EGT gauge for engine longevity?

[TroutGuy]

Relative newbie to the PSD world. Thanks to this site, I've come up to speed with a number of issues pretty quick.

I currently have no extra gauges installed on the vehicle. I tow a ~6K travel trailer primarily in Montana and Wyoming. The only thing I've really monitored was the engine temp using the message center trick.

It appears having an EGT gauge is pretty darn important. What I don't quite understand is the chance of doing damage to the engine, if I don't monitor these temperatures. Does the PSD sensors know when to reduce the fuel to the motor when the temps get too hot?

I'm mostly concerned about these temps on the mountain grades while maintaining speeks around 60-65.

Thanks in advance.

[SmokeyWren]

It depends on your exact calibration (computer program) in your program control module (PCM). Most stock PCMs will not get the EGT hot enough to hurt anything. But a few will.

The only time you might get the EGT too hot when towing up a mountain pass with a stock engine is if you use the cruise control that forces "petal to the metal" up the mountain. Or if you drive without the cruise but mash hard on the footfeet to maintain your speed up the mountain.

If I didn't have a pyrometer (gauge for measuring exhaust gas temp, or EGT), and I had a stock PCM with no chip or programmer, I would not use cruise control for mountain climbing, and I would manually mash on the go pedal to only about 9/10th max. Then I'd be pretty sure that I wasn't cooking my engine, regardless of the calibration Ford programmed into my PCM.

But I can't imagine living where you live and towing where you tow with a stock PSD. So I have 4 aftermarket gauges - including a pyrometer. I have an Edge Evolution tuner in "tow" mode. Even with the best intake and exhaust available, I can still cross the red line on my pyrometer if I leave the cruise set on 60 MPH when towing up the mountain, or if I manually try to push the go pedal through the firewall to keep that darned Dodge from passing me. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/warmsmile.gif[/img]

So my advice is to install a pyrometer, with the thermocouple (sender) before the turbo (pre-turbo), then use 1,250 as your red line. The International engineers tell us that if you have a tall enough mountain, you can cruise all day at 1,200º, but try not to let it creep over 1,250º.

Do that, and your engine will last a normal life. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/warmsmile.gif[/img]

[96STROKE]

Well, both PSD I have owned, with gages but no chip, it was not hard to go over 1250 deg F pre turbo just getting on the freeway on ramp. IMHO, I wouldn't tow with out gages, even on flat ground!

[Old_Machinist]

You really will change the way you drive when you get a set of gages! I totally changed what I thought was being "easy" on my unit. Now I don't work it near as hard and it pulls like a freight train!

Grant

[Blue Water Runner]

I found out the getting a run on those long grades pays off in lower EGTs. Now I know why the big rigs are sometimes in the right lane even when they have more go pedal.

[97Strokerman]

Usually the big rigs are in the right lane because they ran out of go pedal. EGT's aren't usually an issue with the big trucks, at least not with me, although I'm a company driver and the trucks I drive aren't cranked up..............Dave

[mlabelle]

During my trip out west this past summer, I was routinely getting to 1250 on EGT's. This was on big hills on the freeway as well as mountain passes. My truck is completely stock so having the gauge is a must. My X-Monitor also monitors boost and transmission temps. It holds all the high values untill I erase them. The highest trans temps I saw was 191 and boost shows a high of 38. The boost seems high. As Smoky Wren said, you can see high EGT's with the cruise contol and not paying attention to the gauges. I once caught 1341 degrees on the gauge and immediately backed down. The one good thing about monitoring EGT's is they go up fast but also come down fast so, normally your not at that high number too long unless your not paying attention. Good luck,

Mark

[fire1]

38 psi boost stock??? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Larry M]

TroutGuy,

All the previous posters to me here have great points and personally I think gauges are a "MUST" first mod especially if towing and you might be considering any mods in the future. At around $300 for a pre turbo EGT, tranny temp and boost gauge just makes sense and maybe even a fuel pressure gauge. Some will disagree on the boost gauge, but I use it a lot towing to get the most leg out of my engine before I have to drop out of either cruise and/or OD. Based on what I know now I'm not sure how important a coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, voltmeter gauges are [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img] They will not only establish a baseline for your truck and how you use it but can save an engine, tranny, etc. when somethings starts going South like a stuck EBPV or non functioning tranny bypass, etc.

On the longevity thing, I now have almost 50K on my PSD and have towed almost 55% of those miles and would say I have spent more time in those miles with my pre turbo either buried at 1250 or in excess of 1100 degrees than most F-series owners because of the lack of an intercooler in the Vans. So far the engine is running great and I have had ZERO engine or any sort of mechanical issues.

Larry

[mlabelle]

I know. Maybe it was a fluke reading?

Mark

[gilbert948]

I pulled my 12,000 lb fiver out west this summer also and my totally stock 05 F350 could only do 27 lbs of boost. Yours must be a special truck.

Joe

[mlabelle]

I don't know about that but was just pulling yesterday and could get to 28-29 easily, according to the X-Monitor.

Mark

[gilbert948]

So you're running the X-Monitor by itself? No "goodies" under the hood? I didn't realize that could be done. I learn something new everytime I come to this site!!

Joe

[fire1]

The X-Monitor is simply a digital guage set. I installed mine before any goodies. I love it.

[Larryect]

Did you go through the set-up for the x-Monitor when you installed it? It is programable for several different applications. Maybe this makes a difference [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]