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Installed JDM clock monitor on my Swift; found out its not compatible

27th February 2023, 13:33 by Dev Shah

Since no one has tried this here in India on the G13B Swift, I was shooting in the dark and had to figure out on my own why the fuel efficiency was not displayed.

BHPian Ashtoncastelino recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Installing JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) Swift Clock Monitor:

The international Swift came with a Monitor that displays time, ambient temperature and also the fuel efficiency ( Instantaneous and also Average Fuel Efficiency):

I went through another Forum where a member had installed this in his Swift which was PKDM(Pakistan Domestic Market) running a M13A Engine and it had a basic clock which displayed only Time. Lucky for him he did not have to swap the BCM for it to read and display Ambient temperature on the JDM Monitor. He only had to install the Ambient temperature sensor and put the pins into the BCM and install the JDM Monitor.

Now coming to my case, since my car's BCM was swapped to the ZXi meaning it can read the ambient temperature readings and was displaying the temperature on the Dzire Monitor which was already installed last year along with the ambient temperature sensor in the front bumper, I need not add anything new. Swap the Dzire clock with the JDM Monitor and you should be good to go.

Getting the clock was the hardest part, A far off relative of mine was moving out of Japan and I had requested him to source the part to me when flying down. Luckily he managed to do so. The price for the JDM clock was exorbitant. The day I received the JDM Monitor, I ran downstairs to my parking lot to plug it in and test it out. I plugged it in and it showed the time, Ambient temperature and also -.-KMPL Fuel efficiency since the car was stationary:

JDM monitor vs DZire monitor.

Part number o the JDM monitor.

Monitor when car is stationary (G13B Engine).

A perfect fit !

But to my dismay, the instantaneous fuel efficiency when the car was moving was 0.0KMPL. Since no one has tried this here in India on the G13B Swift, I was shooting in the dark and had to figure out on my own why the fuel efficiency was not displayed. After a lot of scouting the internet and Service manual of both the Swift G13B and International Swift, I realised why it was not displayed. The G13B uses a Cable operated Throttle Body and there is no actuator for the throttle body unlike the Petrol K12M and D13A Diesel Swifts. The Fuel efficiency is calculated based on Engine Load, Accelerator pedal input, Vehicle speed and engine speed from the BCM via CANBUS.

Monitor not displaying fuel efficiency when car is in motion (G13B Engine).

My car was not providing the Accelerator input percentage to the BCM through the ECU hence the Monitor detects the vehicle is moving but doesn't have the required parameters to Calculate fuel efficiency. Yes, the G13B ECU is very old school. Unhappy I went to bed but was adamant to see this Monitor display fuel efficiency. Next day I asked my neighbour for his Swift Dzire VDi and tested the JDM Monitor on his car. Swapped his Monitor with the JDM Monitor and THE DARN THING SHOWED FUEL EFFICIENCY !!!!

JDM Monitor on a Dzire VDi.

The next week I wanted to verify this on a K12M engine, I borrowed my Uncle's 2010 Dzire K12M and it worked in that as well !

JDM Monitor on a K12M Dzire VXi

So now it was confirmed that this monitor works perfectly in the K12M and D13A engine but not the G13B. Lucky for me, I found a caring owner and gave the JDM Monitor to a good friend and BHPian eccentric who will be using it in his 2009 Swift VDi.

Sharing a photo of my car's interior when I had plonked in the JDM Monitor: