Exactly!! only reason I see such high temps so frequently is because of where I live and pull trailers. Every direction but one out of the Albuquerque area requires climbing a mountain to leave lol Hence the land of entrapment nickname
Hold on. Exactly what are you stating "Exactly" to in agreement with what HTR has said and agrees with what you have been doing? I see nothing that is in agreement with what you are doing. What HTR is saying in no way matchs up with your comments of what you have posted.
Lets break it down:
You stated you have your 1600 gauge pegged past its max reading at first for hours on end. Then you stated that actually it was not that way constantly and that in fact there were just many times it was pegged like that during hours on end of driving. But that it never saw under 1200 degree that entire time of driving hours and hours. The time in those drives that it stayed pegged well over 1600 degree was for durations of 10-15 minutes at a time and there were multiples of those during these hours of over 1200 degree constant.
I mean it's not pegged for 2 hours straight but it doesn't go under 1,200 ever unless it's down hill. It only pegs out for 5-10 mins at a time over and over again.
I mean it's not pegged for 2 hours straight but it doesn't go under 1,200 ever unless it's down hill. It only pegs out for 5-10 mins at a time over and over again.
I think I have a picture of my turbo glowing red/orange somewhere actually...
This is exactly what HRT is staying NOT to do. You have your pistons heat soaked to over 1200 degrees for hours and then you are running it up to well over 1600 degrees for 5-10 mins at a time over and over. That is more then enough time to heat soak it to those temps by itself but you already had the pistons good and hot staying somewhere over 1200 degrees consistently so it gets up to higher temps that much faster.
I try to never run more than 1250*F constant in a 7.3, not afraid to go into the 1400-1600*F EGT range merging onto an interstate or pulling a grade. Once merged, or at the top of the grade - you are no longer accelerating and the EGTs cool way off. The problem is heat saturation.
I've also buried 2200*F pyros like its my job for 10 seconds or so every weekend pulling - sure the pistons are coated - but they look fantastic. I actually had more of a problem with the valves getting hot with the high spring pressures I used causing the head of the valve to deform a little in a couple of cylinders.
Take it for what its worth - but don't do anything you don't feel comfortable with. EGTs take a little experience and common sense - you just can't make a rule like never go above 1250*F or you will melt it down - its just not true. You also can't run 1600* for minutes on end without issues either. Get a good cruise EGT setup as low as you can for the load and speed (I have yet to see a load that I couldn't cruise with at 1100* EGTs max) - then the only time you will exceed that is when passing, merging, going up a hill, etc.... then you have to use your judgement as to how hard and how far to push it.
What everyone else that is pulling high temps is talking about is just doing it for a few SECONDS. Going from cool to hot and then right back down so the actual temp the pistons get to thru and thru is much lower.
The reasons you are seeing such high temps is you are running tunes that are pushing to much fuel or whatever the reason for your altitude and towing conditions. Point is you are acting like its the reason is environmental need use of your truck and out of the control of the engine and that is just not the case. The engine can be tuned to take into account how you are using your truck. There is nothing good about melting your pistons. Certainly nothing to brag about.
This has nothing to do with a engine has more in than people think. You can look at countless pictures of pistons that have been melted from running downing the strip or pulling track at the same temps you are speaking of. Its only a matter of time. There is a reason people building performance engines are having their pistons coated.
Maybe your gauge or pyro is faulty and reading unusually high otherwise I can not see how you are not completely trashing your pistons and valves running countless 10-15 mins runs well over 1600 degrees and countless hours on end of temps over 1200 degrees.
