EGT gauge

It provides a far better and more exact measure of the temperate your engine is operating at and whether the turbo is cool enough to shut down.

Put simply the more diesel added the more heat generated. some tunes or tuners under can have too much fuel going in under certain conditions or loads and some diesels that have electronics the electronics can be responsible for bad signals that result in over supply of fuel.
If you get too much fuel going in you can completely disintegrate your engine or burn holes or tops off your pistons.
An EGT guage lets you know if your temps are getting too high and you can back off and have it investigated before you shell out for a 10 to 15K rebuild. go to the nissan patrol forum and see how many owners of the 3.0L turbo have had them fitted its almost a must for those guys.

hi noel c
if you google - exhaust gas temperature -
you will get a smorgasboard of feed back relating to the topic and are an invaluable read pros and cons
the egt is a valuble piece of equiptmt if you are towing a heavy loads as you can adjust the way you drive and in which gear and/or speed you travel at

in relation to the engines heat build up and also can be fitted to the transmission if you desire
only after fitting and driving with one will you realize how hot an engine can actualy get particulary in the hotter months

while they are not absolutely an extreme neccessity they are good for the longivity of an engine and drive line if you intend doing long km's with your beloved rig
google and read then make up your own mind
they dont cost much for the piece of mindthey provide
cheers barry

Hi Noel,

The max temp I have been told for exhaust gas temps is 550 C post turbo. No more than that or it could get very costly. This is for a cruiser.
A ZD 30 may be less.

I do not shut my engine down untill it has cooled to 200 or just under for preference.

Over fueling is one cause for excessive temps and a retarded pump will do it also according to one diesel mechanic I spoke to. This guy teaches diesel tech at a tech college and has over 50 years of experience so I suppose I should heed what he says.

Cheers, Bruce.

Check out http://www.thermoguard.com.au/

After highway cruising I find it takes a lot longer >3mins to drop back down to my shut down temp.
Similary, I use it to know when not to push up hill, esp. usefull on a 1hz cruiser with after market turbo.

Pretty much the same reasons already covered Noel... I fitted a VDO EGT (AKA pyrometer) for about $350, and a VDO boost gauge (About $120)

I monitor what my EGT is, and try to keep it as low as possible..... but there are factors to consider, whether I'm towing, ambient temp, flat road or mountains etc....

When the EGT rises to around 550°C, I back off till the boost gauge drops to about 7psi (mine is set for a max of 11psi). usually I can keep driving with minimal drop in speed but the EGT starts to fall immediately. If it doesn't fall, then I change to a lower gear. Often it's more effective driving to be in a lower gear than a higher one, keeps the temp down and the motor happier.

When stopping, I allow mine to idle down to about 150-170°C before shutting the engine down. Sometimes it takes a few minutes, but that's cheap in comparison to blowing a turbo, or worse, blowing the motor.

Hope this helps......

Cheers

Brian

This discussion just comes at the right time for me.
I have decided to fit a EGT gauge to my Cruiser 1 HZ with aftermarket turbo within the next couple of weeks, and thinking of the Thermo guard. Just one question. Should the probe be fitted before or after the turbo and what do you guys think about Thermo Guard

Regards

Rudi

Hi Noel,

I have fitted a CHIPIT EGT gauge on my 200 series cruiser as well as their chip. I went for the Chipit as their EGT gauge connects to the Chip. It will automatically change the tune back to standard tune if your EGT exceeds the high alarm limit (you choose the high alarm setting). Once EGT's drop back below the low level (you set the low temp), the program will change back up to the higher tune level. And, you can install a switch in the cab to to turn the Chipit off whenever you want.

The EGT/Chip connection feature is great as it automatically looks after your engine EGT if you don't happen to have your eye on the EGT gauge. You can still do all the good stuff like less right foot, lower gear etc... but to have the program automatically change with high EGT's is a great backup.

As far as I know, no other EGT gauge or chip work together like this and given that a Chipit chip and EGT gauge price is about the same, or less, than other brand chips alone, and that its an Australian company with its own workshops, well it sold me :)

Cheers

Captain