what does a scan guage exactly does a scan guage do does it help with power can it work with my edge comp i have 225,000miles and now want some heads up on when something will go wrong with truck before check engine light comes on this question is brought on by the code of 0237 that you guys are helping me with

SGII (ScanGauge II) can would with any programmer or enhancement box. Not a problem. It will show you live data from all the engine sensors that the ECM has. Sorry to say no it doesn't do Pyrometer or Fuel pressure because these sensor are not present on the ECM. It does the MAP Sensor but the 98.5 to 02 has a voltage off set that skews the valve and makes it unusable. Now if you calibrate your SGII for fuel mileage it a great tool for getting the MPG's up more. Basically drive by number. If you want 21 MPG just keep the MPG display above it as much as possible. As for the speedometer I trust the speedometer and odometer on my SGII more so than the stock gauge because the stock gauge is off exactly 0.5 MPH and that gives about 25-30 miles difference at the end of a tank. So the MPG number is closer to correct on the SGII than hand calc for me... As for the XGuage function they are still getting code written for vehicles. As for Code reading it does have a extra feature with Freeze frame data. In other words you know exactly what the engine was doing at the time of the error code tripped.

If you want one for a little cheaper price, I got an ultra-gauge and it works the same as the SG. I have had mine for about a month and also got the 0237 code when I accidently unhooked the comp and started the truck. It through a cel and 0237 but with the ultra gauge I was able to turn both off, after I figured out how to. http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm

Is a scan guage a replacement for add on guages (with right sending units?) After being jerked around, I'm thinking of picking up such a tool.

Neither UltraGuage or ScanGauge will replace addon gauges (Boost, Pyrometer, Fuel Pressure). But both with report all error codes, give you a good trip computer and show you values from the engine sensor. (SGII will not show the MAP sensor correctly on 98.5 to 2002 Dodge Cummins works correctly on all other vehicles.)

ScanGauge VS Utra Gauge... $100 price difference. Which would you buy?

Neither ..,, sell the xzt and get a used edge or quad for 400 .... Then you have *almost* everything ;) hahaha

I am on my second UG after my first one taking a crap. I'm guessing it was due to the cold weather back in December-January. I decided to give UG a second chance and see how it goes. But it was good while it lasted. I liked it very much.

Did they cover it or is it on you? It could be false economy if they have a short life.

If you want one for a little cheaper price, I got an ultra-gauge and it works the same as the SG. I have had mine for about a month and also got the 0237 code when I accidently unhooked the comp and started the truck. It through a cel and 0237 but with the ultra gauge I was able to turn both off, after I figured out how to. http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm

Are you using UG on your '98 or your '03? I purchased an UG & did not find it to be very useful on my truck, a '99. It only had 12 gauges available. As far as engine monitoring goes it gave RPM, IAT, throttle % & Coolant temp. All 18 zones populate with the default setting, page 2 being all trip settings. I was not able to reassign some of the default gauges to different zones because they wouldn't show up in the gauge select menu. When powering up (turning on ignition) the gauges displayed are actually assigned to page 3 zones. I had a number of email conversations with their service department - their remarks were... " This is very poor output from your ECM. This essentially points to very, very few direct ECM gauges supported. Essentially RPM, MPH and Throttle position. Based on this your UG should not be showing Engine Temperature or Intake Temperature. Do the gauges show reasonable values?" " Given the very limited number of gauges, you might be better off retasking UltraGauge to another vehicle." "UG is primarily a digital device. It functions or it does not. The problems you have seen all stem from the shear lack of parameters available in Dodge RAM 3500. We have added it to our exceptions list. It appears Dodge corrected the deficiency in 2000." Their last statement may be true, since codes can be read from the odometer display starting in 2000 - that function does not work on my '99. Perhaps I am selling the UG short since I am not considering the code reader functions. But I'm not convinced that it should be permanently installed because of minimal gauges available. Like to compare notes on what year you are using your UG on & what gauges are available. Thanks, Joe in St Louis

My UG is in the 98 and shows 29 gauges, its been working great for months with hardly any problems. I say hardly because it has gone on the fritz a few times and read "err" in the mpg display, but I just unplug it and its up and working right again. I got a vent mount from ebay to get it off the windshield and use it everyday. I have it settup to show accurate mileage for my bigger tires and it keeps track of the mileage I have on my oil and when I need to rotate tires. Its a cool little piece but I dont trust the mpg part of it because its hardly ever right. If I was in the market for a unit like this I would buy it again. Also, my grandpa and brother got one the same time and havent had any problems with theirs either.

A little secret about ScanGauge II they are comming out with a update software and design that allows it to be used as a data logger so after you done running a trip or such with the ScanGauge II you can unplug it take in the house plug in your USB cord and download the data from the ScanGauge II and graph it out... The other thing I love is the XGauge function of ScanGauge II which is cool for other vehicle where you can program a long list of different gauges. I'm not sure that UltraGauge has this function... http://www.scangauge.com/support/pdfs/XGAUGE.pdf

What sort of things can we add as an xgauge on our trucks? I tried 2 (just forget now which they were) and they didn't show any info.

That's the problem just our trucks (diesel) are limited. But since I do own a gasser too I can access the other sensors on it just fine. As for the 03 and up the work fine too. It just the 98.5 to 02 Dodge's that are limited is sensors readings... I'm trying to get a some time and talk to the coder at ScanGauge and hopfully make a corrected MAP sensor gauge.

Did they cover it or is it on you? It could be false economy if they have a short life.

It was on me, I just decided to purchase another one. With work and school in the way, I really don't have time for anything, literally. It would be a shorter process than dealing with them directly and waiting for a response. If this one decided to give in a short amount of time then I will be more than happy to let them hear from me. I will be installing it later tonight as I have just received it in the mail earlier today. Hope it lasts longer than the first one.