Hello -

In January 2017, my wife and I bought a nearly new 2016 Grand Caravan RT. It's been a very good van so far and we just topped 50k on the odometer, but if possible, I'd like to change some of the engine/vehicle data that's available in the driver information center.

Right now I can check on engine oil temp, oil pressure, coolant temp, and a couple of other things I can't recall at the moment. This is all well and good, but as someone who likes to maintain his own vehicles, I'm looking for a bit more.

What I'd like to be able to access is engine oil life, transmission fluid temperature, and TPMS readings by tire. I've seen these displays on other Dodge vehicles so I know it's possible to get them, I just don't know if it's going to require changing the whole cluster or simply having it reprogrammed.

Can anybody advise me on how to get this changed? Thank you.

 

After spending some time scouring the internet, I haven't been able to find an answer to my question. So I contacted Dodge customer service. Go figure - they told me it can't be reprogrammed. I don't believe them, but I don't have the time or energy to keep pursuing this.

My primary interest in making these changes was accessing trans fluid temp, so I've decided to get an aftermarket temp gauge and install it under the hood (I don't really want to modify the interior, and installing it under the hood would be easier anyway) for when I need to check the ATF level.

And yes, I did see the video on the transmission dipstick hack. I agree with what the guy said about just marking it for a cold and hot range - the issue I have is that, without knowing what the fluid temp is, you still can't get an accurate read on the hot level unless you've been driving for extended periods of time. Most of the driving we do is 30 minutes or less which isn't usually enough time to get the trans up to operating temp.

Besides - I bought the special dipstick just after we bought the van, so I might as well make use of it.

 

You can also check transmission fluid temperature with an OBD2 dongle and an Andriod or Apple app, see Trans temp w/ OBD Fusion app and OBD2 dongle.

 

Am I reading that first post correctly? Is there some kind of programming I need to do with my phone??

I did read through the whole thread but that's practically foreign language to me - I've no idea what it means.

 

You need two things to make it work:

1. An OBD2 dongle that is compatible with your phone.
2. The OBD Fusion app for your phone OBD Fusion for Android or OBD Fusion for Apple

Once you have the app set up and running on your phone you need to go into the app settings and add a User-Defined PID as follows:



Once you have entered the User-Defined PID you need to add a "Gauge" to the "Dashboard" within the app.

There is an overview on how to do this here: Getting Started with OBD Fusion