I've been interested in finding a mod for my gauges where they will sweep to max and back when the car is turned on or put in acc mode. I know that the 370z's gauges do this but I was wondering if anyone has recreated this with the stock 350z gauges? If not, would it be possible to program this feature into the cars ECU?

Thanks for the help,
-Chris

 

Cool idea and i like it. But seems like a very involved process. I know nothing about electronics though.

 

I'm not exactly sure how everything connects, but you might be able to use an arduino to send a fake sensor reading to the gauges or ecu on start up. I would assume all the sensors would come together at the ecu and you could hijack them there. But I've never really paid attention to it, so I don't know.

 

More trouble than its worth.

If youre gonna do something cool, switch to a complete electronic display.

 

It could look cool, but like turboed said, it's more trouble than it's worth.

 

Being more trouble than its worth might depend on how much chris wants it. I think it would be a cool project.

You have 3 gauges, so you wouldn't have to tap into much.

 

The 350z electronics are complicated.

To me, if i was going to mess with it, go all out. Full electric display for the guages will be way cooler. Probably same about of wire taping

 

my car does this, but just the rpm and speedo.

could it be done, yeah with time money and knowledge.... dont think it would be worth the hassle personally

 

Notice how many new cars this feature is used on today? TONS! It's a mod programmed in by the factory when they're designing the ECM/BCM. Count me in on saying if you want to spend money, go get a dash from MoTec or AIM if you want to be different and functional. Expensive, but so would this project.

 

Most of the time, not always the gauges will be run by the ECU. Some gauges may have that linked into when they receive power they conduct a movement test (go to max and then back down) my money is on the ECU running this in the 370Z. You would have to have someone with mad ECU programing skills to do this.

 

This is what this guy said more than likely ran by the ECU since it's all grabbed from ignition coils/fuel injectors/speed sensors. You could pull the dashboard out and grab voltage and see which wire is which and what it's sending. It's a lot of trouble though this would more than likely have to be customer wiring.

 

The Vehicle Speed MPH gauge would be easy...simple 8 pulse signal. Replicate the signal output for match 155mph and viola..you should have it.

As for the Engine Speed RPM...that is a can signal apparently so good luck.

You could always take full control of the stepper motors but you would probably get them uncalibrated (misstepped)

 

Lol the dodge 5500 I used to drive did that. It actually haf an awesome display... But honestly wasn't worth any hassle... After 2 days who cares what your gauges do... Does anyone actually even look at the gauges between the wheel?

 

Exactly - cool for a few days, and then who cares? Buy a Maxima.

 

It depends on what type of a gauge the 350Z is running. I personally haven't done any research on this topic, but I do know that there are several types of gauges out on the market and they all operate in different ways. Here's a neat little write up Autometer did on their line of gauges and how they work:

http://www.autometer.com/resources/index/faq_view/id/78

I believe the gauges with the stepper motor do the full sweep from zero to max and back to zero on AUX power. I doubt Nissan was using this type of a gauge on my '03 350, not sure about the other years.

 

Im sure it can be done, nothing is impossible! But to help you in finding a place to start, I'll explain a little bit about the electronics in these modern cars. Newer cars of all brands (2007 up) have computers in almost every component of the vehicle. In these vehicles, the ECU actually becomes just another computer and no longer plays the main role in electronic operations of a vehicle. In Most cars built after 2010 the dash actually has it's own computer which is not a slave to the ECU and in some vehicle, it is actually whats called the 'network gateway' and holds vital info and provides a central hub for the CAN network. When you see the gauges sweep on start up, it's actually a self test of all the lights and functions of the motors etc. But it also looks badass!

Why do I tell you this?

I wouldn't recommend changing anything in the ECU. If you want this as a feature, I suggest an intercepter module which is activated once by the power from 'ignition' key position. The only thing to watch for is the fact the while we cannot see our gauges sweep, they may still perform a self test. You'd also need to ensure you don't send any signals to the ECU or ABS as it will definitely be performing self tests.

Hope this helps?

 

Messing with the OEM coding of the ECU is indeed a dangerous task. Changing code that you didn't write yourself usually makes everything worse and often breaks it completely.

If you have access to a reeeeeally good automotive programmer you might stand a chance. Otherwise just stay away.

 

My wife's Forester does this. It was cool the first week. I'd prefer a mod where if no CEL illuminates after 10 seconds a recording of Scotty's voice plays through the speakers - "You have warp drive, Captain!"

 

I've seen some cars start doing this when the battery or alternator is going bad. Don't know if the Z does this, though.

 

Nope- when the Z has battery failure, the gauges hardly move on startup. Alternator failure does not usually affect how the gauges move either.