Re: 2014 Outback instruments question

Robert Wilson <[email protected]> wrote:

> I recently had to replace my 2002 Outback after a collision. My "new" 
> 2014 Outback is a lot newer than I really wanted, but it had some 
> features my wife wanted and there are not many used Subarus available 
> around here: AWD and Subaru are very popular in our northern US climate, 
> and Subys last a long time!
> 
> Is there some way to set up the instrument panel so that I can see both 
> the fuel level and the engine temperature? Now I see fuel level and the 
> stupid "ECO meter", and I cannot find the combination that I want, 
> either in the manuals or by just trying things in the car.
> 
> So what I basically want is just to replace the eco meter by engine 
> temperature, while retaining fuel level. In my sixty-some years of 
> driving I have several times detected developing problems before they 
> became critical. I do care about the environment but when driving I also 
> care about my car's engine)

I searched for and found the following resource:

https://www.subaru.com/owners/vehicle-resources.html

I selected 2014 and Outback, but could not select a matching trim level
since you didn't mention yours.  I picked 2.5 Premium.  Several manuals
were listed.  I don't know the dash for your car, but am assuming the
Eco, fuel level, and engine temperature would not be displayed by the
head unit, but within the cluster panel of the dash ahead of the
steering wheel.  Chapter 3, Instruments and Controls, seemed the likely
candidate on how to program the cluster (aka instrument) panel.

On page 138 (per the viewer's page count as there are no page numbers
displayed on some pages) is a list of sections in Chapter 3.  Mentioned
in the TOC is "Temperature gague (models with type A combination
meter)".  Type A is illustrated on page 22.  That's an old style analog
cluster gauge set where the temp dial is at the lower left and the fuel
dial is lower right.  Type B is how you describe: MPG is lower left, and
fuel is lower right.  These are fixed function cluster panels.  There is
no substituting different guages in place of the current ones.  To
change you would have to replace the cluster panel to get a different
set of guages.  However, I suspect you would need to do a lot of
rewiring to make a different cluster type work when substituted for the
original unless they already include the cabling plugs figuring to use
the same cabling harness regardless of which cluster type was installed.

I did notice on the type B cluster panel which apparently you have there
is an MPG button at middle right, and the illustration says "5) Multi
function display switching knob (page 3-33)".  The manual doesn't use
any links, so I had to scroll far to get to page 3-33.  Alas, the
description there for the Type B combination meter has it switching
between the following modes:

.--> Driving range on remaining fuel
|      \__ Average fuel consumption
|             \__ Current fuel consumption
|                   \__ Blank
'_________________________/

So, all the MPG button does to the MPG guage is to change showing what
type of mileage calculation is being shown.  There is no switching to a
totally different function, like engine temperature.

You're at the mercy of the Check Engine light which tells when there is
a problem after it surpasses some threshold, and that can be too late.
Yep, I like using the engine temperature guage to let me know if the
engine is running hotter than normal, like the engine is okay but I'm
freezing inside which means a thermostat is stuck closed (all coolant
stays inside the engine, none goes to the interior radiator), or the
engine is too hot (maybe not enough coolant, or a leak), or maybe when
the needle gets up far enough and for long enough before I can expect to
get heat inside the car (passengers will whine "where's the heat", so I
turn on the electric seat heaters for them).

Since Subaru won't show you the engine temperature, maybe you should get
an OBD-II monitor to plug into the car's OBD port.  Then pair the
monitor to your phone via Bluetooth, and use an app to show you lots of
stats about your car (I use both OBDLink and Torque).  The OBD monitor
that I got was the OBDLink MX Bluetooth.  Back when I bought it, price
was somewhere around $80.  Now it's up to $140 (for the MX+ model since
they don't make the MX model anymore).  While the OBDlink app is useful
for diagnostics, you might find the Torque Pro app better suited to
showing you gauges.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=OCTech.Mobile.Applications.OBDLink
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torque

Maybe if you can link your smartphone to your head unit, so the head
unit shows your smartphone's display, you could see the gauges from
OBDlink or Torque apps on the head unit.  I played that far it casting
my smartphone's display onto the head unit.