EGT's w/ heavy towing & unmodified truck ?

[zman]

I'm far from stock, but I'm curious to know what kind of sustained & maximum pre-turbo EGT's you guys are seeing when towing long distance with a 12,000 - 14,000 pound trailer and an unmodified truck. I'm looking for info when pulling hills, running on the flats, and during heavy acceleration.



Just trying to figure out how much higher my EGT's are running with my mods - if higher at all. I certainly don't want to see a melt-down... TIA



Steve

 

[RustyJC]

When we were stock, pulling our 13,500 lb 5th wheel (about 21,380 GCVW) we ran a max of 22 PSIG boost and max pre-turbo EGT's of 1250 to an occasional 1300 degF on hills. On the flats at 65 MPH, we were around 10-12 PSIG boost and 800 degF EGT.



With our mods (BHAF, Edge EZ with boost elbow, 4" exhaust), max boost is 31 PSIG and max EGT is 1050 degF on the hills. On the flats, boost is about the same as stock, but EGT's are 650-700 degF. Overall, fuel economy is up around 10% and towing power is up a bunch.



Does this help?



Rusty

 

[zman]

Rusty -



Yep, that's the kind of info I'm looking for...



Steve

 

[One Old Dog]

egt's

That's what mine were reading before i put on the napa 2790 air filter. now the most it get is a little over 900 on any hill you pick. Get on it does make a difference. Joe

 

[RustyJC]

Re: egt's

Originally posted by One Old Dog

That's what mine were reading before i put on the napa 2790 air filter. now the most it get is a little over 900 on any hill you pick.

I'm assuming you must be measuring post-turbo. I was running 1250 degF pre-turbo even after adding the BHAF (NAPA 2790) when towing. I only saw at most 50 degF difference going from the stock air filter to the BHAF with no other changes from stock.



Rusty

 

[zman]

What kind of maximum sustained temps are you seeing? I guess I don't worry too much about the occasional spikes, but I do worry about extended periods of high EGT's. In other words, how long can I go at 850* pre-turbo vs 1050* vs 1250* etc. ? I asked for info on what people are seeing on their stock trucks to see how much hotter I'm running than stock in various situations. Thanks.



Steve

 

[RustyJC]

Steve,



I believe Cummins says 1250 degF is the maximum continuous pre-turbo EGT they recommend (I'm certainly open to correction on this as I'm going from memory). If this is the case, there is no theoretical time limit for operation at 1250 degF. Having said that, would continuous operation at 1250 degF result in shortening the engine life as compared to, say, 950 degF? Certainly it would, although I don't know anyone who could quantify exactly how much.



Rusty

 

[David Muench]

Originally posted by RustyJC

With our mods (BHAF, Edge EZ with boost elbow, 4" exhaust), max boost is 31 PSIG and max EGT is 1050 degF on the hills. On the flats, boost is about the same as stock, but EGT's are 650-700 degF. Overall, fuel economy is up around 10% and towing power is up a bunch.

How's your clutch (still the stock one I assume)? I've got a similar setup, minus the EZ, and I tow a similar amount. I've been avoiding any power upgrades so far because I don't want to have to replace the stock clutch for a long while.

 

[RustyJC]

David,



Stock clutch is OK for now. Grandpappy and Okie-Go are running the same setup as me (except they both have 3. 54 rear axles) with the exception of injectors. I'm waiting to see how their clutches hold up before I take that step with mine.



Although I'm sure there are exceptions, the general experience is that the ETH/DEE can handle the EZ by itself with no clutch problems. If you add the EZ plus injectors, you may be looking at a clutch as well!



Rusty

 

[David Muench]

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I should be around 25-30k by next summer, and will have to start mulling my options.

 

[dmurdock]

Last summer towing the 5'er to colorado, I hit a stretch of road outside of amarillo that was pretty straight and had a slight uphill grade... of course there was a monster headwind (and the trailer is pretty high). My egt's sat a hair over 1200 for over an hour. . if I floored it they would go to almost 1500 (needless to say, I didn't floor it). Oh yeah, the temp outside was about 97.

 

[Strick-9]

This may not be extremely relevant, but my good friend pulls a big 5th wheel from Texas to Colorado every summer.



He had a bone stock Ford Powerstroke and his EGT's were 1400° preturbo during the pull. (several miles)



That info made both of us relax a little about the horrible damage done to your engine above 1250° EGT. I know it's a Powerstroke, but it still has exhaust valves and a turbo made of basically the same material as a cummins.



Some people really get nervous about EGT and have this idea that 1250° is safe and 1260° is terrible and damaging to your engine. It just isn't so.



-Chris

 

[dewdo]

If you have an automatic I would be more concerned with the transmission temperature. If you don't have a guage for it I would have one installed prior to making any prolonged towing in the mountains. Even more so if you have an exhaust brake.



Dewdo in the other Washington

 

[GLASMITHS]

egts'

Mr Strick-9



I do believe that the biggest concern is not the valves and trubo, it is the fact that the pistons will melt over 1250 degrees. Yes I know they are oil cooled, but why run against the line all the time?

 

[milto]

Running STD.



Pulling 5th wheel



EGT 1000

Boost 10

transmission 220



Empty 65mph



EGT 800

Boost 6

transmission 210



Have dipstick transmission sensor

 

[Big MAK]

Pulling 14,000 lbs with EGT's measured pre-turbo and cruise set on low 70's it'll hover 900-1000 with short duration spike to 1200 cresting hills w/o slowing. vroom vroom



Important thing to bomb: exhaust. I have 4" turbo down with 4" muffler too (ATS). Add 200 degrees to everything quoted here if don't have an after-market exhaust.



Ustacould hit 1550 w/ DDIII's (if asked for it); now seems to max out at 1250 with 275's and powermax original (even if drive floored). A totally perfect setup for my purposes. No smoke even when lug a little or stand on it. Max boost 34lbs; which it hits all the time towing and cresting hills.



I shouldn't read this stinkin' forum. Now I want to hook up and hit the road... .

 

[RHARVEY]

I'm ready for a road trip.....



Last year round trip to Arkansas. . 25' 5er, with wing on the truck to help with head winds. I saw a number of miles between 700-850(head winds). I seen 1250 1 time, but the rest of the time was around 1100-1150 on a couple of the pulls.

Other than that,,the cruise was set on 65. . and the ride was so sweet. .



Rick

 

[Ramboy]

Zman,

I just returned from a trip to Calif. and back grossing over 24K. There are some pretty good climbs between here and there and return. Flat highway, I would run 65mph in O. D. at about 950*. Out of O. D. , it was about 850*. When I came to a climb that was a challenge, I found that you can hit 1200* real fast but take it out of O. D. and Boost and EGT's drop down to a comfortable range and you can still travel at Interstate speeds.

Phil