Question: Sustained towing EGT limit?

[1slow01Z71]

I notice last weekend while towing my buddies avalanche on a low boy trailer that my EGTs running 80-85 were staying around 1100ish. After about an hour on the road I noticed my oil pressure had dropped by about 10#s, Im guessing due to being hot. When I noticed this I backed it down to 75 and my EGTs stayed around 8-900. Im running 35s with 3.73 gears so Im sure that contributes to the high EGTs(need 4.56s). I know ~1600 is the generally accepted rule for too high of an EGT, but what about sustained EGTs? I know a lot will say slow down while towing which I do when Im towing my bigger trailers but on the two lane interstate you either have two choices, haul ass or dodge in and out of the lanes the whole way, and I dont have the patience pulling a trailer to weave in and out of traffic. I plan on getting an aftermarket intercooler, regearing, getting the labonte setup, getting an auxilary oil cooler, and some RDL up-pipes to help get me some cooler EGTs while towing. Just wondering if Im being too cautious or if Im hurting something. The drop in oil pressure is what really got me to thinking for it to drop 5-10#s, I was still getting ~50#s at 1900 rpms so it was still up there pretty good. Im also running dino oil, an FS2500 and amsoil synthetic are going in at the next oil change.

 

[McRat]

According to a GM (Garrett?) doc I read years ago:

1350° F sustained.

1425° F for up to 5 minutes.

 

[1slow01Z71]

Is that just for the turbo since it could possibly be from GArret? Wonder what temp the rotella Im running starts to break down. Im getting an oil temp gauger here soon so that will definitely help me know whats going on.

 

[KEVINL]

I would recommend a KB oil cooler Brandon (turbotug) has one and it seems to make a big diffrence. I wish I had one

 

[1slow01Z71]

Wonder if it would interfere with the bigger trans cooler from MikeL?

 

[Mike L.]

Wonder if it would interfere with the bigger trans cooler from MikeL?

It shouldn't.

 

[KEVINL]

Not sure Brandon's is a LB7 so it has the different cooler

 

[BigDaddyDiesel]

I run and haul extremely heavy, and I think your sustained EGT's are in a pretty good range for your truck. As for the oil I would talk to Heath Palmer, Rotella breaks down pretty quick, where as Amsoil holds up much better at extreme temps under extreme conditions.

 

[1slow01Z71]

I do oil changes every 3K so I dont think it has much of a chance to break down in that small period of time. This is one of 4 times Ive towed something that fast, when I pulling my 5er or GN trailers I run 65-70 and EGTs stay below 1000 as long as I run in 5th gear. Ive got 3 cases of amsoil sitting in my garage but I want to wait till I put the FS2500 on there and now its looking like the KB EOC setup too, do it all at once and be done with it.

 

[BigDaddyDiesel]

Yeah, that should do you for sure...

hope it all works out for you!!!!!

 

[1slow01Z71]

Rotella is cheap so I can afford to change it often, Ive played with a lot of different tunes on my truck and dont know a whole lot about tuning so I wanted to minimize the chance of getting a bunch of soot/diesel in my oil by changing it often.

 

[lotsofmiles]

Rotella breaks down pretty quick,

What do you mean "pretty quick"?

 

[2500HeavyDuty]

rttoys tows at max weight alot and his egts are very low
still has stock intake and exhaust too

 

[Gasuout]

I run 1000* empty just the truck on the norm , if I slow up 900 empty . I towed Kat and Pat to bonneville at 1200* + all the way there 1000 miles . I have gotten pretty use to these egt #'s loaded down heavy over the years . I have had no issues noticable . On the big grades the tune I run heavy will only go to 1350 max on steep grades . I mash it and dont worry about it . 5 years of it .

 

[LBZ]

At stock power levels pulling 10K at around the 70-80mph range, I usually run between 1000 and 1200*F and at WOT passing, my egt's never get much above 1350*F, so as this is with stock tuning, I use this as a guideline to watch for as a range to stay around.
FWIW, my tow tune runs cooler than my stock does cruising so maybe a bit of tweaking in your tune may help this out a little.

As far as oil pressure goes, I am never below 60psi when I tow heavy and I will drop a gear if I need to keep it up there. With the 35" tires, I run 5th gear at speeds below 75mph when I tow. Cooling the pistons is very important IMO so I try to keep the oil pressure up and egt's down as much as possible.

 

[Gasuout]

Im at about 40 psi oil pressure at cruise usually . Im going with some better tuning here in the near future . EFI is in my sights .

 

[LBZ]

I run 1000* empty just the truck on the norm , if I slow up 900 empty . I towed Kat and Pat to bonneville at 1200* + all the way there 1000 miles . I have gotten pretty use to these egt #'s loaded down heavy over the years . I have had no issues noticable . On the big grades the tune I run heavy will only go to 1350 max on steep grades . I mash it and dont worry about it . 5 years of it .

Strange that you egt's aren't much higher than mine are stock considering you drive a dump truck!:rofl::joker:

 

[Gasuout]

Strange that you egt's aren't much higher than mine stock considering you drive a dump truck!:rofl::joker:

Tow truck genius . Dump truck hahahahahah . Your running similar egts hahahaha , I guess I wont be asking you for tuning help . :joker:

 

[LBZ]

Strange that you egt's aren't much higher than mine are stock considering you drive a dump truck!:rofl::joker:

Tow truck genius . Dump truck hahahahahah . Your running similar egts hahahaha , I guess I wont be asking you for tuning help . :joker:

I wouldn't either cause I'm a shtty tuner, but note the above word in red!

 

[othrgrl]

I wouldn't go to 4.56s for 35" tires. Maybe 4.10s, but I would likely keep the 3.73s.

I am going to be running a different oil cooler setup on my truck and will post up the results. If you are going to be running a by-pass filtration system it would likely be much cheaper to set up your own oil cooler, since most of what you need to set up an oil cooler will come in the bypass kit. I would also recommend the AmsOil bypass kit instead of the over priced FS2500 (how do you think they pay for 4 page ads in Diesel Power). I can try to get another adapter (I was going to use it in the oil cooler setup) to sell you my used AmsOil kit for cheap - with the abuse I'll be putting my oil through I'm going to be changing it often and don't need bypass filtration.