Bluefire vs fix guages

Desertsparky · 03-18-2023, 09:07 AM

I am starting to plan for our expected summer cross country trip. While we made it home with a code scanner for engine temp and a phone gps for a speedo I would love a less exciting drive this summer! I'm debating between getting the bluefire and tablet setup or looking into re soldering this gauge cluster myself. Which I have zero experience in but I am a licensed electrician. I'm fairly confident in my ability to buy a bluefire after I screw it up haha. Does anyone have any advice on which way to go. I lean towards bluefire and be done however I don't believe it will show trans temp?

Clouse House · 03-18-2023, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desertsparky

I am starting to plan for our expected summer cross country trip. While we made it home with a code scanner for engine temp and a phone gps for a speedo I would love a less exciting drive this summer! I'm debating between getting the bluefire and tablet setup or looking into re soldering this gauge cluster myself. Which I have zero experience in but I am a licensed electrician. I'm fairly confident in my ability to buy a bluefire after I screw it up haha. Does anyone have any advice on which way to go. I lean towards bluefire and be done however I don't believe it will show trans temp?

Not sure what bus you have but I know for my 08 international RE there's a company on eBay that sells rebuilt gauge clusters for $500. Most have extra gauges compared to mine like Trans temp and an ammeter. Could work out cheaper than a bluefire.

Desertsparky · 03-18-2023, 12:42 PM

Sorry. 03 t444e ic body. I already have the tablet I already use in my work van for gps and scheduling app so only need to pick up the bluefire.

rossvtaylor · 03-18-2023, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desertsparky

I'm fairly confident in my ability to buy a bluefire after I screw it up haha.

The chuckle of the day. Thanks!

The Bluefire would work fine for this and will tell you a lot more than the stock gauges. I'd suggest one of the GPS speedometers and the tablet...which you can customize to show what's important to you. I've used a Bluefire in lots of buses with pretty good success.

Desertsparky · 03-18-2023, 08:11 PM

That is the way I am leaning. What are the cons to using the bluefire? I dont want to go into it with rose colored glasses

rossvtaylor · 03-18-2023, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desertsparky

That is the way I am leaning. What are the cons to using the bluefire? I dont want to go into it with rose colored glasses

None, really, if it works when you plug it in. I did find a couple of buses on which the Bluefire didn't work, or which reported just a few items, but that seemed to be a bus port issue...not the Bluefire. So, if it works on your bus it should be good to go. I found it established a BT connection quickly and was good about reconnecting when powered up. It shows a lot more info than most gauge sets, as long as the port provides it...such as transmission temp, boost pressure, and other things for which there were no gauges.

Desertsparky · 03-18-2023, 10:15 PM

I was under the impression trans temp didn't have a pid so it wouldn't show? If that is not the case and I can for sure get trans temp as well then I've decided haha. We live in phx area so any summer trip requires a mountain climbing. Haha

rossvtaylor · 03-18-2023, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desertsparky

I was under the impression trans temp didn't have a pid so it wouldn't show? If that is not the case and I can for sure get trans temp as well then I've decided haha. We live in phx area so any summer trip requires a mountain climbing. Haha

The Bluefire will show whatever data it can access. I've had that show up on some buses with MD3060 or B400 transmissions, but I don't know about others.

musigenesis · 03-19-2023, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rossvtaylor

The Bluefire will show whatever data it can access. I've had that show up on some buses with MD3060 or B400 transmissions, but I don't know about others.

I have an 03 IC with a DT466e and 2000-series transmission and I get transmission temperature on my Bluefire - which is great because the gauge on my physical cluster is busted.

Only important thing I don't get on my Bluefire is fuel level.

Hutchy · 03-19-2023, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rossvtaylor

The Bluefire will show whatever data it can access. I've had that show up on some buses with MD3060 or B400 transmissions, but I don't know about others.

on my 2000 BB tc1000 with a 24v 5.9 and AT545 with air brakes I don't get brake pressures or trans temp or oil temp on the BlueFire. Should I be getting that? it's the multi gauge dash

Desertsparky · 03-19-2023, 08:27 AM

Well it seems possible anyway. Air pressure and fuel still work. I assumed they were mechanical and not though the ecu? We have an allison 2000 trans as well

Dbacks2k4 · 03-19-2023, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desertsparky

I'm fairly confident in my ability to buy a bluefire after I screw it up haha

This made me laugh as well!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desertsparky

Well it seems possible anyway. Air pressure and fuel still work. I assumed they were mechanical and not though the ecu? We have an allison 2000 trans as well

Correct, bluefire will only report what it can read from ecm or tcm. Air pressure is almost always mechanical. I'll have to check mine next time I'm out there to see if I get fuel level, I thought I did but could be wrong.

Mine is an 06 dt466e on a CE300 body so I've got the next Gen instrument cluster that didn't suffer the bad connection points like the generation you're on. Why international upgraded that in 2005 on the conventionals but kept using the old one on the fe and re buses I'll never understand, besides the fact the conventionals got a body overhaul that year the other types didn't.... I digress, anyway my gauges all work correctly but I've got the bluefire running on a cheap galaxy tablet to view some data out of the ecm that the gauges don't tell. I may pull a Christopher level modification to get my ICP/IPR data - that's what I'm really curious about seeing regularly without having to break out servicemaxx and my nexiq

John 321 · 03-23-2023, 11:23 AM

I’d recommend you resolder your gauge cluster and also get BlueFire. I have both working on my 1996 Thomas ER with a 2005 Cummins 5.9 and Allison 3060. I have the J1708 connector and do get transmission temp. I love the redundancy and the accuracy of the BlueFire system.

LittleBusBigDreams · 04-06-2023, 08:27 PM

I have my stock instrument cluster and a bluefire on an old android tablet right now and I love it. My 1997 ECM with no TCM has somewhat limited data available, but still very useful for keeping a close eye on temperatures and a few other metrics when going through the mountains. You can fine tune each gauge and setup alerts if you like - I have mine set to start beeping when my oil and/or water temps reach a certain point. Helps remind me to pull over and rest on some of the big climbs around my area.

I'm also planning some instrument cluster upgrades, but even with the perfect physical cluster I'd still want the bluefire around. Reading active faults in realtime is another handy feature i wouldn't want to do without - and couldn't replicate with a cluster.

Desertsparky · 04-06-2023, 10:35 PM

We have since canceled our summer trip. It may be a fall trip instead. I did get the bluefire and was super pleased. Have a lot to learn and try on the road but I was able to get speedo, rpm, oil pressure, coolant temp and trans temp super easy. On our it seems like fuel, brake bressure an volts seem to be mechanical or still work either way.

Desertsparky · 05-09-2023, 08:56 PM

So I finally got around to using the bluefire and running the bus around to see how it worked. I had a couple of interesting things happen. The oil pressure sat in mid 30s but did move between 22 idling to a stop and 40 as a max. This seems low to me but I have no diesel experience. The boost pressure reading mostly read 0 but at one point while getting on it it went to a max of 7. I followed Chuck cassadys video and put on the barking brake and idled up a decent amount and it still stayed at 0.

Now the turbo is not loud but I know I can hear it. Does it really require that much load to build pressure or is my sender just bad?

Booyah45828 · 05-10-2023, 01:50 PM

Oil pressure seems fine with warmed up oil. I think the generic spec is 10 psi/1000 rpm.

Boost pressure seems low. Floored while in 4th I think you should get around 15 or so with that engine depending on hp level.

Old ones had fixed geometry turbos that really didn't make much boost until heavy loaded higher in the RPM range. It's also because the small amount of power they were making didn't require that much more air over NA.

Check it with a manual gauge, and if they coincide, you can look for boost leaks in the system. I've got a bunch of adapters that go over the turbo inlet and pressurizes the system with shop air. You can then spray the system with soapy water looking for bubbles, but if there is a substantial leak, you'll hear it easily without needing to spray it.

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