Ok, my turn.

Either this site or another Ford truck site someone asked me why I idle my engine so long before shut down. The conversation led to watching the EGT’s and shut down below 350 degrees if I’m correct.

I do not have an EGT on my truck. I do not tow at this time. The truck is my back and forth to work vehicle (100 miles round trip Monday to Friday).

I did spend the retail price for a turbo cool-down timer. I could care less about the pre and post turbo exhaust temperatures. I AM concerned about the life and health of the turbo bearing and I do not want to replace the turbo if I do not have to. That being said, I allow the engine to idle for 6-9 minutes via the timer every time I get out of the vehicle.

As an aside:
I have had a dead pedal issue on this vehicle about 2000 miles ago. I did find the exhaust pressure sensor opening plugged up half way with carbon. I did replace the sensor and the steel tube feeding exhaust gas to the sensor. The sensor tube was slightly plugged up as well. When I get around to it I will clean the carbon from the old tube. I will place the tube and sensor under a periodic inspection/maintenance/replacement program.

I do have the seals and gasket for the EGR. I would like to remove the EGR valve and clean it but have been too lazy to do this since I have had no other dead pedal or other driveability issues. Once I remove the EGR and clean it I will then place this component as well under a periodic inspection/maintenance/replacement program.

 

I use the X-Monitor on my truck along with the CES (cool engine shutdown) module. I have it set to keep the motor running until the preturbo EGT drops to 350 deg.

Most of the time running around town the turbo temp will be below 350 deg by the time I pull in to a parking space. The notable exception is pulling into my driveway after the 400+ climb up a 10%+ grade. My driveway is a block off the street so the motor doesn't get much of a chance to cool down before I back the truck up the drive. In this case it sometimes takes the truck 15 seconds or so to drop down to 350 deg and turn off.

I've never had the truck take more than a couple minutes to get down to 350 deg even when pulling my 10,000 lb trailer up the hills around here. Generally by the time I've pulled into what ever parking location or diesel fuel stop I'm using the truck is already down to a safe temp.

The engine is an amazing at heat transfer. It's interesting to watch it go from EGTs that were in the 1100 range for several minutes while pulling a big grade, back down to EGTs only 20 deg or so above the outside ambient temp when coming down the other side of the grade with the tranny in T/H mode holding back the trailer. It is incredible how fast the EGTs drop.

To let the truck idle down for more than a few minutes after doing simple round town driving won't hurt anything but really isn't necessary most of the time, and often times isn't really necessary even when stopping after pulling a load. Best thing to do is put a pyrometer on your truck and see for yourself.

 

After reading some of the posts in this thread, I'd like to encourage everyone to use the "Report Bad Post" and "Reputation" buttons.

You guys are doing a good job of keeping things in line but sometimes it's helpful to have a moderator step in.

I am busy enough at work and home that I can't watch every post in every thread so clicking on the report bad post button - it's the red triangle icon with an exclamation mark inside and is located in the upper right hand side of each post - is a good way of alerting the moderator(s) for a given forum that there's a post or thread getting out of hand.

Similarly, using the Reputation button - it is the scale icon in the upper right hand side of the post next to the report bad post button - is a good way of letting another user know that they've made a stinker of a post or that they've said something you find especially helpful.

Daryl

 

The problem is the pyrometer reads exhaust temp and you can infer exhaust manifold temps and possibly turbine temps. The pyrometer does not read turbo bearing temps or turbo bearing oil temps. I'm concerned about the bearing temps and I do not have a gauge to directly read the bearing temps.

The turbo spins as long as the engine is running even at idle. The turbo can spin as fast as what...100,000rpm's. I prefer to idle the engine that long prior to shut down. Each to his own.

Thanks for letting me learn and enjoy this site.

 

Skweeker,
If you perform an EGR removal and cleaning procedure please take pics and do a write up for the tech folder so other guys can use your experience as a resource.

 

The only digital camera I have is part of my camcorder. If and when I take the unit off I'll try to take some picks.

 

Last time I was at the dealer...they handed me what looked like a worm gear spiral round thing...and told me it was the turbo on an f-350 that was "blown out of the tail pipe". It looked all chewed up. That's scary.

 

So what can you get (and where) to measure the temp of your turbo? I've ordered my first Diesel and this is the first I've ever heard about having to let them cool before turning off. I've learned SO much from this site!!!!
Also, if I do get something to measure temp, is it easy to install or should the dealer do it?

 

The owners manual for my 03 6.0 psd says to let the engine idle for 7 to 10 minutes after running at freeway speeds or doing any heavy hauling before shutting the engine off.

 

I have the X-Monitor digital gauge package. Autometer and others make analog units that some people prefer. I liked the X-Monitor for a number of reasons, first being that I got to keep my door pillar handle. The X-Monitor can also work with an optional cool engine shut down module that keeps the truck running till the EGT has cooled to your specified shutdown temp.

Do a search on pyro or pryometer or EGT and you'll get lots of posts to read.

 

Thanks Daryl! I also did a web-search for x-monitor. Pretty slick looking. On a scale of 1-10 how hard is it to install yourself (my auto experience is pretty limited to changing oil, rotate tires, etc. Just the basics).