right on the dash. As I explained in the first post I have had some narrow escapes on past cars with complete loss of coolant which were only caught in time because I immediately noticed that the temperature gauge was acting abnormally.

David, you're right that the indicated units don't matter too much as long as there is a relative reading which you can get the feel of as 'normal' so that you then notice when it suddenly isn't normal, but, small stuff like that irritates me. I'm used to looking at the temp in cars in degrees C so it would annoy me if I could not set it to degrees C.

I haven't 'installed' it as such and won't until I am completely happy that it does what it does with no unacceptable quirks. I was thinking that if I do install it I will put it just in front of the triangular grille section on the top centre of the dash because that little triangular grille is just a clip-fit and I could remove a small rectangular section from the edge of it to let the cable pass down through and then go down behind the radio unit etc to emerge beside the diagnostic socket which is just above the cup holders in front of the gearstick. (The supplied cable is quite long). If I ever wanted to remove the unit and restore the original appearance the only thing I would have to replace would be the little triangular grille.

 

[Siriushardware]

I have never had a complete coolant loss in any car

Unfortunately I have, so you may be able to begin to appreciate my paranoia in this respect.

Doesn't the Corsa have a high temperature warning light?

Yes, but, here's the thing. The coolant temperature sensor sits directly in the flow of the coolant so it can measure its temperature, as you would expect.

In the event of complete coolant loss there is no coolant for the sensor to measure the temperature of, so there will be no high temperature warning. For a human observer keeping an eye on the gauge, the clue comes from the fact that the indicated temperature fails to rise within the usual time or drops suddenly, if the loss occurs while driving.

 

[Siriushardware]

I have looked through the forum and it seems we have a low coolant warning light

If that's true it seems a sensible move especially on a car which doesn't have a permanent gauge. I'll see if I can find out where that warning light is. Doesn't stop me from wanting a gauge though

 

[Siriushardware]

Looking in the manual specific to my car year, this is the only item I can find about the coolant warning light, the 'thermometer' just under the fuel gauge as you say...

The structure of the manual is a bit disjointed, I have removed the entries before and after the item about the coolant warning light for clarity. While it does mention the high temperature warning it does not make any mention of a companion low temperature or low coolant level warning. If they aren't there, well, the low temp warning would be easy for the ECU to do with the existing resources, all it would have to do is 'notice' that the coolant temperature measurement is low when the engine has been running for >5 minutes, or that it is low when the engine has been running for at least the past five minutes. That would be enough reason to generate a warning.

Electronically speaking it would be relatively easy for GM to have incorporated a coolant low level detector at the design stage, it is a pity they did not.

 

[Siriushardware]

I can't find any reference in my 2013 manual to a coolant temperature low warning indicator or a coolant level low indicator, only to coolant temperature high which is the one which lights up under the fuel gauge during the ignition-on sequence. Of course these cars had quite a long production run and maybe very late versions of the 'D' did incorporate something like this.

davidag, since caaa and myself have now successfully tried one of these in our respective Corsas (and nothig exploded and the car didn't throw a fit) does that make you any more inclined to try one as well?

 

[Siriushardware]

Is the display large enough to be seen so far away though?

When shown on the main numeric field the temperature digits are (rough guess) about 2.0 to 2.5cm high so yes, easily.