What ECTs EOTs and Trans temsp are you guys seeng while towing? i was towing about 8k lbs yesterday and i had an 216 EOT, ECT was 209 and trans was in the 180s. That was driving 65mph.

 

Depends greatly on time of year, tow weight and wind. I see those numbers on an easier tow though.

 

I have an app for my phone that I use with my ODB wifi reader to read and monitor temps. I don't want to put a new EGT probe in and would like to use the ones that are already on there. I'm doing the cat/dpf delete and bought it with the bungs so I could do this. What is a good temp that far back for towing? I tow a 12k fifth wheel. Also what are good ranges for EOT, ECT, and Trans temp? Those three are my main ones that I monitor. Boost is another.

 

You don't want to see oil and coolant get much more than 10 degrees apart for extended periods. Towing heavy; uphills, summer etc etc I've seen them hit 20 degrees apart but usually always kicks the fan on and gets the oil cooled back down in short order. I rarely see the tranny get above the 180's, runs 160's if not towing IIRC.

My minimax is utilizing EG probe 1 which I think is the pre emissions probe and I've seen 1200-1300 towing hard. IIRC I disconnected the rear probe when I deleted so it can't be that one. I know I have touched 1400 a time or two for a very short period. We are talking 25K+ GCVW and large hills over 6K' elevation.

Towing normally I am in the 205 range EOT and ECT, oil is always higher by 5-8. It is also important to know where you run empty with no trailer. I was around 195 before I pulled all the radiator and coolers and cleaned the crap out between them. That dropped me into the 180's. If you start hitting 230 that is when the fan kicks in, and in my case the mini max starts defueling. All on no power tune.

 

Thank you. Now I can set up Dashcommand with these parameters.

 

Those are very mild and not an issue.

Here is some basis info i can share about towing.

IMO, 1300-1350 max EGT sustained and thats only tell oil temps get to 230, if your oil gets over 230 you need to back out of it, 230 degree+ oil temps with EGTS over 1300 degrees= motor toast, why because the oil cooling efficiency to the pistons is gone and the pistons will heat soak and start to melt.

The best EGT is one you can maintain without the oil and coolants temps steadily rising, every load is different and every truck is different. My suggestion is find the sweet spot in that range and you will never have an issue.

If you are towing aggressive and your water and oil are steadily climbing past 225-227 with out cooling back down to 215-220 time to time you are pushing the truck to hard. I have towed where my truck sat at 220 coolant temp, 232 oil temp and around 1250- EGT, i towed like this for 19 miles up a 7% percent grade and had no issue. These trucks run a fine line between hot and normal you usually wont even here the fan come on tell 225-227 coolant temp.


Either way if the temps climb and don't stop there is no question you are going to overheat. Find a sweet stop, there are times when i tow real heavy i only tow a 6 or 7% grade at 35 MPH, i could pull the same hill 65 with a GVW around 27,000-32,000 GVW with power i have available but i know the truck would just over heat so i just pick a speed that the truck can handle and stay cool and i know i will make it to the top even if its 118 degrees outside. I really don't care if it takes me another 20 mins to get to my destination. Its not worth melting down a 16,000-18,000 dollar engine.

One thing not covered is the trans temps. I wouldn't push the trans past 215-220 the same they applies to your trans as well, you need to tow at a speed the trans can cool aswell. My preferred trans temp - 180-195 at those temps your trans will last a long time with no issues, when you get to the 215-220 i personally feel that your not starting to limit the life of your trans. I don't claim to be a pro on this but i can tell you my trans now has 120,000 miles still original and i have ran a 210 HP tow tune since the truck has had 10,000 miles on it. The only thing i have had to do is replace the factory torque converter. I would only recommend a bigger trans pan like Mag-hytec if you are going to add an external cooler with a fan, the bigger pan without additional cooling will only prolong the time it takes the trans to heat up and that a really long time to get it cooled back down.

Last but not least is the rear end. Nobody knows cause there is not a gauge to monitor it, i have checked the axle temp with a heat gun after a hard pull the same 19 mile grade i referenced above and i have seen the temps up at 220-235. Thats after watching engine temps and not pushing the truck real hard, i could only imagine the temps if you pushed it hard. I would highly recommend a larger capacity diff cover like Mag-hytec, a similar situation after the high capacity diff cover installed the temps where only 195-200.

 

The guy who IS the pro on these has said repeatedly what these transmissions can take. Mark Kovalsky has said on more than a few occasions you can run the transmission as high as 230° forever and never see reduced component life. You can run as high as 250° for as much as a half hour at a time. If it were my truck I'd pull off as it climbed north of 235° and let it cool. But with how good these coolers are I don't know how that would even be possible with a properly functioning cooling circuit.

Not trying to call you out, but where are you getting the rest of your info from? 220° oil temp is just not that high for most engines, why would the 6.4L be any different? Not saying you're wrong, but it just doesn't sound right to me. Do you have a source for this?

 

Tom i think you miss my point, its not about max temps its about temps the engine or trans sustain without continuously rising. But i can elaborate.

Im not going to challenge those temps if Mark says it can be done. I do value Marks opinion as he helped me with information when i built my own custom trans cooler that works great and I'm sure he has factual data to back up those temps if your numbers are in fact correct. With that being said i have never seen mark recommend running your trans at those temps. My personal preference is much lower and i stand behind it, the only factual info i have is the amount of towing i personally have done which is about 75% or more of the trucks life and the trans is just as strong as the day i bought the truck. Just a look at my gallery and you can see the loads i consider tough.

Would you not agree if you are towing and your temps are rising without reaching a stoping point that you are going to over heat the engine or the trans. I stand behind my statement if you are running the truck at a point that it can not maintain a reasonable temp the truck will overheat and you will be forced to stop to allow it to cool or you will damage something and have costly repairs.

I ask you then is it even necessary to push the truck this hard considering the HIGH cost to repair them. Even if the truck is stock and you push it to limp mod or to the point where it forces you to stop how much have you gained. By the time you have to sit and wait you lost any time you thought you gained pushing the truck to hard. When the trans or engine coolant reach 230 the gauge will move from normal to hot very quickly probably faster then you can pull over. I have experienced this with my trans reaching 230 then 240 as i was sitting on the side of the road waiting for it to cool. It took 10-15 mins to cool down. These trans preform well and run cool when the converter is locked up, once it unlocks the temps spike very quickly with factory gauges you don't know tell the trans is to hot in my opinion.

All my information is based on personal experience towing with not just diesel pickups but over the trucks as well, the fundamentals are very basic and can be applied to any vehicle towing. I don't need an article or manufacture to explain this to me in the real world. Personally i like to share real time experience to our members that i know works not any article or statement made by someone that may not have much experience behind the wheel towing or managing engine temps during extended towing conditions. I am and always have been conservative when towing, its better to be safe and always make it to you destination then push it and have problems on the road.

If you wish to tell people there is no problem to push an engine or trans to its mechanical limits when towing i truly have no problem with that this is a public forum and your allowed to that but i simply do not concur. I don't just drive these trucks i work on them as well i have seen what excessive heat does to them.

 

For the most part rising temperatures can be concerning, and I'm certainly not suggesting pushing an expensive piece of equipment to its limit. Simply trying to understand the perspective behind your numbers, that's all. Without having a published set of tolerances for the different temperatures I would be inclined to take it easy if in doubt. I'd be more worried about 220+ coolant temperature than oil though.

How did you get your transmission to 230? I think it would take a pretty extreme situation, the factory transmission cooler seems to do an outstanding job for most people.

 

When the trans got hot, i was actually not towing a real heavy load, i had my gooseneck which is 7,000 LBS and a mini-ex probably 8,000 lbs so all together maybe 15,000. Outside temps where about 108-110. We where working near hover dam and the traffic into boulder city was backed up stop and go. From the dam to boulder city its a decent pull maybe 5% or so for 5-8 miles give or take. The trans overheated from the stop and go and the constant take offs.

I have had a similar problem in stop and go traffic in town in the summer when its 110-115 degrees out. When I'm loaded at 20-23K trailer weight the trans would warm up and average around 220-228 and sometimes hit 230+ causing the gauge to indicate hot. At the lights it just would not cool off fast enough which pushed me to install an external cooler. After the cooler was installed i never seen more then 200-205 under the same conditions.

The very same load would only be around 172-180 trans temp towing on the flats at 65-70 with the converter locked. I have never had temperature issue while the converter is locked, only when it is unlocked which stands to reason cause thats when the most heat is generated.