Since the van was not giving me real boost pressure off the OBD bus, I would use the pressure sensor to plug into the same 1/8NPT hole that the existing boost gauge was using. The EGT probe would get swapped out for the existing probe, and I could add the temperature sensor to measure coolant temperature.
On the 7.3 Powerstroke, the factory coolant temperature sensor is mostly an idiot light (on/off gauge) and the ECM doesn’t even take coolant temp into account. It’s definitely not on the OBD2 bus. And most people say it’s not particularly important. Engine oil is the real lifeblood of the 7.3 as it’s used for both lubrication as well as fuel injector control. I digress.
The aforementioned sensors are included along with an EAS-specific use manual. The kit comes with the primary EAS cable which plugs into a port on the main OBD2 cable that goes to the CTS2 unit. It’s more than long enough to get under the vehicle to where you’ll end up putting the EAS expansion connector.
The competition kit actually comes with two expansion connectors. The EGT uses one, and the temperature and pressure sensors go with a “universal 5v sensor” expansion module/connector. The competition kit is actually a combination of the EGT and 5v sensor kits.
This is where the previous pyrometer probe was installed. Instead of trying to close this hole up and then finding another place to tap, we just made the new gauge work here. Edge includes a proper bung so that you can easily install the probe.
It’s not small, but it’s not terribly large, either. On the van it’s a little annoying to deal with because of the packaging of the engine bay. You can probably tell that this is actually underneath the van. Fortunately these connectors are environmentally rated, but I still tried to keep them up and away from any direct splashing. I just have to remember to caulk the wagon and not ford the river.
You have a bunch of flexibility and several different options for displaying your gauges. You’ll probably spend more time mucking around with the settings, colors, backgrounds, alarms, which gauge goes where, and other things, than you will actually installing everything. As you can see, I spent some quality time figuring out which gauge to put where and, since the boost pressure sensor was a “custom” one, I named it Fun, and the units are gauge pressure (PSIg).
After all, turbos make torque, and torque is fun. Thanks, Corky Bell!
Edge’s Insight CTS2 makes it totally easy to keep tabs on all of the vital things about your tow pig… er… rig. And they have a ton of accessories to get even more cool things done, as you’ll soon find out. Because it uses OBD2, it works with just about any modern vehicle, and the newer the tow rig the more information will be available on the OBD2 bus, both because the newer rigs have more sensors and because they put everything on the bus.
So, while you could buy a whole bunch of other stuff, you only need the Edge…CTS2 Insight or Evolution.
4 comments
Oh man, Corky Bell; I have a copy of Maximum Boost sitting on my shelf, and it still comes in handy. He’s a fun writer!
Love how easy this is to integrate, and it looks to be super-legible and useful! I hope that you do a feature on pulling out the old wiring from the A-pillar gauges, I’ll bet that was a ton of fun, haha.
@Rick D. – oh man, it was a rat’s nest in there. Somehow I didn’t get a picture. I might still have the pile of crap that came out, and there’s _still_ a pile of crap in there.
I can’t find anything that edge makes that is compatible with the e-350!!!!!
The CTS2 (and I guess the newer 3) are not listed as compatible. The F250/350 and the Econolines have different ECUs and slightly different CAN PID setups. Some of the sensors that the trucks have (like the boost sensor) use a different CAN PID, so the CTS can’t find them. That’s why we had to plumb our own boost pressure sensor.
From our experience with the CTS2 and the ’98 E350, the oil and trans temperature work, are the two most important ones. There were no EGTs on these vehicles from the factory, so you were going to add one of those anyway. The kit covered in this article included the boost sensor, so that should be enough.
Edge claims that they do not have a tuner that works with the E350 for the same reason. That being said, we had a really, really old Edge tuner that came with the van. The tuner happily said it was tuning/programming the van, but it’s unclear if it actually did.
I hope this helps!