I have thoroughly read the gauge cluster fix and have seen a lot of people swap out the boring LS cluster for an SS one but of course the oil pressure gauge doesn't work. Has anyone successfully done the swap and wired the gauge or car wiring to get it to work properly? Like is the bcm or ecm the same regardless of the cluster? Couldn't you add a sensor and wire it to the ecm? I may be way out in left field I was just curious...seems a waste to have a dead gauge

 

I know there is a way because I am pretty sure others have done it before. I'll let them chime in as I do not know how.

 

I *think* making the oil gauge work is rooted in the PCM.

I gave a member here information on swapping his oil pressure switch for an oil pressure sending unit (this also required swapping the wiring connector as the oil pressure sending unit required a ground that the oil pressure switch did not). Sadly, it was a no go.
The '00-'05 Impalas share the style clusters as the '00-'05 Montes. Here is a right up (that is quite involved) from someone who claims they made it work:
Impala HQ - Your source for information on the 2000-2002 Chevrolet Impala

I still think it's a software issue in the PCM, as I don't think the PCM is passing the values along (as if it's specifically programmed for a sensor or a sending unit). And I have looked in all the software for my DHP PowrTuner and yet to find something to assist.

 

There is also no available setting on the HP Tuner that allows you to send the reading to the gauge, at least not that I can find.

Electronic sensors do not give a reading that directly corresponds to the actual gauge display. They typically give out an analog signal that is then processed and the processor then sends a signal to the gauge as to what it should display.

 

Warning - Tech Speak ahead lol:
Speaking of tuning tools, a thought I had was find a Monte SS and non-SS BIN files that share the same exact "mapping" for the tuning software (which then means the files are the same "version" for lack of a better term, just different settings for their corresponding drive trains). Take all available settings for the 3400 and import them into the SS BIN file (since the oil pressure setting is not an edit-able setting, the theory I have is if you convert a SS bin to a 3400 motor, then the settings needed for the cluster will still be correct, at that point you just need the correct hardware, meaning the correct oil unit and properly wired connector.

Dang, wish this was as easy as my '94 Grand Am (swap the cluster, swap the sending unit and you're done).

 

The only issue I for foresee is knowing what is what within a bin file. For anyone who is reading and is unfamiliar, a .bin file type is a type of file that stores data in binary format (you'll have to look this one up). Besides guess and check, how do you know what is what?

 

Spoke about this with Matt, his thoughts are as follows.

He thinks it might be possible to flip the bits (data) inside the 3.4's PCM and tell it to recognise the sending units values. But only if the information is mapped in the 3.4 pcm from the factory. If not there will be no way to flip the data or even insert a map of it as there is no place for it. Therefore there would be no option to change, if not factory mapped you cannot change. He would have to have a 3.4 Monte Carlo and read the pcm data to be able to identify if the code is OEM mapped in the pcm.

If not he says the alternative is to go to Intrepid Control Systems and they have a piggy back pcm you can write programs onto and that will work on the car. The only problem is they will only sell you a blank piggy back and YOU have to enter any and all data. (about $2,000 for blank unit) And to enter the data takes about a $5,000 embedding machine, which there is one available here in Salt Lake and the guy would do that for $500 to $700.

LINK TO INTREPID CONTROL SYSTEMS SITE:

Intrepid Control Systems

Lastly he says the easiest and cheapest way is to just buy a mechanical oil sending unit and install that, but that would look cheesy.

 

Well that sucks...I was really hoping there was a way

 

BIN is the file type DHP works with (so you would use the DHP PowrTuner and Tiny Tuner applications to edit). By doing that, you are using a graphical interface that's already established and simply exporting the different tables from the non-SS bin file and importing them to the SS bin file. The theory is then any settings not mapped by those tools that control things like the oil pressure data would still be configured as-is in the SS bin (and the SS bin is now made to operate a 3.4 instead of a 3.8 engine).

When I looked at this once for another member, I looked at the database files for Tiny Tuner and the DHP PowrTuner (these database files drive the table mappings for the different VIN files). I did find a couple Monte SS bin files that had the same mapping as a non-SS model.

In theory what I mentioned is possible and is easy to do but is also a VERY LONG process to complete in hopes that it yields the desired results. But it comes with the challenge of finding compatible SS and non-SS bin files to work with.

It's a neat idea, I'd like to try it, but it's hard to justify doing unless I lived near the person. But I'd love to know if it would actually work.