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A colleague's car recently overheated and he had smoke coming out of the engine compartment. It seemed strange that the temperature gauge go off the scale or didn't flash a proper red warning light before smoke started pouring.
On closer questioning, it became apparent that he never really checks the instrument cluster while driving. If he does it's only ever to check the fuel level.
I find it surprising as i'm near fanatic about keeping a check on the car's vital while it is being driven.
However, this has set me thinking, is this an exception or do most people don't really look at the instrument cluster/MID while driving?
I check it all the time. Mostly keep an eye on the speed and RPM, out of habit.
Maybe only to check fuel level and engine temperature gauge sporadically.
My cars are old and I ve been driving them for a long time. If there is something amiss or a new check light turns up , it gets noticed almost instantly.
Check it all the time. Before cranking I ensure all of the lights / icons are lit up. Those that need to turn off post lighting are turned off.
While driving periodic focus is on the tacho & speedo.
I usually check all the tell-tale lights before starting off. But while on the move, I do a once-in-a-while quick glance at the speedo/tacho. But once the fuel lamp warning is on, I very frequently check the Distance to empty reading, as it goes down rather rapidly. Rapid in the sense, for every 10 km that I drive, the DTE goes down by 15-20 km, even when driving with a light foot. I know it is a strategy followed by the ECU to intimidate the user to fill up soon - as I worked on fuel systems and gauges, but it still gets me :D
It's like a scheduled task which is done every one or two min I look at the cluster especially at the temp display area and rpm dial, average etc.
I do often to check RPM, Fuel level, DTE, FE for the trip and occasionally for fun instant FE.
I so wised the Nexon had the temp gauge
I keep an eye on the RPM, speed, fuel level and engine temperature before starting her up and during the drive as well. I fancy myself as something of a terrestrial pilot who goes by the book while driving my cars.
While starting the car when the engine is cold, I look at the tachometer to drop from the initial 1k odd to about 800ish rpm before I slot the car into drive. I look at the fuel guage and distance to empty in the meanwhile. I switch the display to display the engine temperature. Only after it reached 90deg C do I switch on the AC. Most often it remains to show the temperature. I take a periodic glance to see if there are any warning lights etc.
I keep a watch on the instrument cluster always. I once had a problem in my previous car ( A cruze) with the wires to the cooling fan shorted. I realized the problem only when I saw the temp needle going above the usual resting place by a very slight margin when I was stuck in traffic jams. My daily running involves 60 kms with 5-6 traffic signal stops with about a minute or two duration.
The tricky bit was that, even though the fan was not working, temp guage never really went above the mid level mark when the car was running. The moment I stop at traffic blocks, it would start going up slightly and when I am back to cruising speeds (60-80 kmph) it would go back to the mid level mark. I used the car for weeks like this, since it never went to alarming levels and told the problem to SA in a regular service visit. They connected the laptop and immediately told me the fan was not working and it could damage the engine quite seriously. He said in cruising speeds, the air getting through the grill is enough to cool the engine and showed me the needle going to high levels by keeping the car idle for 20 minutes or so. The car gave a warning of overheating only in that case and I never got it in my regular running.
Since my car now has a huge variation in the fuel consumption from light foot to WOT, I check the MID very so often to see the overall FE as well as instantaneous FE. I would have been happy if the instantaneous FE display wasn't there though - absence of it it would have relieved me from the compulsion of checking it often :)
Like the comedian Gabriel Iglesias says - if I floor it from a traffic stop, there goes 20 rupees! So an MID check is imminent after such runs.
I look at the cluster very often, it has become an habit and it happens automatically just like looking into all the mirrors regularly during the drive.
I also check the speedo for the purpose of gear changes. I make it a point to change gears at 2000 rpm or slightly under that, so I do look every time I make a gear change. Sometimes, its nice to see the normal rev drop upon gear change.
It's very important for me. I keep peeking at the gauges quite frequently. I am extra vigilant towards temperature gauge and engine oil pressure lamp. Next is the EFI malfunction lamp or the CEL. Thankfully the speedo in the Civic is placed such that it is literally effortless to take a glance at it.
In short, I would feel paralyzed if any of the gauges wouldn't work. If someone is not in the habit of taking short glances of the instrument console every few minutes then I will urge them to develop this habit. A timely corrective action in case of any problem can save your engine (like overshooting temperatures or low oil pressure) or even a mishap (like ABS, low brake-fluid warning etc).
Regards,
Saket
After starting my engine, I always make sure that all telltale signs and MID is clear, then only engage transmission. I also give cursory glance at fuel remaining in case I need to plan for a fuel stop. I also make a mental note of RPMs on cold start.
During driving, I always keep glancing at my speed often. This also gives me a chance to see that there are no telltale lamps or MID messages. I rarely look at tachometer, a habit developed with driving only automatics for last decade. I rarely use MID for features like ODO, Trip, Efficiency etc. I always keep it at distance-to-empty.
If not already implemented by manufacturers, I think all messages/lamps in IP should come with an audible buzzer akin to how seat belt reminder works. This will definitely alert the driver.
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