The truck came with a Banks EGT gauge installed, but it didn't work. Banks' tech support and a few members here helped me troubleshoot it down to a bad thermocouple, so I ordered one up (PN 63042 for those curious) and installed it tonight.

I need to have a 'conversation' with the 'gentleman' at Banks who decided on the location of this thermocouple that involves a room with no doors and a baseball bat, but I got it in. I ended up using the new TC with the old fitting still in the housing because it was seized in there pretty good and I couldn't get any leverage on it where I didn't have to worry about stripping it. Oh, and who the hell wires something where you have two wires, one is red, and it ISN'T positive? One's red, one's yellow. I hooked them up to the back of the gauge with the red one on the '+' terminal, and nothing read. Flipped them around and TADA!

Anywho, this thermocouple is in the stock location for the Banks Sidewinder, which is immediately upstream of the turbo. What sort of readings should I be looking for? A quick jaunt down the road showed just a bit over 600° at WOT and an idle temp of 275-300°. Then again, she may not have been COMPLETELY up to temp so I'll drive her around the next few days and report back.

Overall, these temps seem low, but I have no baseline for comparison. I also don't have an easy way to throw a real load on her and see what she maxes out at, unless anyone here has a creative way to simulate these conditions in an empty truck.

Any input is appreciated!

Mike

 

Nevermind. Found the answer on Page 16 of the Owner's Manual seen here:

http://assets.bankspower.com/manuals...310-v3-web.pdf

Mike

 

I can't recommend a safe way to test full load that wouldn't potentially compromise the braking system, torque converter or clutch. All I can say is that you should be very conservative with your EGTs until you can get a real load on her and do a long hill run. If the most you can get is 600F going up a long hill with the hammer down, then I would stay there for now. The stock Banks location is a few hundred degrees off from the suggested #8 manifold location of the thermocouple. Let's assume you are really getting 750F EGTs or so and that would be acceptable for now. Under heavy loads, EGTs will rise quite a bit further than unloaded.

 

They say 1200 is absolute max, that is at exhaust manifold. I have been told that post turbo temps are going to to read upto 200 degrees lower than right at the exhaust port/manifold. I am reading post turbo right now, am installing another pyro in exhaust manifold. I am going to compare and post the actual differances in EGT temp at both locations.

P.S.
I saw 1200 post turbo pulling a tractor up a long grade. Next day engine blew all it oil out every seal and hole it had. This is piston #6 (rust is from sitting outside while I built new motor). Hole is where compresion/exhaust was going into crankcase.

 

the banks thermocouple mounts PRE TURBO.
it is mounted in the turbo pedestal between the up pipes and turbo. anything under 1000
degrees is safe.

 

Yes see it now, was just going by 1st post said it was in downpipe, if he remembered correctly.

 

Updated original post with newfound knowledge. Wouldn't want someone searching later to get confused.

Mike

 

Awesome! i am reading POST turbo in the mount that came in the banks downpipe for stock ford turbos, very curious what differencs you will see from pre and post turbo i have always heard 300degrees

 

loaded heavy im peaking 900 tops up hills and that's pretty brief peaks too.
400-600ish on the flats,even loaded heavy.but she's just kinda dubbing along with 0 psi @ 1350 rpms @ 45mph granny driving.when im "really moving" @ 55mph it's not any different.

banks sidewinder,2nd gen w/ waste gate.probe in stock location in the up pipe/turbo pedestal.banks/dynafact gauge.

 

Oh yeah. This thread........

So, here's a follow-up. I took the truck to my latest track day at Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch in Pahrump, NV. That's around 300 miles one way. I had about 1500lbs of extra stuff between the two motorcycles loaded in the bed, all our gear, and our fat asses.

On the way there, I kept her dialed in somewhere between 70-75 all the way until we hit Barstow. The temps were hanging at 400-600 on the flats. Later on I decided to cap her at about 70 just because I hate hearing her scream for that long (those of you with 4.10s are probably laughing right now, I know). This didn't drop the EGTs a ton. On inclines, though, I started to learn some lessons:

1) The severity of the grade doesn't seem to have as much effect on EGTs as the length of the grade. I could drop the hammer in 5th going up some fairly steep ones, but as long as it was a short stint, the EGTs barely had time to climb over 700. But, on long grades (even relatively mild ones), the EGTs would creep steadily up. I saw 900 a few times, and even 1000 on the long incline up I-15N into Apple Valley (about 10-12 miles at some grade I cannot remember. 6% maybe?). It had me freaked, but when I got to Pahrump and had time to research it online, I found the answer.......

2) DOWNSHIFT!!!! So I had read this before but didn't really understand the concept. I always figured if the engine wasn't struggling (which it definitely wasn't on ANY of the grades), then just leave it in 5th and let that lovely low-end diesel torque do its thing. Typical gasser mentality, I know. But the EGTs hitting 900-1000° with such a light load bothered me, so I gave it a shot. Wow, there's the difference! A quick drop into fourth and those temps never got past 700 the whole way home. Granted, it's more downhill than up on the way back, but still. Oh, and this is also where I started to get my first real experience with rolling coal. It wasn't an extreme amount, but definitely noticeable and gave me a little chuckle. Of course, the engine sounds like you're killing it (to my ears, at least), but the EGTs suggest the exact opposite. It's also fun to have all that power easily on-hand. One could get a complex, lol. The only stupid/annoying part about it was that my EGT gauge doesn't light up right now, so once the sun went down I had to have my little brother use a flashlight on it every time we started heading up the hill. A bit comical, but obviously something I need to remedy.

So, as I sit here and re-read the Banks manual I gave the link to earlier, I would say that my results are directly in line with what they say you should see. That means someone correctly cranked up the fuel on the IP when they installed the kit (I'm guessing) and also means I won't be playing with that any time soon.

Mike

 

luckily here in Maine,our hills are very steep but short.so EGT's are pretty easy to keep under control i see.
if you added an intercooler,your economy would climb nice for ya,because you'd probably be able to keep her in OD much longer.
many on oil burners have added cowl induction to their turbo trucks and claim something like 300 degree drops in EGT's.i already have this,so can't compare to before or anything.just a suggestion.making her rev extra to keep EGT's under control is the long term pricier method.

 

i noticed 0 EGT difference between factory intake tube and cowl induction. although i did not have a working turbo at the time so that might change things.