Towing With Smarty and EGT's Questions
#1
04-21-2010, 08:08 AM
Towing With Smarty and EGT's Questions
Ok,
We are out on a trip across this great country of ours! Lot of miles and a lot of days (Read: A Lot of FUEL!! . . .
Here is a link to a pic of it and our progress across and back: Our Big Trip
When we bought this trailer I had a hard time getting it home. It actually put the hurt on the Cummins; I was a bit surprised actually. In fact, I was unpleasantly surprised when I figured out that I only got 6 MPG. I wouldn't have thought that was possible!
So, I sent my injectors off for testing and decided to upgrade the tips at the same time. Industrial Injection says that my injectors are fine and added the 60 HP tips for me. We got them in just before we left on this trip. I added a pyro and boost gauge at the same time so I don't know what was going on temperature wise when it was stock. . . .
Now with the new nozzles, I have no trouble at all getting to the red zone of the pyro at all. That is where 1300F is at on the dial. So, I learned something with this: most guys are probably not slowing on hills from lack of power but because it is getting too hot! At least now that is how I am doing it!! It is good to have the power, but it would also be nice to be able to use it!
A friend of mine suggested I use the Smarty and see what happens. I decided to give it a try and to my surprise, it really did help (Thanks jmono!!). I put it on 4 and the truck actually pulls what I think is the same kind of hills quite a bit cooler.
So, I guess my questions are:
1. What would you recommend I run the Smarty on? (I did have to upgrade my Smarty to the new software in Jan thanks to Dodge killing the old version).
2. What kind of temps would you think would be ok? (I put the probe in the exhaust brake since it had a hole already for it. Only thing there is it was a 1/4" NPT so I had to use a reducing bushing. Because of the extra length, that caused the tip to be about one inch from the center of the the exhaust flow. Hopefully that doesn't cause an error in the reading.) (In the exhaust brake does put it after or post turbo . . .
)
We are out on a trip across this great country of ours! Lot of miles and a lot of days (Read: A Lot of FUEL!! . . .
Here is a link to a pic of it and our progress across and back: Our Big Trip
When we bought this trailer I had a hard time getting it home. It actually put the hurt on the Cummins; I was a bit surprised actually. In fact, I was unpleasantly surprised when I figured out that I only got 6 MPG. I wouldn't have thought that was possible!
So, I sent my injectors off for testing and decided to upgrade the tips at the same time. Industrial Injection says that my injectors are fine and added the 60 HP tips for me. We got them in just before we left on this trip. I added a pyro and boost gauge at the same time so I don't know what was going on temperature wise when it was stock. . . .
Now with the new nozzles, I have no trouble at all getting to the red zone of the pyro at all. That is where 1300F is at on the dial. So, I learned something with this: most guys are probably not slowing on hills from lack of power but because it is getting too hot! At least now that is how I am doing it!! It is good to have the power, but it would also be nice to be able to use it!
A friend of mine suggested I use the Smarty and see what happens. I decided to give it a try and to my surprise, it really did help (Thanks jmono!!). I put it on 4 and the truck actually pulls what I think is the same kind of hills quite a bit cooler.
So, I guess my questions are:
1. What would you recommend I run the Smarty on? (I did have to upgrade my Smarty to the new software in Jan thanks to Dodge killing the old version).
2. What kind of temps would you think would be ok? (I put the probe in the exhaust brake since it had a hole already for it. Only thing there is it was a 1/4" NPT so I had to use a reducing bushing. Because of the extra length, that caused the tip to be about one inch from the center of the the exhaust flow. Hopefully that doesn't cause an error in the reading.) (In the exhaust brake does put it after or post turbo . . .
)
#2
04-21-2010, 08:20 AM
The difference in temps pre and post turbo as you already know are completely different, so much so that they sell separate gauges for each side. I don't know enough about the exhaust brak to know what temps should be as they pass through it.
Somethin to check on though is to be sure the radiator is cleaned out. I pulled mine a month or so ago and it was completely clogged. From the outside it looked good, a few bugs a little bit of grease marking but nothin bad. Totally different view of life after I pulled it out and looked at it in the sunlight.
I'm not seein that high flow air filter in your signature either. I know it's gotta be on the truck but I don't see it listed.
Somethin to check on though is to be sure the radiator is cleaned out. I pulled mine a month or so ago and it was completely clogged. From the outside it looked good, a few bugs a little bit of grease marking but nothin bad. Totally different view of life after I pulled it out and looked at it in the sunlight.
I'm not seein that high flow air filter in your signature either. I know it's gotta be on the truck but I don't see it listed.
#3
04-21-2010, 08:26 PM
That is a good point about the air flow. When I bought the truck I installed a window screen in front of the condenser. I would highly recommend everyone do this cheap mod!! Every so often I will knock the bugs off the screen. Much easier than waiting until they plug up the cooling fins and have to be washed out.
I do have the simple BHAF on there. I hope it helps . . . . I still max out my filter minder with about half throttle when empty. With this big behemoth of a trailer, it is easy to pedal the Cummins rather hard. I am mad at Donaldson! They canceled my order for a low profile elbow so I could use my new ridiculously large BHAF (Look up a Napa 2422. It is something like 12" in dia. and 18" long!!! I was looking forward to having it for this big trip. Apparently Donaldson does this a bit as this is the second order of mine that has been canceled in less than a year.
Along these lines; I have to wonder what the EGT's will do as the weather warms on up. I hope the lower EGT's are not just from the air temp being lower. I am pretty sure the Smarty has lowered them though. I might just put it back to stock to see if my trans shifting early is caused by the Smarty or if something else is going on. (It is shifting into O.D. at 47 MPH no matter how hard I am on the throttle trying to get the trailer to move out and merge with traffic. Well, not if I WOT it. Then it will down shift like it is supposed to. But when I am at about half throttle and it upshifts early, it seriously barks the turbo! I hope it is just the Smarty. It might be as this might have started about the time we left OKC. That is about when I put the Smarty on.)
I do have the simple BHAF on there. I hope it helps . . . . I still max out my filter minder with about half throttle when empty. With this big behemoth of a trailer, it is easy to pedal the Cummins rather hard. I am mad at Donaldson! They canceled my order for a low profile elbow so I could use my new ridiculously large BHAF (Look up a Napa 2422. It is something like 12" in dia. and 18" long!!! I was looking forward to having it for this big trip. Apparently Donaldson does this a bit as this is the second order of mine that has been canceled in less than a year.
Along these lines; I have to wonder what the EGT's will do as the weather warms on up. I hope the lower EGT's are not just from the air temp being lower. I am pretty sure the Smarty has lowered them though. I might just put it back to stock to see if my trans shifting early is caused by the Smarty or if something else is going on. (It is shifting into O.D. at 47 MPH no matter how hard I am on the throttle trying to get the trailer to move out and merge with traffic. Well, not if I WOT it. Then it will down shift like it is supposed to. But when I am at about half throttle and it upshifts early, it seriously barks the turbo! I hope it is just the Smarty. It might be as this might have started about the time we left OKC. That is about when I put the Smarty on.)
