Adding gauges -Boost, EGT and Transmission temp

[mhawk4]

With our new to us 97 F350 7.3 diesel; i want to make sure is well taken care and also, needs to last a good while.
Whats the word out there in adding boost,EGT and Transmission temp gauges.
Are these necessary to have? or a transmission gauge will be all i need?
I already added a second Transmission fluid cooler and filter.

I am not planning on adding any tuners or chip the engine at least in the near future.

[mhawk4]

Thanks for the info. I ordered the TS 6 point chip from XDP.
Now i need to make a decision to order glow shift gauges or Scangauge 2.

Any feedback please?

[JIMNLIN]

1320Fastback wrote:
For what they cost I would add them. They all will give not only protection but also diagnostic help if issues arise.

Good point. Gages are a tool....some folks know how to use them and others don't.
I went with the dual boost/EGT gage Westach door post mounting on my then new '03 Dodge/Cummins NV5600 65 speed manual tranny with the Jacobs exhaust brake.
I was surprised how high EGT were before shut down in 100-110+ summer temps when running 75-80 mph on the interstate (not towing). Sometimes when pulling into a rest area it would take a extra 5-7 min of idling before good shut down temps.

On a '92 3500 DRW chevy 454 4.56 gears 4L80 tranny I went with two tranny temp sensors into one temp gage with a toggle switch ...one sensor in the sump and the other in the return line behind a big aftermarket aux cooler. It was interesting watching highs and lows at different speeds operating at 32k gross combined or empty. And how high temps in the sump went after shut down (heat soak).

[Redwoodcamper]

Info on ts chips you asked for... Ts just makes a chip with a control knob that plugs into your Ford computer. The chip isn't programmed by ts. Other companies like xdp, or a million other companies have a guy who programs the chip and sends it to you. So your ts chip is only as good as the programmer. Use a large company like xdp or any large company and you won't be disappointed. They even improve shift points on the 7.3 Possibly up the line pressure. They run much better. An exhaust and chip are all they need. I wouldn't call edge because they sell very low performance chips these days with emmisions in mind. Their monitoring stuff is great, but expensive.

[ShinerBock]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:


It depends on the engine.

For instance the old 1994 on up 6.5 will defuel if the water temp gets over 225 degrees F. It will also defuel if the boost pressures get out of spec.

PS, weak powder rods on the 7.3 have nothing to do with how hot the tops of a piston can get before melting.

I didn't say that piston rods had anything to do with it. I have just heard from many in the Powerstroke forums and my rebuilders that those year model of 7.3L Powerstrokes with the weaker powdered metal rods could not handle as high EGT's and pressures as prior years with forged rods could.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Durb wrote:
My 5.9 Cummins has no sensors on the exhaust stream manifold to tailpipe. How does the engine know to de-fuel do to high exhaust temperatures if it doesn't know what the temperatures are? My Edge CTS does not read EGT from the diagnostic port but rather from a pyrometer that I installed separately.

It depends on the engine.

For instance the old 1994 on up 6.5 will defuel if the water temp gets over 225 degrees F. It will also defuel if the boost pressures get out of spec.

PS, weak powder rods on the 7.3 have nothing to do with how hot the tops of a piston can get before melting.

[ShinerBock]

Durb wrote:
My 5.9 Cummins has no sensors on the exhaust stream manifold to tailpipe. How does the engine know to de-fuel do to high exhaust temperatures if it doesn't know what the temperatures are? My Edge CTS does not read EGT from the diagnostic port but rather from a pyrometer that I installed separately.

Newer(modern) diesels do this, not most of the older ones as stated above.

[Durb]

My 5.9 Cummins has no sensors on the exhaust stream manifold to tailpipe. How does the engine know to de-fuel do to high exhaust temperatures if it doesn't know what the temperatures are? My Edge CTS does not read EGT from the diagnostic port but rather from a pyrometer that I installed separately.

[ShinerBock]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:


That's fine.

You sort of made my point though. I've ran my SBC and my 6.5 right at 1,500 (and above for short periods) degrees many, many, many times. No damage what so ever. Both of these engines do not have piston squirters. Engines with piston squirtes can go much higher EGT without damage.

You will not cook a 7.3 or a 6.5 with stock fuel and timing settings.

As you know, modern diesels have safeties in place to prevent any problems. They will defuel before damage occurs.

These are all for stock settings. That's why I said my answer would be different if the engine was tuned.

Yes, you can cook a stock 7.3L or 6.5L with stock settings if something is wrong like a bad injector. Just a simple Google search will pull up many stock trucks like the link below with cracked pistons or melted pistons.

piston burn cause? pics


That is the point of gauges, to alert you when something is wrong so you can either alter what your are doing to bring the temps down to a normal level or shut the engine down before it becomes an even bigger issue that would require a full engine replacement. This is why things like EGT or engine coolant temp gauges are good to have even on stock vehicles because things like injectors or water pumps do go bad without you knowing it especially on older vehicles.

Also, how hot is too hot varies from engine to engine. Some engines like the 5.9L were fine up to 1,400F while others like the 7.3L(especially the 2000-2003 7.3L with the weaker rods) would be less. The 6.7L Cummins on the other hand seems to be fine up to the 1,500F range for short periods.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

ShinerBock wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

A tranny gauge is all you need IMHO. If you truck is stock you're not going to burn it up with factory settings so you don't really need an EGT gauge.

You will know if you don't have boost; believe me! So no need for that either.

One of my trucks has gauges and one doesn't. There is not any reason to look at the gauges anymore for me. It's kind of like: ya, I have boost, ya the EGT is X; ya, so?

If you had a chip my answer would be different.

I will disagree on not needing an EGT gauge. EGT's can get pretty hot when towing even in stock form. Most of the older diesels were not programmed to de-fuel like most modern diesels are and you cold cause some major damage on a long pull. Knowing your EGT along with other temps or pressures could avoid this.

My father got up to 1,250F just pulling his 10k trailer up a maintain road on a trip to Colorado in his 2003 F350 7.3L. His Edge started chiming since he had it set to alert him at 1,200F and above. He backed off the throttle to bring the temps down. Come to find out later that he had an ejector issue in one of his cylinders and if he would not have backed down then it probably would have caused catastrophic engine damage if the temps continued to climb.

Modern diesels will de-fuel if the EGT's get too high, however, you can probably avoid this by downshifting if you knew your EGT. Today's diesels are programmed to hold too high of a gear to save fuel or for other reasons and having a high load pumping out lots of fuel at too low of an rpm will cause EGT's to spike really quickly causing the engine to de-fuel to bring them down. Since most modern diesel automatics allow you to select gears, manually downshifting to a lower gear and higher rpm would bring the EGT's down without the need of de-fueling.

That's fine.

You sort of made my point though. I've ran my SBC and my 6.5 right at 1,500 (and above for short periods) degrees many, many, many times. No damage what so ever. Both of these engines do not have piston squirters. Engines with piston squirtes can go much higher EGT without damage.

You will not cook a 7.3 or a 6.5 with stock fuel and timing settings.

As you know, modern diesels have safeties in place to prevent any problems. They will defuel before damage occurs.

These are all for stock settings. That's why I said my answer would be different if the engine was tuned.

[ShinerBock]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

A tranny gauge is all you need IMHO. If you truck is stock you're not going to burn it up with factory settings so you don't really need an EGT gauge.

You will know if you don't have boost; believe me! So no need for that either.

One of my trucks has gauges and one doesn't. There is not any reason to look at the gauges anymore for me. It's kind of like: ya, I have boost, ya the EGT is X; ya, so?

If you had a chip my answer would be different.

I will disagree on not needing an EGT gauge. EGT's can get pretty hot when towing even in stock form. Most of the older diesels were not programmed to de-fuel like most modern diesels are and you cold cause some major damage on a long pull. Knowing your EGT along with other temps or pressures could avoid this.

My father got up to 1,250F just pulling his 10k trailer up a maintain road on a trip to Colorado in his 2003 F350 7.3L. His Edge started chiming since he had it set to alert him at 1,200F and above. He backed off the throttle to bring the temps down. Come to find out later that he had an ejector issue in one of his cylinders and if he would not have backed down then it probably would have caused catastrophic engine damage if the temps continued to climb.

Modern diesels will de-fuel if the EGT's get too high, however, you can probably avoid this by downshifting if you knew your EGT. Today's diesels are programmed to hold too high of a gear to save fuel or for other reasons and having a high load pumping out lots of fuel at too low of an rpm will cause EGT's to spike really quickly causing the engine to de-fuel to bring them down. Since most modern diesel automatics allow you to select gears, manually downshifting to a lower gear and higher rpm would bring the EGT's down without the need of de-fueling.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

mhawk4 wrote:
With our new to us 97 F350 7.3 diesel; i want to make sure is well taken care and also, needs to last a good while.
Whats the word out there in adding boost,EGT and Transmission temp gauges.
Are these necessary to have? or a transmission gauge will be all i need?
I already added a second Transmission fluid cooler and filter.

I am not planning on adding any tuners or chip the engine at least in the near future.

A tranny gauge is all you need IMHO. If you truck is stock you're not going to burn it up with factory settings so you don't really need an EGT gauge.

You will know if you don't have boost; believe me! So no need for that either.

One of my trucks has gauges and one doesn't. There is not any reason to look at the gauges anymore for me. It's kind of like: ya, I have boost, ya the EGT is X; ya, so?

If you had a chip my answer would be different.

[ShinerBock]

mhawk4 wrote:
Thank you for all the info so far. I will be calling the Edge cts company Monday to check what they recommend for my particular truck.
I also came across a chip call TS 6 point performance. I know, I said I was not looking for tuners or chips, this one sounds pretty straight foward and has a good rep.
Any knowledge on this? Thanks

I can't speak for this particular product, but I will say that TS performance is a reputable company in the diesel word. They are not as big or have been around as long as Edge though.

Edge also makes a product similar to this for your truck called the Revolver. However, if you want to monitor things and tune your truck then I would recommend the Edge Evolution for your truck since it not only tunes, but it also is a monitor. Basically the Edge Insight CTS2 or CT2 is just a gauge monitor, The Edge Revolver is just a on the fly selectable tuner, and the Edge Evolution is both.

Contrary to most people's beliefs, a proper tune that doesn't add too much power is actually better for the engine in many cases. People ignorantly think that these engines are tuned with the best performance and longevity in mind first so adding any more power or tuning the engine will decrease the engines longevity. As a person who has worked for engine and truck manufacturers, I can honestly tell you that this false. Ever since the first emissions laws came in effect in the 70's(1992 for diesels), these engine are tuned t meet emissions. If they can't pass emissions then the engine cannot be sold regardless of their performance or longevity. In many cases, especially with modern diesels with EGR's, this tuning to meet emissions first actually hurt the longevity and performance of the engine.

Yes, if you add to much power without other modification to support such power or if you put a tune on from someone who does not know what they are doing then it can severely damage your engine and/or truck. However, in many cases a 30 to 50+ hp tune will actually help increase your engines longevity and efficiency..... at the expense of higher emissions of course.

[Charlie_D_]

Gauges, tuners, chips and everything else. Never had any don't plan on getting any.

2006 Chevy D/A had 3 glow plugs go out at different times. My 2013 had a recall and replacement of the 9th injector. Warranty has been extended. Over 80,000 miles towing. Not a lot in comparison to some people. What am I doing wrong?

[mhawk4]

Thank you for all the info so far. I will be calling the Edge cts company Monday to check what they recommend for my particular truck.
I also came across a chip call TS 6 point performance. I know, I said I was not looking for tuners or chips, this one sounds pretty straight foward and has a good rep.
Any knowledge on this? Thanks