I have RTFM & STFF & can find no information in this regard

C240 - When you turn on the ignition it appears that only two screens will come up as default on the multifunction display i.e. The odometer screen or the "after start" mileage & consumption screen

i.e will remain selected if that was on screen when you last switched the ignition off

I would like to set my multifunction display so that it defaults to engine temperature i.e. WHENEVER I start the car I get the horizontal temperature graph on the display - if I want ODO etc. then I can toggle to that.

Is this possible? If so how do you set the default?

I consider engine temperature more important than the other info & I'm tired of toggling to the temperature screen

 

Hmmm - I'm pretty sure mine will come up with whatever screen I leave it on, but now you are making me wonder. I'll check it out tomorrow, as I'm in the UK so naturally it's pissing down rain!

 

Thanks, I appreciate it - don't worry - pissing down here as well. We've had a wet winter thusfar - amazing - 2 years ago we were on water restrictions!!!

 

In my experience, there are only a couple of screens that will remain as the default if selected, and the temp is not one of these. I have figured that I need to tap the button twice each time I start if I want to use the water temp screen for the main screen.

 

Thanks - understood but it pisses me off. My wheel buttons are developing a high shine thanks to this. MB should have thought this through. There must be a way !!!!

 

BTW - I always admire your signature pic of the SLR - my memory is not what it was but was this at Leguna the day before the Pebble Beach Concours? If it was I was sitting under the trees on the corkscrew. I've seen that car with Moss at the wheel and I'm sure it was at Leguna at the historical racing before the PB Concours. Used to live in Dallas & go up to the PB every year. Leno's collection is amazing

 

I agree, there should have been some way to personalize the menu some way or the other.

 

You are correct. This was at the Monterey Historics, the day before PB. While Sterling was being interviewed prior to this drive, his frustration with Mercedes slipped out over the public address system and the stated something to the effect, "it's a F-ing shame to put this beautiful machine in a museum. It should be driven, for people to see."

Oh well, at least we can say we were amongst the last to see (and hear) it run.

 

Amazing - it is a small world - Just e mailed my good friend Ed Gellner in the Bay Area who was there with me Saturday & Sunday at PB. Good old Monterey "Hystericals" - Axle tramping Mustangs & all!!

Do you have a high res copy of this photo?

 

PM sent.

 

Drex, Frank W and all the many VETS of the forum that I'm not going to try and name for fear of leaving someone out and who all know a lot more than I do.

Does ANYONE know how to change the default for the display to show temperature - If you solve this for me I will be forever in your debt

 

I wish I could tell you a way to make this happen, but to my knowledge it can't. The only thing you can do is change the settings between the MPH vs. temperature. Only reason I know you can do that is I changed it a few months ago to have the digital MPH displayed instead of temperature.

I'll have to get back to you on a step-by-step, but all that changes is the tiny display, not the actual menu display.

 

Rewire the outside temp gauge so that it is connected to the engine. It may or may not work.

When you show the outside temp in the cluster it will show the engine temp.

Seeing as the car never overheats ....... I dont suppose this information changes anything ?

 

The reason that it is important to me is that I'm a spirited driver and like revving the little six because it likes to spin

Coming from the oil industry I don't believe in hammering engines when they are cold. Call me old fashioned but it's not hard for me to prove low temperature wear - I want to see that it has warmed up. I'm sure there must be a way to reprogramme that default. I would love to know how. Is the programming all sitting on an EPROM?

BTW I lived in Wollstonecraft Bay - Wondakiah Sydney for 5 years on assignment with Caltex - Great Great city!

 

I am confused. When engine temperature is mentioned, I think of four perimeters, oil temperature, coolant temperature, intake air temperature, and cylinder head temperature.

I am caught unaware that any of those are capable of being displayed on the MFD.

I know it is capable of reading the outside air teperature measured by a sensor near the front bumper. My car has an analog gauge for coolant temperature on the left of the instrument cluster.

Were one curious about the engine operating perimeters, one should connect a laptop armed with OBDII software to the port located below the steering wheel. One could configure the screen to read real time the temperatures of all of the above.

Speaking of Leno, saw him last week in his latest project car, a properly painted Jag Racr, slumming in Sun Valley.

 

Hi Moviela - good to hear from you and as precise as ever! No you are not confused you are right. The engine related temperature parameters you describe are, of course, spot on.

I have a pre facelift cluster and the coolant temperature is displayed in a horizontal bar graph in the display in the centre of the speedometer. No analogue guage - post facelift they remedied this with a guage.

The temperature is one layer down in the menu from the odometer. The only 2 standard defaults are ODO or the fuel, distance, time parameter screen.
All the other host of info screens have to be accessed every time you want to see them - including stupidly - coolant temperature

I would like coolant temperature to come up every time I fire up the car without me having to select it - it's a pain - so yes I want temperature as one of the display defaults - coolant temperature is OK for my purposes. One can debate which temperature is most important to watch but coolant is fine for my purposes. Many would say oil temp more important.

Are you confident that this could be set with OBDII software or do you mean could be configured on the computer screen? Where would I get that in my backwater - Presume I should go to my dealer and use his Star? They have already told me that they don't know how to do it but have never tried.

 

never attempted, but there's always a chance you can set it when you are hooked up to the STAR.

as far as using the setting in the car to do this, no.

 

Thanks Frank

 

Ok ...

CAN-C to serial chip, code offset in PIC chip to retain memory value of engine temp and attach output value to $5 LCD thermometer. Put clock in ashtray and raise lid on ashtray. Better still .... conceal array LED in cluster housing.

White - cold
Red - Warm
Flashing red - Ooops.

A million ways to do it .... the temp data is running on the engine harness every split second. What you want is a decoder chip to serial data project with an LCD display (like a modfied thermometer LCD) but with a different input chip running off the CAN-C.

Change the LCD for a dashmounted pro-racer TEMP guage.

Its possible but entirely up to your flavour. There is a man in Chicago who does custom chip coding. What you want is a serial converter or output levels from the raw engine data.

The cluster itself is not easily modified because then if it was we could add lap times and move things around so that Mercedes would get confused and annoyed every oil change.

Sydney is very pretty but the housing crisis is making things impossible for young couples.

 

Maybe update the cluster.. The '05 c240 has a coolant temperature gauge in the cluster (just like the old days....) Is it doable?

 

Thanks - this is a bit above my head but my brother in law has a degree in digital electronics and I'll talk to him for full understanding of your message - I appreciate the help.

Yes - Sydney property is a hell of a price - I was paying $1000 a week in '99 for a 2 bedroomed apartment - albeit a nice apartment with stunning view & own floating dock

 

Thanks for the advice but no thanks! - do you know whats involved? See Sunils (Sunlip) thread in this regard. Nightmare expensive stuff & about 30 expensive components to replace. - I'd rather buy a new car, but with 45000Kms on the clock not yet!

Thank you very much for the input but that is just too much of a nightmare for mere mortals. I don't want to replace half the car.

 

Just push the button!





The shiney spot on the steering wheel will be cheaper and easier to fix than any of these complicated re-works.

 

Man you are right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!