I finally got a chance to tow my off road truck and trailer for an extended period the other day. When loaded, the trailer weighs about 8,000 pounds. I put in an EGT and boost gauge because I'm paranoid and anal. I hit 1200 degrees a couple of times, I was going up some pretty steep grades but I had to back off a good bit to keep it that cool. I figured with that heavy of a rig and that steep of hills it was normal. However, what concerned me is that on pretty flat surfaces, the EGT's seemed to stay right around 1050-1100. My probe is mounted closer to the last cylinder than most so I'm guessing that might make it read a little hotter, but 150-200 degrees isn't much leeway if you have to get into the throttle for some reason. Are these temps normal with this engine? The vehicle only has 16,000 miles on it, but it's already gone through an EGR valve, a few injectors, a cam position sensor, and most importantly a turbocharger. Are these sort of temps normal with this load and engine? Sorry, just me being paranoid and anal again :flipoff2:

No, not normal. I usually run about 600-800 running down the highway. Granted mine is a 7.3. But I have not herd of temps being that hot.

Mike

yes that is normal and 1200 is safe

yes, 1200 is safe. Once you get around 1500, I'd start backing off.

I don't have a PS (CTD), but I wouldn't be too thrilled about sustained 1100 degree EGTs pulling 8k on flat ground. You can run it at 1100 all day, but you certainly don't have much headroom for passing or pissing contests with other tow rigs :D. During Phoenix summers (110 degrees average) I'm at 700-750 cruising unloaded... It jumps up about 100 degrees with the kind of load you describe and that's with big injectors a box, etc...

w/ my 7.3 PSD I run 900-1000 w/ that kind of load behind the truck either running stock or w/ a chip doesn't make too much difference. Your EGT's are exponential and get harder to make climb once you start getting up there.

You didn't say if you'd done any mods on the intake or exhaust to help the engine breathe. An open intake will help. When you get to the exhaust department a better flowing muffler at minimum if you can't afford a larger diameter exhaust w/ perf muffler or even skip the muffler.

Where is your probe? Pre/Post turbo? Is it the clamp on or drill and tap?

Where is your probe? Pre/Post turbo? Is it the clamp on or drill and tap?

I don't think you can mount the probe closest to the rear cylinder if it's post turbo, so I'd guess pre. Besides... He's got REAL issues if he's running 1050-1100 post turbo towing 8k on flat ground :laughing: .

I think we might be comparing Apples and oranges. guys you are all comparing fixed geometry turbos and engines with such which run cool at low boost and the engine does not burn as efficiently at low egt numbers.

My understanding is A VGT is supposed to keep combustion chamber temps up in the optimal efficiency range for a better more complete burn (also for emmissions puroposes), they do this by restricting things at the right time keeping a constant more efficient cylinder temp of 1000 degrees (or what ever it is specd to be) running down the road then when he hammers on it for a hill it opens up pushes more air and but only differs 200-300 degrees in the EGT's thats supposed to be the effect of the VGT it keeps the engine in the efficiency range by being small and quick spooling at low load and then can rapidly open up and allow more flow to the engine yet the cylinder temp stays in a narrower operating temp range.
Just my understanding.


FYI 1350 degrees Aluminium begins to melt 1500 for more than 5-10 seconds can be detrimental to an engine or at least the piston top. International and cummins along with numerous diesel performance shop recommend keeping egts at or below 1300 pre turbo EGT.


With a load on flat ground 1000 running my CTD used to boogie at 850-900 constant with a load and on hills would bury itself. if hes not pegging over 12-1300degrees loaded pulling a hill i would probably assume that things are working just fine right now.

Good Reply ddestruel..

As ddestruel said, comparing the 6.0 and 7.3 directly is misleading.

I used to work on the Garrett VNT (aka VGT) engineering team, and worked directly with Ford and Int'l on the 6.0. I spent a lot of time monitoring exhaust temperatures in lots of situations, and 1250 is normal for this engine - temperatures like that have been recreated on the engine dyno, and in the field (pulling trailers, ascending grades, etc.) without problem.

As some others might be trying to explain above, exhaust temperature is primarily a function of engine speed and load. Tooling around town with no load will yield a lot less temperature than pulling a 10k# load up a 7% grade.

As a rule of thumb for today's TurboDiesel engines, 1400F (max) exhaust gas temperature is a reasonable standard for "goodness". That means that the materials used in the engine and turbo show reliable characteristics at temperatures under that threshold. Higher EGTs than that, and you usually have to jump to more costly raw materials (cast alloys, etc.) to maintain that "goodness". That, of course, is from the manufacturer perspective, where they have to deal with warranty issues and the like.

YMMV.

Mike

ddestrel dit it on the head. my 6.0 runs 8-950 empty on the freeway, making 7-12psi, loaded with approx 5k, i run 9-1050 at 16-20psi

the truck tries to stay in that 800-1100 range for efficiency, and will add boost to cool itself back off as needed, running 1200 up steep grades is not an issue on a 6.0, get close to 1300 sustained and you "might" start puking coolant if your boost is over 20psi, i know mine i watch teh boost gauge more than the pyro on grades because it was a puker.

your number's seem right on track and wouldn't sweat them, also, the motor will handle 1500 degrees for sometihng like 30-45 seconds without issue, it's weird!


now, that said, my truck i scurrently ripped apart, having head studs, O-rings, and injector's done. and along with the new programming the truck is expected to put over 500hp on the ground safely :D

Hey, sorry it took me so long to get back here. Thank you everyone for the informative posts. I have since taken several trips hauling my fatass rig around. It averages the same temps as I originally posted but like I said, my pyro probe is mounted very near the exhaust port for the last cylinder on the driver's side. (don't know which # cylinder this technically is) That might make it read a little hotter than placing a few inches back like I'm guessing most of you running the same setup run it.

As for the boost, I hit 31 psi momentarily, but it was pretty much on purpose. I was running up a steep hill and abusing the truck to see how the exhaust temps would respond. I can replicate that when unloaded, but it takes some serious work on my part to beat it that hard.

The vehicle is bone stock. The local dealer is a prick who's voided the warranty on two vehicles that I know of because he claims excessive soot from programmers screwed up the turbos. When in fact, mine hasn't been touched and the turbo went out at the same mileage as the two others. I'd really like to open up the intake and exhaust on the rig, but I'm sure if there were more major problems, the dealer would blame my parts and say he knows more about the rig than I do.

Like I said, thanks for all the help. It appears that these temps are pretty well normal among 6.0 owners...I can't wait to see what this engine can do when the warranty is up and I can mod it the way I want to.