This summer traveling across the Mojave desert with outside temps reaching 114, I was towing a mid sized trailer, bone stock truck, and no aftermarket gagues. What was entirely out of the ordinary was the water temp gague MOVING, as I never saw that even budge, but first I heard the engine fan came on which got my attention! Thinking that this is NOT the place for a break down. This of course is based upon the first time ever towed with 3,000 miles on the ODO. So I assume that I got the thing "up to operating temp.".

I've been noticing several posts on various threads regarding pyro temps ,
Some talk about 1200 degrees, others speak of 1600-1800 degrees onward up to tapping the peg on a 2000 degree dial!
Evidently there are those out there who might have and need a 2000 degree gague while I noticed others have installed a 1600 deg. gague.

So, Which one of these gagues is the one for the guy that has stock injectors, stock turbo, etc. The guy that may max out the towing capacity of the truck or the guy towing 10K uphill that still wants to see his gague in the range of the dial face?
Are there guys out there that are continually experiencing at near maxed out meters on a 1600 degree gague?

The reason that I ask this is that for one, I believe this EGT to be one of the most critical tempratures on the rig, and if a guy dragging 10K pounds across country going to be always looking at a nearly maxed out 1600 degree dial or should a guy consider the 2000 degree option?

 

It all depends on what you want. If your running 1600 degrees your already doing damage and if you could hit 2000 degrees I would say your not going to need that gauge anymore anyway. It is recommended that once you hit 1200 degrees you start backing off the power to cool that thing down. Simply put, you should'nt need more than a 1600 degree gauge because you should never hit 1600 degrees.

 

yup--1600* is all you should ever need for normal street/highway use. If it gets that hot on stock programming you have major problems anyway. I couldn't get over 1100 on stock programming running flat out, but then I cheat--LOL.

 

The only time I come close or surpass the 1500deg mark is while Im unloaded with a hot file loaded...railing on the freeway with my foot in it....I won't see that towing because I load the tow tune in and that usually won't let me get past 1400. If you run only a stock tune I don't think you can even come close to 1500. If I wanted to melt my engine I could just put the hot file on, load up the 16k trailer and run the **** out of it...Im sure I could hit whatever EGT I wanted. Towing with a race file is doable, but you need to really know your engine. ~Brad

 

Unless you sled pull, race or have a need for a hot file with a heavily modified truck, stick with a 1500-1600 max EGT gauge.

 

I need to get a set of gagues. The guy that I was planning on getting them from was "out of stock" of the 1600 degree pyrometers, all he had was the 2000 degree ones, so after reading around here on the forum, it just got me wondering if my first intention was the correct one or not.
Thanks guys. See I knew there were soneone out here on FTE that would point me in the right direction. Gee, imagine that.

 

You can still get a 2K*. They'll both accurately read the temps. I got a 2K because the particular gauge I wanted only came in a 2K. I never thought I'd actually see it max, but when I bought the truck, I didn't plan on racing it either. It just developed into an 8000 pound dragster. The only time I see over 1600 is racing it.

 

i agree, you dont want to be over 1250 for more than a few seconds at a time, so if you got one that read 2000, you would probably need a new motor by the time you got it pegged out.

 

Ok,,,,,,,,,,, for all of u techs out there......... what is the max egt I want to get to when towing a 24 ft. tow hauler......... and that would be pre turbo.??????????????? I cant get a straight answer for the dealer!!!!!!!!!!!!! and yes is have the Platnium juice..... but tow on 1 or 2............. first time I towed on flat level hit 1250 with no problem!!!!!!!!!!!!! had to turn it down to stock and still hit 1250 on a hill?????????????/ what is your best advice????????

 

Try to keep pre-turbo EGT at 1250 or below, you can hit short burst to 1400 for a few seconds but do not run here for extended periods. The problem with high EGT is that it leads to elevated EOT. Once the EOT is elevated it takes a while to cool back down. High EOT temps will damage the motor much quicker than high EGT temps. The guys racing the 6.0 will see pre-turbo EGT in the 1600-2000F range but it is only for a short period so it is not a major problem.

No matter what setting your performance module is on, when the EGT temps start to rise this is when you need to lift up on the go pedal to lower EGT temps.

 

Pre Turbo EGT Max is 1250 Degrees F. Post Turbo is 1400.

I think the highest mine has shown pull 10k on steeeeep hills is 1139 stock tune. I believe bursts into 1300 is doable but for only short instances before you cook the oil in the turbo bearings.

 

Post-turbo temps better be Lower than pre-turbo or you have a serious problem.

You will not hurt the turbo with short bursts up to 2000F, the turbo's are hell for stout. High EOT temps will melt pistons in a hurry however.

 

Good God Yes!!

When racing mine has gone over 2000*, but note that drag racing is 14 secs or less. Plus, I let her cool between runs.

 

here is your answer, when you are towing set your egt limit to 1250, or at least your alarm.
you can tow ALL DAY LONG at 1250. do not exceed that for than a brief moment ( a few seconds if you've already been running at 1250)

when you are empty, you can floor it on level 5 and get up around 1400 if you do it in quick bursts that last 10-12 seconds no harm.

to answer your question 1250 is the magic number. and always get below 350 before shutting the vehicle off.

 

actually post turbo is lower, so you wanna stay at 900 or less post turbo roughly.