Monitoring the Caterpillar Diesel Engine in our Fleetwood Discovery

With my past experiences in maintaining diesel engines, I realized that the diesel in our motohome needs just as much attention as boat engines do.  I did some research for engine monitoring systems that are designed specifically for motorhomes and there aren't too many choices.  Modern diesel motorhomes are built on a couple of different chassis manufactures that have been around for quite awhile and our Fleetwood Discovery 39S rolls on a Freightliner chassis specifically for recreational vehicles.

Freightliner did a good job configuring the rolling chassis with the very popular Caterpillar 330hp 7 liter turbocharged C7 engine that provides many digital sensors that can be monitored via a standard J1939 plug found under the instrument panel at the drivers seat.  When I did a Google search for what was available for the J1939 interface, there were two products that popped up:

• SilverLeaf VMSpc that runs on a Microsoft Windows PC system.  There are advantages to this system in that all parameters can be viewed simultaneously and easily customized through the software interface, but it DOES require a laptop or Windows tablet mounted near the drivers seat.  It can get a bit crazy with the wires running to the engine interface plug and various power cords to keep the PC running, but this system is very robust.  The software is free, but you need to purchase the hardware interface that costs $395.

• ScanGauge, by Linear Logic is a much simpler system that provides the same information about the engine, in a small proprietary display unit that shows various engine data, four readings at a time. This system is a lot less expensive at only $159. 

I decided on the ScanGauge because it is much smaller and much less of a distraction while driving and the price fit my budget.  There is only one wire that provides the data and power and will mount very nicely above the instrument panel of our Discovery, just below and on center with my line of sight looking down the road.

As soon as it arrives and I get it installed, I'll provide a review and report on it's operation.  We're looking forward to a little cooler weather and heading out to our next adventure out on the road, with our new ScanGauge to keep track of our diesel engine performance and health.