View Full Version : SPA DG-211 Readings (Boost)
Recently I was unable to keep the boost side of the gage zeroed. I would zero it with the engine off and it wouldn't hold. I contacted Patrick at SPA and he responed promptly. He sent me a new transducer to see if that corrected the problem. I installed it and all seemed to be working properly once again.
But in the past week, something funky has happened that I don't think is quite right. But wanted to check with you guys who also have this gage to see if you were getting the same results I or not.
When I turn on the ignition the gage reads something other than 0. So I 0 the gage, and start the engine. All seems to look right while I am driving. But when I come to idle again the gage reads 1.7. I turn the engine off and turn the ignition on and the gage still reads 1.7. But if I come back out after work, when the truck has sat for 9+ hours, the gage is back to reading 0. It seems to me that when the engine warms up, the gage is "warming up" too and giving me a false reading. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Maybe I should 0 the gage when the truck is warm and only get a false reading when the engine is cold. But which is the true reading, when the engine is warm or cold?????
Mine has been good. It is a little trickey programming it though.
Be sure the sender and the gauge is grounded to chassis. I have mine on the intake pipe which has rubber hose on both ends. I had to add a ground wire. I simply put a 3" hose clamp on the tube with a wire clinced in it and screwed to the fuel filter mount.
[ 10-09-2002: Message edited by: hoot ]</p>
SoCalDMAX
10-09-2002, 20:09
I've noticed the same thing with mine. I finally zeroed it while at operating temp and it reads correctly once it's warmed up. Either the voltage to the gauge is different due to low voltage(shouldn't make a difference if the 5V to the sender is regulated properly) before the truck warms up, or the sender changes output when warmed up.
Either way, I just ignore the slight error when cold and it's on the money when warmed up.
Regards, Steve
I'm glad to hear that someone else is experiencing this with the SPA digital gauge. Mine has been installed for a couple months and worked without a problem until recently.
Then, suddenly, it began registering much higher boost readings. I've reset it more than once. It seems to work OK for awhile and soon after, starts reading high again.
I'm very interested if anyone finds the solution.
Here is my reply from SPA on this subject:
"I do not wish to be unhelpful here, but it appears the gauge is receiving information, and the transducer is sending it! that indicates to me the unit works.
I am no engine expert, so I am not sure what to add here."
If anyone finds out what the heck is causing this, let me know. Just kinda bus me that I pay $300+ for this gage and I can't get it to work properly. I was gonna place an order for another gage (not DG-211) but am questioning this now.
I think SPA is having some real problems with their products and customer support.
Apparently very few people at SPA know what they are talking about.
The fellow I talked to there had no idea about thermocouples and actually admitted it. He was doing customer support.
Desert Diesel
10-14-2002, 09:45
Could this be a voltage problem?
Every morning when I start my truck and let it idle the boost reads -1.1 lbs. and as soon as the glow plugs cycle off the gauge goes to 0.0
Just a thought.
The SPA gauge has a low voltage warning built in that is adjustable. Wonder why that's there?
Is the sensor grounded?
Mine is drilled/tapped, and YES it did go through a periosd where it stuck at high boost etc, but has since settled down.
Also watch for any frayed/chafed wires, and a good clean power/ground source for the gauge.
Gage is grounded to the grounding lug in the fuse area along side the driver's side door. I just assumed this would be well grounded. I'm getting my power from a fuse tap off from where used another fuse tap for my high idle.
Can there be such a thing as having too many things grounded to the same area? I have my XM radio, CB, high idle, and gage all grounded at the same location. Also the fuse panel is grounded there too right?
I do not have the lugs grounded. My gauge is grounded to the pillar using the ground wire in the gauge harness.
Your SENSOR also needs to be well grounded. Like I said, I have my SENSOR mounted on the intake tube tha is isolated from ground by the big blue rubber hose on it's ends. Had to add a special ground wire for that.
Some have mentioned that certain wires laying next to the SPA wire harness have caused interference problems. Check if that isn't the case also.
hoot, thanks for info. My sensor isn't grounded since it is installed in the wastegate line. I'll ground that on a rainy evening.
Also, how hard was it to core drill that hole through the firewall and install that gromet. I hate having wires running from one side of the truck to the other under the hood over top the hot engine. How easy is it to grab the wires once you feed the new hole? Where do they come out at?
I used a good quality (Greenlee) metal cutting hole saw. Using a good hand drill with low rpm's it took about 1 minute to go through. I think I used 1" or 1-1/8" hole saw.
The hole is in the wide open under the dash. When you push a wire through it falls right to the floor. That spot is designed for running accessory wires and cables.
Then either get the proper plastic protector to line the hole or just use a short piece of rubber hose, maybe 3/16" dia. Slice the hose carefully with a razor along the length and install it around the perimeter of the hole.
Here are some do's and dont's right out of the book...
Pg. 7 diagram...
This tube is not electrically connected to earth so use a wire strap and connect it to chassis. (yes I know you have it connected to the waste gate but you still should ground it)
Bottom of Pg. 7
Note: Please make sure that the aluminum tubing is connected to chassis to avoid electrical noise and static buildup on the sensor body.
Pg. 8
DO ensure that the black screened cables do not run next to power cables, especially ignition power cables. Ideally run all screened cables next to chassis.
And on and on
They really make a big deal out of getting everything grounded properly.
[ 10-14-2002: Message edited by: hoot ]</p>
Thanks Guys!!
I'm glad cold weather and my new pole barn are just around the corner. Time to spend some time getting all these electrical bugs worked out.
You other guys that are having the wierd boost gage readings, are your sensors grounded properly?
[ 10-14-2002: Message edited by: 3-Fan ]</p>
Took the truck to Diesel Injector Service as they were the one that installed my SPA-211 and sensors. They said the sensor isn't grounded but the gauge is grounded...in my case, at the fuse block. They said there isn't a means to ground the sensor.
So, I contacted SPA and told Patrick what DIS said. He said he would be sending me a new sensor in the mail.
I hope that solves my problem.
That's what SPA did for me too. Sent me a new sensor. Haven't had any better luck with the new one either. I'm gonna try to ground the sensor like hoot did and see if that makes a difference. Other wise, I just zero the gage when the truck is warm and let if go from there. Until someone comes up with a solution. Let me know if your new sensor makes things better for you. Maybe i got another bad snesor.
3-Fan,
I took the truck to DIS who installed my SPA digital gauge and asked them to check the installation to ensure all was well. They did and said all was installed as designed.
I spoke to Partick at SPATechnique and after telling him DIS said everything was OK, he willingly said he would send me a new sensor unit.
During this same time, I'd been having some problems with my Hot Juice version 4.31. I removed the Juice this weekend in order to return it to Edge.....and was intending on installing the new sensor at the same time...when something told me to drive the truck without the Juice to see if the erratic boost readings continued.
Well, I've now driven the truck about 50 miles without any erratic reading of the boost. It seems to be working fine.
I'm going to drive it a few days while the Juice is in for updates and watch the gauge very closely.
I was wondering if you've disconnected your Juice to see if the boost behavior continued?
RV Guy,
Hmmmmmmmm, interesting. That's about when I started having my bad boost readings, when I installed the juice. Will disconnect it tonight it tonight and see what I come up with.
RVGuy,
I disconnected the Juice for a couple days and did NOT notice any differnce in the way the boost gage reacted. All's i can says is that I missed the Juice when it wasn;t connected. I guess we don't realize how much fun it adds to driving.
Keep me informed if you ever get it ssettled back down and what you did to do it.
I am now also seeing this issue with my DG-211. I'm getting higher boost readings than all of last year with the old DG-111. I also see it waver between 0 and 1 or so at idle.
I'm also beginning to wonder if in fact the cooler weather is helping with boost?
All summer the truck has been doing great. Hard throttle runs... no problems.
Now, as soon as it started cooling down outside I get the power drop at highway speed once in a while if I get on it at around 70mph for a little. Kinda like running out of fuel for about 15 - 20 seconds. By just feathering for a while or sometimes manually dropping down a gear, she comes back to life.
Also now on cool mornings I can't use propane or she'll power down or go Ally limp.
I've had all the updates done during the summer so they haven't fixed the issues.
It really does seem my boost is higher cause my propane is metered by boost level. I seem to have significantly more power. If in fact it is higher boost levels than than it will pump more propane?
I have no idea what's going on. If I run without propane, it seems fine. Cold morning with propane, forget it.
I have a strange feeling something just isn't right with a sensor somewhere, wether it be in the Allison or the engine. Why does it power down?
[ 11-04-2002: Message edited by: hoot ]</p>
hoot,
Have you noticed that once your truck warms up (say 20 minutes or so of driving) and you bring the truck back to idle that your boost reading is higher than what it was when you first started the truck up? What I found on mine is that when I start the truck up, my boost is reading -0.8 (+-)psi and after driving for awhile the boost will then read around 0.0 (+-).
I don't think our engines have boost at idle, but who am I? Why would we have boost reading now at idle and none a while ago?
Could this higher reading have anything to do with the engine mods we have done (you propane and RVGuy, SoCalDMAX, and me Juice)? I did NOT have higher reading with mine prior to adding the Juice. But started shortly after that.
Mine has had nothing to do with cold weather. This morning it was below freezing here and when I first started noticing the problem it was 60's out. DOn't think SoCalDMAX's is cold related either since he lives in a warm area all the time.
First off, there is no propane draw without boost and secondly, the unit is designed to not supply any propane until at least 2 psi.
I do not think it's lp related because I had no problems with boost readings at all with my DG-111 for a year, with propane.
This is weird. If I didn't already have the DG-111 for a year I probably would have thought everything was normal. I still have the DG-111. I'll have to connect it for a day.
OK, I removed the Juice and ran with it a couple days. As previously mentioned, the SPA gauge immediately seemed to return to normal.
After a couple days, I installed the Juice again, only this time, I routed the Juice's cable as far away from the path of the sensor's cable as possible. Previously, they ran close together for a distance of about 8 inches.
Upon re-installing the Juice with cables far apart, the boost readings are normal once again.
I've now ran with the Juice for 5 days and had normal boost readings.
Like 3-Fan, at idle, the boost would jump between 1.5 and zero psi. Now, its steady as a rock.
The only other thing I've done is a "Reset" of the gauge voltage per the instructions.
If you haven't done this, you might try to see if it helps. Also, the instructions say to be sure "once you have changed a value or reset a function, do not turn engine off, but depress the button so to progress to the next function."
I can't say for certain that I was moving to the next function after resetting the boost function.
Anyway, the gauge/sensor seems to be working fine again.
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