Just to report back how my annual driving to the west wentand to hear your opinions.
I did our yearly thing last week to Salt Lake city. Stayed therefor 3 days and drove to Grand Teton and camped there for an entire week. It’sbeen wonderful. Night temperature in near Yellow Stone reached 31 degree! Thisis the first trip since I deleted my little AFE reusable filter and put on thegiant Napa 6637 filter.

What I need to hear from you guys is if my driving habit ofstaying in the orange range of the exhaust temp gauge is healthy when climbingthe mountain passes. I’d say, about half of the time in the mountains, it’s inthat range (1050 to 1200 degrees) and the other half below 1050. Also, half wayinto the trip, I noticed that the clamp for the new filter came loose and Ihave to tighten it up again. Other than that, the truck is as happy as it canbe pulling a 28 feet 5th wheel weighing under 8000 Lb.

 

I was told by some very knowledgeable and reputable people around here that the truck can run all day at 1250 degrees. But, I've often still wondered the same so will be very interested to hear the replies.

For what its worth, I spend a lot of time in the yellow/orange when I'm towing as well, and have been for probably 6 or 7 years now.

 

Subscribed....

 

Subscribed also.

 

Nobody has any comments on this question?

 

I have run for hours on end at 1200 degrees, when towing i watch for the red light in my gauge

 

This is tough to answer because there is no definitive yes or no answer.

There are so many variables when considering EGT range when monitoring the gauge.

As a general rule of thumb though, at or below ~1250 you can sustain for extended periods of time without causing damage. Now, it does not take long to go from 1250 to 1300+ and get into the dangerous area. There are many guys that run their trucks into the 1300 range without issue, but that is not for me and I will not let that happen.

There is a very fine line between 1250 and 1300 and I feel I do a good job of keeping my EGT's low (~1100 when towing heavy up a grade) by using the GH heavy tow tune, shifting appropriately (ZF6 manual) and keeping momentum going up a grade instead of trying to build it climbing.

 

I love towing in dp 60t tune. It muscles through the rolling hills with ease without jumping out of overdrive. The problem is, EGT climb without me knowing it cause we are chatting up a storm and I am not staring at the gauge. The egt will Climb quick, up and over of my person conform level of 1200. When that happens I bump off cruise and give into gravity slowing down. If I don't feel like paying attention to the egt gauge, I put it in stock tune and it defuels or dumps out of overdrive at 1200 which I don't like either. Pick your poison. The occasional time above 1200 not paying attention, Or the jumping out of overdrive when you not paying attention scaring the crap out of you and can't be good either.


Need to invent something that ties into egt or possibly the boost pressure. I noticed and can almost predict the jump out of overdrive staring at my egt or boost gauge. In my opionion I would like a way to kick off cruise control above 1200 degrees . I would rather run In 60t. love that tune. And if the hill is just to much, The truck just slows down dropping cruise control and I could just grab the peddle with my foot thanking it for protecting itself. if that makes sense, not good with explaining.

 

On my truck, I don't even shift out of 4th gear to 5th until I am doing 60 MPH or more when I am towing. I drive more by the RPM gauge than the MPH gauge when towing heavy.

I know the heavy tow tune from GH is not that much different in regards to how the truck responds to throttle input, but there is a big difference in EGT's opposed to running the daily driver/tow tune.

 

I "clocked" my EGT gauge so 1000 was straight up. This makes it easier to notice once it is past straight up I start paying attention. I may turn it a little more to 1100 or 1200 and see if I like that better. edit ignore the horrible fitting glowshift pod.

Another option is Auberins Instruments Digital EGT Gauge with TC-KEGT Probe [Combo-EGT] - $86.00 : auberins.com, Temperature control solutions for home and industry you can wire some of the gauges they sell to an external alarm ie light or buzzer. I am unsure if the one i linked will support that function or not. I read a thread about them before on FTE and it looked like a good solution for someone that likes digital readouts.
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According to a source I once read - 1250 degrees F for up to two minutes before heat soak reaches a point where you are actually "mistreating" the metal. The accuracy of this info is beyond my knowledge, but I find it interesting the red line is right on 1250 degrees on my ISSPRO EV2 gauges - and that's coincidentally where the factory alarm is set. Anything below that is really "green" but the yellow is there as a means to tell you to pay closer attention until you're out of whatever you're in.

I noticed another coincidence the other day, while towing heavy: My EGTs just sneak up on 1200 degrees F and my Cody tow tune downshifts automatically. I'm not saying the tune knows the EGT... I'm saying Cody knows what the truck likes and doesn't like and his tunes keep the truck happy without a lot of effort from me.

 

1250 is the spot to pay attention, however if only sustained for a short period, no problem.

I tow heavy and often get and stay there for 5 to 10 minutes.

Downshifting to keep the revs up should seem to increase the egt but in most cases, it spins the turbo up a notch and the gauge drops radically.

Doesn't sound scientifically possible but that's the way it is.

Denny

 

I struggled with this strategy when I first bought my truck 3.5 years ago. I had always been a gas fuel driver and this was my first diesel, let alone turbo diesel.

I had to change my driving style and all has been well ever since.

 

I'll throw my .02
Given I'm towing in an obs but same set up as as you guys minus my 160/0 injectors, and the stock 1.15 exhaust housing SPX wheel. IMO I think we can go all day at 1200° with out any concerns, anything above I'm ify after all the melting point of aluminum is at 1221° imagine doing 1250° for a couple of hours, I'm sure there's going to be damage cause in the long run.

My truck towing ETG sweet spot has been at 1100-1500° right at 1900 rpm to 2000rpm @ 7-10 psi I have 3.55 with 33" tires, so I'm doing 72-75 mph lol.... in a grade it's obvious if I don't maintain that rpm egts will climb way past 1300° so my OD button has to get pressed if I'm not doing that rpm/speed , once pressed I can hit boost to 31-35 psi and immediately egts go down to 1100-1200° (thanks to the Wildman's tunes which for some reason other members have experience the opposite of me) have worked great in my set up.

 

I can't quite pin point it but my gut tells me different. My gut tells me that the higher the revs the lower the egt's. Maybe its just my decades of driving diesels and knowing where they run best. My experience and my gut tell me that somewhere around 3/4 of your top RPM's is where you get the best performance out of your diesel under load.