EGT's ARE HOT!!!!!

[MCabrera]

Hey everyone. I tow a 26' toy hauler that weighs about 8500 lbs. up a 6% grade going up north to the Flagstaff area. I've towed with out gauges and the truck did fine. Now I have gauges. I put on the cruise control like I always have, but this time I can see that my pyro shows 1500 degrees. I would think that the computer or something would sense this heat and defuel. If this excessive heat is so critical wouldn't the truck come with a pyro? I have friends with Duramxes that tow much larger trailers, with out gauges, and say that sometimes they have the pedal floored. This has to build some major heat. What do you guys make of all this?

Thanks for any comments.

 

[CLAYTON]

That's hot for a stock 305/555 engine. Something is not right!! Stock you should see around 1250 maybe 1300 at most on a tuff climb.

 

[Boondocker]

If the engine is not smart enough to back off when the EGT is dangerously high, then I sure wouldn't be using cruise control when going up hill.

 

[Bob4x4]

Once you added the power pup it aint "stock"and neither are your temps



Bob

 

[mberry]

My first question is where is the pyro located? Pre or post turbo and are you sure it is installed correctly?

 

[Buffalo]

I have an '03, HO, 4X4, 6-sp, towing a 7000+lb. travel trailer. A couple of weeks ago, I towed out of Phoenix (1100') up to the White Mtn's. , in eastern AZ (9200').



My truck is basically stock other than a 4" Magnaflow muffler & a BD X-Monitor guage.



I hit 1100 deg's. a couple of times. Most of the hard pulls were in the 1000-1100 deg. area. My pyro is before the turbo. I, also, have a 115 gal. auxillary fuel tank in the bed that was 3/4 full, at the time, with a full main fuel tank. That's probably an extra 600 lbs. , + 50 gals. of water on board.



Maybe, turning the BDDL down, a bit, might help.



A fresh air filter intake system along with a free flowing exhaust system could possibly cool you down by 150-200 degs. , according to what some of the members, here, are saying. I believe it's somewhat instrumental in my cooler temps.



It's definately hot here with some pretty steep, long pulls up into

the mountains. Works a truck pretty hard, sometimes.



Joe /f. (Buffalo)

 

[CLAYTON]

Once you added the power pup it aint "stock"and neither are your temps



Bob

My bad I should have read his sig...

 

[phicks]

Use the gray matter between your ears, take your foot out of it.

 

[Scrappy]

Hey everyone. I tow a 26' toy hauler that weighs about 8500 lbs. up a 6% grade going up north to the Flagstaff area. I've towed with out gauges and the truck did fine. Now I have gauges. I put on the cruise control like I always have, but this time I can see that my pyro shows 1500 degrees. I would think that the computer or something would sense this heat and defuel. If this excessive heat is so critical wouldn't the truck come with a pyro? I have friends with Duramxes that tow much larger trailers, with out gauges, and say that sometimes they have the pedal floored. This has to build some major heat. What do you guys make of all this?

Thanks for any comments.

You are NOT stock, the power pup will push the EGT's up alot especially on the higher settings. the computer does not see the EGT's that the motor produces so it cannot defuelbased on that. you should not go above 1350 degrees for extended periods (towing up long grades). short bursts above 1350 won't hurt though. you have to drive by egt(let up on the throttle to lower EGT's) if you want to tow with the program on the higher settings. IMHO these trucks should come with pyro and boost gauges from the factory. My firs performance addition was gauges for this reason.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

You need more turbo with heavy towing and the extra fueling.

 

[TCluff]

If the engine is not smart enough to back off when the EGT is dangerously high, then I sure wouldn't be using cruise control when going up hill.

how can the truck possibly tell what the exhaust temps are if it doesnt have a factory pyrometer linked to the engine ecm?, also i dont see an outlook m onitor in his sig :-{}

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

The engine control module interpolates likely egt from parameters it monitors, and defuels accordingly. However it assumes stock fueling, including injectors and lack of fueling boxes.

 

[Devan Manis]

The engine control module interpolates likely egt from parameters it monitors, and defuels accordingly. However it assumes stock fueling, including injectors and lack of fueling boxes.

could this be based off of ECT(not as much), MAP, and IAT and load?

 

[MCabrera]

Sorry guys, I am not able to check the site often. For this trip I put the Power Pup back to stock. I have heard that the stock program does not really bring the computer to "true stock" programing.

 

[LesStallings]

I've been across the Flagstaff area eight times in the last six months. On my first round trip I was stock and EGTs would reach 1,200°F on the hardest climbs. If I downshifted into 5th. I could hit 1,300°F if I was not paying attention.



With the EZ on Level 3 and running heavy, I can reach and exceed 1,250°F in 6th gear. On the most extreme climbs, I downshift into 5th gear and drive by EGTs. I've joked that I need a cruise control that maintains 1,250°F, not a set speed.

 

[thejeepdude]

With the EZ on Level 3 and running heavy, I can reach and exceed 1,250°F in 6th gear. On the most extreme climbs, I downshift into 5th gear and drive by EGTs. I've joked that I need a cruise control that maintains 1,250°F, not a set speed.

Does that really worry you? An '04 can tolerate 1300 degrees with ease. Even bursts of 1400 are no big deal. My truck likes to settle in around 1300 on a good hard grade and I don't worry a bit.

 

[phicks]

Let's take a look at this in common sense mode. Load your truck as if you were heading out for a weekend, and head to a scale. We are looking for "wet" weight which is full of fuel,driver,passenger,kids,dogs,everything you put in that truck will be sitting on the scale. More than likely you will be around 8,250 lbs. Now load the trailer up, (we are looking for wet weight), full of water,propane, all the toys,food, everthing. Head back to the scale and weigh with truck connected. Subtract total weight from truck weight and that will give you wet weight of the trailer.

You mentioned it weighs about 8500 lbs, where did that number come from? Did you weigh it? Or is this a number you guesstimated?

I will bet you have a total weight around 17,000 lbs. +/-

Pulling a 6% grade in cruise, weighing 17,000 lbs, hmmmm do any members see a problem here? Of course you are going to generate heat. Are you listening to your engine?

To be quite honest you are abusing your equipment.

 

[MCabrera]

Phicks. I understand what you are saying in your posts about the total weight. The problem is that I put the Power Pup back to stock and I'm still seeing these high temps. If the truck is really stock, then I shouldn't see so high egt's. As you can see the other members are reporting lower temps with a stock set up and in similar road conditions. Now, lets just say that I never got gauges. How would I know how hard to push it. Dodge doesn't require anyone to have a pyro. A lot of people tow much heavier with out gauges. I see farmers and ranchers do it all the time and they have many trucks ranging in years. I do agree we all should have gauges just to be safe though.

 

[thejeepdude]

Pulling a 6% grade in cruise, weighing 17,000 lbs, hmmmm do any members see a problem here? Of course you are going to generate heat. Are you listening to your engine?

To be quite honest you are abusing your equipment.

To be quite honest, I disagree with your assessment. I have pulled a GVWR of 17000lbs over the sierras on cruise several times. That is the reason I bought this truck. As a matter of fact, that's why I bought my '99 with the inferior 47RE and weaker motor, and even it did the job adequately (with 275RV injectors). Sure, blindly doing so and trying to flog the engine to death on every grade might be abuse, but at 60mph, cruising over the sierras, inculding many 6% and higher grades, is just a normal workout for this truck. These trucks are not meant to be babied!! And, if by chance, I roast my transmission working the truck "too hard", you can bet the engine is just fine (as long as EGT's are watched), and I look forward to towing with the inevitable modified transmission when that time comes. Until then, I plan to use my truck what it was for... pulling tons of weight over the mountains while passing all the inferior vehicles on the road. :-laf

 

[1Tufdsl]

MCabrera, I wonder if your situation is a testament to the fact that downloaders like the BDDL don't really put the same stock program back on to the ECM. I've been tempted by the BBDL unit myself but I've always been concerned about re-programming the ECM with software from a third party that isn't coming from Dodge/Cummins.