More noob questions

[FastFrog]

When I bought the car I didnt particularly pay attention to the previous owner when he was walking me through the controls partly because I was to excited but also cause I didnt really think I was goin to drive it, plans have changed and so I would love to know what the numerated controls and dashboard items are.




Also what coolant should I use (or avoid) for when Im running it where there isn't a water only requirement?

[Farrout48]

That dash unit hopefully came with a manual. If not, find one online. Hard to read but is that a Motec? Is there a data dump plug for the dash/data system somewhere? There is likely a You Tube video on your system.

My AIM system display can be customized. There is also a Menu button which can cycle to different displays. It may be that yours is also. AIM also has a software program (Race Studio) for working with the data and changing the displays.

There is probably a light for low oil pressure as well as a neutral light.

10 is the rain light switch. 11 is probably connected to a fan that is located on the radiator. You can check these out.

Buttons on the steering wheel are most likely radio control.

Best bet is to call the previous owner.

Water Wetter is popular as is MoCool for adding to the water.

[tige00]

2 is water/oil temp,
4 is water/oil temp,
5 looks to be air/fuel ratio
7 looks to be data dump port
The buttons on the wheel have stickers saying what they are.

[jphoenix13]

10 is for Rain - we use it a lot up here in the Northwest. If you’re lined up on the grid and your friends are all on slicks, flip that switch to start the rain coming down and have some fun in turn 1!

[FastFrog]

10 is for Rain - we use it a lot up here in the Northwest. If you’re lined up on the grid and your friends are all on slicks, flip that switch to start the rain coming down and have some fun in turn 1!

lol

[Lotus7]

Some of us mentioned this in your previous thread ....

Several people think this is a bad choice as a fist race car.

But I do wish you (and those around you) well if you go ahead.

[mikey]

your lines on the picture cover the labels.
1 and 6 should be for next page (MoTeC can have up to 4 pages of display for various data) and acknowledge (ACK) to clear an alarm condition on the display. You need to download the MoTeC software to configure the dash.
2-5 are various data points, when you download the dash software you can see what they are mapped to.

as others said, 10 should turn on your rain light.
8 & 9 should be to control fuel map (was 4 settings to make it a little more rich or lean) and the other should be for traction control setting. Note you need to monitor lambda to know what fuel map setting you should be on. I usually tried to ensure I was getting about 0.92 lambda IIRC. check the StarMazda manuals for targets.

I can't tell what 7 is, maybe just a warning light or a pushbutton of some sort. the starter button was often near this location.
11 appears to be a fan switch, if it is I recommend you remove any fan mounted to the radiator. It becomes a restriction at speed and only could be useful if idling for a long time in the pits because PFM will overheat at stationary idle usually.

[mikey]

2 is water/oil temp,
4 is water/oil temp,
5 looks to be air/fuel ratio
7 looks to be data dump port
The buttons on the wheel have stickers saying what they are.

2 and 4 are most likely water and oil temp, which would be reading near ambient if you only turned the ignition on in the garage.
3 might be gear position
5 is most likely voltage, not lambda (air/fuel ratio).
7 is not data port - you need a MoTeC connector which is round that adapts to USB (costs about $400) to pull data from the dash and the ECU. The data port is often found on the exterior side of the car near the roll hoop left side.

[Lotus7]

7 is not data port - you need a MoTeC connector which is round that adapts to USB (costs about $400) to pull data from the dash and the ECU. The data port is often found on the exterior side of the car near the roll hoop left side.

FWIW, I recently worked on a DP02 (ex-Patron team car) with a MoTeC that had been converted to use an RJ45 port for data download. Possibly same done here?

edit, but yes, most use the painfully expensive adapter you described

[Lotus7]

Also what coolant should I use (or avoid) for when Im running it where there isn't a water only requirement?

BTW, very few sanctioning bodies (none?) mandate "water only", they just mandate "no slippery glycol-based" coolants. You definitely want an additive in the water, for no other reason than lubrication of the water pump bearings.

[Fred Michael]

Most everything has been covered but all you need for coolant is water and Water Wetter or equivalent. Now if you are storing where the temps drop below freezing or you are towing thru freezing weather, then you had better darn sure have anti-freeze in your system

[FastFrog]

7 is not data port - you need a MoTeC connector which is round that adapts to USB (costs about $400) to pull data from the dash and the ECU. The data port is often found on the exterior side of the car near the roll hoop left side.

FWIW, I recently worked on a DP02 (ex-Patron team car) with a MoTeC that had been converted to use an RJ45 port for data download. Possibly same done here?

edit, but yes, most use the painfully expensive adapter you described

this looks like a USB host post ill see if I can trace the cable

[FastFrog]

Just summing this up

1. Ack alert on dash
2. Programmable - MoTeC > CDL3 > Downloads
3. Programmable - MoTeC > CDL3 > Downloads
4. Programmable - MoTeC > CDL3 > Downloads
5. Programmable - MoTeC > CDL3 > Downloads
6. Next Dashboard page
7. Still un known USB host port
8. Fuel Map or Traction Control
9. Fuel Map or Traction Control
10. Turn on Rain light
11. Turn on Radiator Fan (if present) used for idling only.

[Bob Wright]

I have a CDL-3 dash. My download is a simple CAT-5 network cable that came with it and plugs right into my laptop. The programming is a free download from Motec. Its easy to use and easy to program to what you want to see, very versatile. Typically the green and yellow buttons are for scrolling the readouts, the blue is usually the radio PTT. You should have a 'warm up', 'practice' and 'race' page at the very least onto which you can set up the readouts. From your photo, it looks like you have shift lights above the dash- they are also programable.

[David Ferguson]

Your MoTeC Dash is likely an ADL or ADL2. The USB bulkhead connector would lead me to believe it's an ADL2 (since that used USB) latest models (CDL3, ADL3, SDL3, C1xx) use Ethernet, however I've seen lots of PFMs had their ADL2 disappear to be replaced by an ADL. Best way to tell is watch the bottom line when you turn on the power. It will say ADL or ADL2, and have a firmware version on the right. Turn it on/off a few times until you can capture this information.

Then you need to get the correct cable to connect to a computer to communicate with the car. You probably want a MoTeC USB-To-CAN (UTC) adapter since that would be useful for communicating with the ECU. If you do have an ADL2, then the USB cable that comes with the UTC can be used with the dash. If you have an original ADL, then the UTC would be used to communicate with it directly.

Then you download the correct dash manager software for your system from here:
https://www.motec.com.au/software/latestreleases/

You'll probably want the ECU Manager 3.5 to talk to your ECU as well.

Then you want to find your local MoTeC dealer and arrange for some help / training. Most will charge for this service.
Dealers can be found here:
https://www.motec.com.au/dealerssectionus/dealersus/

The configuration of the buttons and display can be completely customized, but by connecting to the dash and pushing the buttons, all will be revealed.