2G AutoMeter Pro+ Wideband

[Dusty Landrum]

So I hate to post another wideband question but after doing as much research as I can I have to now. I googled and did thread searches and can’t seem to find my specific question/solution. So... here goes. Sorry for anyone that rolls their eyes at this if it seems really simple. Car is factory stock (except no cat exhaust).

I love the cobalt series of gauges from auto meter and finally purchased the pro+ wideband a/f gauge. After asking a few questions to a couple people and numerous searches I believe I have a decent understanding of the install but I am getting hung up on two things.

So currently I have the stock 99 GSX Manual Transmission ECU in the car. I am not going to hook any of the data logging things from the wideband up yet until I put my dsmlink ECU in. So this is to be ready for that, which is going to be done the middle of this week. There is NO cat on the car and I have the wideband sensor in the rear O2 spot. I know I have to cut factory O2 wire from sensor and splice in (solder and tape) the + signal output (blue wire coming from gauge) from the wideband to the rear O2 ECU wire pin 75. Then change sensor designation in dsmlink.

Question 1. Do I need to wire the (-) signal wire ( blue/black wire from gauge) to anything in the ECU for logging? I guess I am not sure if I need to wire this to pin 92 on the ECU. Anyone have any idea what this (-) signal wire is and what it is used for? Does it wire into the rear O2 sensor ground wire?

Question 2. Is it ok to have the 5v + signal output from the gauge sent to the ECU and not damage anything once the dsmlink ECU is installed?

Question 3. Does the WOT (brown wire from gauge) simply connect to ECU pin 84 to be able to use peak/recall and warning function? I think this is similar to what I have read on here about other wideband gauges but I want to be sure before I make any connections and risk inaccurate reads or possible damage to any components.

Side question: With the rear O2 getting it’s signal from the gauge, what should I do with the oem O2 sensor ground wire? I currently have the vfaq rear O2 simulator wired in so I don’t get a check engine light.

Out of all this is just typed, the biggest thing is I really just have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to do with this (-) signal output from the gauge and I can’t seem to find any info on it.

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I just tackled this situation with my AEM wideband that came with my car but had never been installed and no directions.
I can answer at least the question about the blue/black (-).
That needs to wire into "sensor ground" at the ECU input. There are sensor + and sensor - on my 90 ECU and I would certainly expect the same on yours, so look up the pinout diagram for your ECU and attach that blue/black to it. It is different than "chassis ground" which is just battery ground not sensor ground.
Widebands, in general, have a power, ground, sensor + and sensor -. If you think of just those parts and not the "extra" wires for other logging or serial inputs to a computer, it is very basic but I even had to do alot of reading to make sure what I did was correct yesterday.
I hope this gives you a better idea and was somewhat helpful Dusty.
Marty

 

[Dusty Landrum]

I just tackled this situation with my AEM wideband that came with my car but had never been installed and no directions.
I can answer at least the question about the blue/black (-).
That needs to wire into "sensor ground" at the ECU input. There are sensor + and sensor - on my 90 ECU and I would certainly expect the same on yours, so look up the pinout diagram for your ECU and attach that blue/black to it. It is different than "chassis ground" which is just battery ground not sensor ground.
Widebands, in general, have a power, ground, sensor + and sensor -. If you think of just those parts and not the "extra" wires for other logging or serial inputs to a computer, it is very basic but I even had to do alot of reading to make sure what I did was correct yesterday.
I hope this gives you a better idea and was somewhat helpful Dusty.
Marty

I was wondering if that was how it was supposed to be. What was confusing me was that it says “optional” for data logging, so I didn’t know how that would connect to dsmlink.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Like all electronics, or most, the sensor doesn't have a ground point inside the ECU naturally so you will want to wire that negative wire in so the sensor will have its power and ground circuit separate from the cars power and ground.

 

[Dusty Landrum]

Like all electronics, or most, the sensor doesn't have a ground point inside the ECU naturally so you will want to wire that negative wire in so the sensor will have its power and ground circuit separate from the cars power and ground.

Just curious why they would label it as optional then. The gauge/sensor would still work and give a reading even if it is not hooked into the ECU. And the diagram says to hook the power to the ignition on the vehicle key... I guess I am just not sure if I am expressing what I am confused about. Basically all the threads I read have stated that you only need to hook up the (+) output signal wire to the ECU O2 input, but nothing ever mentions their gauges have a (-) output signal for a data logger. What is this negative signal and what is it logging??

Again so sorry to everyone if this seems like a dumb question. Just going off the wire diagram for the gauge and trying to interpret how to hook it up for logging purposes. I feel if the mystery wire should be grounded then the manual would state ground REGARDLESS and not optional.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Well you'll find out when you hook up the +. If it logs then all is good. While I was in there, I went ahead and tapped into the sensor ground pin and ran a wire out to where I could actually get to the dam thing then went about wiring the unit up. Since you are there already, do yourself the same favor and run a wire off of the sensor ground pin so if you need it, its easy to hook up.

 

[Dusty Landrum]

Well you'll find out when you hook up the +. If it logs then all is good. While I was in there, I went ahead and tapped into the sensor ground pin and ran a wire out to where I could actually get to the dam thing then went about wiring the unit up. Since you are there already, do yourself the same favor and run a wire off of the sensor ground pin so if you need it, its easy to hook up.

Yeah thats a good idea. I will definitely do that. I am going to contact autometer and dsmlink both and see if I can get some direction on the blue/black wire. Thank you so much TALON for all the input!

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Any help I can be before departing this world is never a problem. Help yourself by running that second wire out to a accessible spot for later! You will be glad you did at some point.