Torque gauge?

[Ahawk1968]

Just curious... Does anyone have an idea what the torque gauge actually is measuring?

 

[OliverNuther]

I’m going to say torque? What do I win?

Nah, just kidding. I’ll be sitting at the lights idling and my torque gauge will be showing as pulling torque while the cars not moving so I’m guessing it’s a bit of a Mickey Mouse thing. It’s not something I place a lot of reliance on.

 

[Ahawk1968]

Ha ha! I KNEW I'd get an answer like that! Yup, I kinda figured it's useless information, just wondering what is actually being monitored or measured.

 

[eflyguy]

Just a calculated number based on throttle and RPM.

 

[Ahawk1968]

Thanks for the info.. seems like they could've done something useful like oil temp, transmission temp, ect...

 

[eflyguy]

Totally agree..

 

[lucif3r]

Thanks for the info.. seems like they could've done something useful like oil temp, transmission temp, ect...

Mine has an Oil temp gauge.

 

[oddball]

The Requested Torque from the ECU. You can read this with any decent OBDII tool.

Modern ECUs are a "demand torque" system. The ECU wants a certain amount of power from the engine as determined by what accessories are running, pedal input, gear, etc etc , then runs that through its calculations to come up with throttle opening, ignition timing, cam timing, injector timing, etc etc.

So it's *never* zero. At the minimum you're spinning the alternator, water pump and torque converter (which induces a major load on the engine at all times, even in neutral/park).

So the ECU assumes the engine is putting out that amount of power based on the OEM's testing. YMMV.

The hilarious lag of the ""gauge"" plus the actual output is dramatically different once you make any mods, well....

 

[Doel]

My Maxima had something like this, it was a "power" gauge lol

 

[Ahawk1968]

Mine has an Oil temp gauge.

Oops, sorry. I meant something more than a bar graph

 

[ShannonC]

Another useless readout just like G meter and compass.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Another useless readout just like G meter and compass.

I use the G meter. It tells me the difference in what I have done and what I am doing. "My" cloverleaf, for instance, has seen spikes of .8 G, and constant .6 G. Coupled with the G meter readout is the tire noise. This is all very interesting.

And the oil temperature is useful. I like to get my oil above 100 degrees before I start moderately accelerating.

I've had zero use for Boost or Torque thus far. But the same was true of the G meter and oil temperature gauges until fairly recently. And the compass is a more accurate instrument which you never know might be just the thing in an unexpected situation, e.g. fog that hides the lines on the road it's so thick. Vertigo and disorientation might be allayed with a good compass heading.

 

[ShannonC]

I use the G meter. It tells me the difference in what I have done and what I am doing. "My" cloverleaf, for instance, has seen spikes of .8 G, and constant .6 G. Coupled with the G meter readout is the tire noise. This is all very interesting.

And the oil temperature is useful. I like to get my oil above 100 degrees before I start moderately accelerating.

I've had zero use for Boost or Torque thus far. But the same was true of the G meter and oil temperature gauges until fairly recently. And the compass is a more accurate instrument which you never know might be just the thing in an unexpected situation, e.g. fog that hides the lines on the road it's so thick. Vertigo and disorientation might be allayed with a good compass heading.

Your driving a car, not flying in cloud! You need to look at the road, not instruments. Flying in cloud you only look at the instruments or engage the AP.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Your driving a car, not flying in cloud! You need to look at the road, not instruments. Flying in cloud you only look at the instruments or engage the AP.

I see. Race car drivers never look at the race spec equivalent of any of these. Albert Biermann is just toying with us.

I wasn't suggesting staring at the compass. It wouldn't be a hazard anyway, since it's located directly in front and center. Haven't you ever lost your sense of direction in fog?

 

[ShannonC]

I see. Race car drivers never look at the race spec equivalent of any of these. Albert Biermann is just toying with us.

I wasn't suggesting staring at the compass. It wouldn't be a hazard anyway, since it's located directly in front and center. Haven't you ever lost your sense of direction in fog?

Only in the air, lol. Thankyou AP and DG.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Only in the air, lol. Thankyou AP and DG.

Well, I have inherited my mom's "sense of direction"; i.e. it goes south when it ain't south. Often enough to make me like having a more precise compass than just the four quarters. I don't get my directions crossed around home. But I'll offer an anecdote where I did:
I've been in Paris, France, exactly once in my life for too much of one Saturday evening. Paris is a menagerie on Saturday night: I gather this is usual. When our attempt to get a motel met with failure, we needed to escape the press of bodies. The little Hyundai Getz we were driving was reduced to stop start walking speed only. I looked at the map and tried to turn on the proper streets to get across the proper bridge to get out of there. But each time I turned, the Eiffel Tower just kept getting closer. It was frustrating and funny if you weren't there. It was as if the Tower had a Hyundai/Yankee magnet. My final turn put the Tower squarely outside our passenger window. A compass would have been useful because in all that humanity at night I could not keep my bearings straight, at all. (Well past midnight we stopped at a FastHotel halfway between Paris and Rouen.)

 

[OliverNuther]

Or you could have just grabbed any local and said ‘Excusez moi. Je suis Americain. M’aidez s’il vous plaît.”

And they would have been falling over themselves to help you.

 

[OliverNuther]

Apple need to develop some sort of interlock that stops you posting when you are drunk.

 

[Ahawk1968]

Never a dull post!!

 

[Xibitman]

Thanks guys, I just got a new GT2 and was wondering what the hell that was supposedly measuring. ‍