qzilla

Towing with an automatic maybe?

I also think we are adding that to our list, it is just not finalized yet.

Ace

I don't know what year they started going with a trans temp warning light. But IMHO, idiot lights are just a notification that something has already failed in a bad way. Better to see it coming earlier with a gauge.

BroncoAZ

Subscribed as I'm in the market too.

.boB

That's what I think. Gauges make me happy, and idiot lights make me nervous. I won't be towing much. But high altitude and hot pavement can really heat up the oil.

I don't have a service manual, but tapping into one of the coolant lines is pretty easy. I can't think of a good reason not to monitor that.

The more I think about it, I really only want to monitor 3 things - EGT, trans temp, and maybe boost. An AM gauge set up for this is a bit under $400. That's more than BD's monitor, and a little less than the Scout.

I only want to monitor, not reprogramm. No power boosters for me; I have a warrenty to maintain.

BroncoAZ

Bob,

I'm in the same boat, I don't want a power adder. I've been looking at the monitors, but keep coming back to analog gauges. The monitors have an overly technical appearance to me, like something that belongs in a rice car. As for the analog gauges, I definately want to monitor EGT for towing, but I'm not sure if I really need boost and trans temp (Disclaimer - I'm still new to Diesels).

As far as boost goes, yes it looks cool, but what does it really show me? How much I am loading the turbo and thus how much load I'm putting on the engine? Won't the EGT gauge indicate the load based on temps?

My Titan had a factory trans temp gauge, it never got hot even towing 9K up mountain grades. I downshift on my own and slow down on the grades. I purchased the Maghytec DD pan to add more fluid. Do I really need to worry about trans temp when I don't anticipate towing more than 10K? Wouldn't the EGT's increase at roughly the same rate as the trans temp?

I can't figure out a good way to mount 3 gauges that I'd be happy with. I don't want to lose my handle (wife is 5'2"), and I don't really care for the look of the dash mount or steering column mount. I already purchased the SRT pillar. I'm thinking that I might be happy just monitoring EGT with a Pricol analog in the SRT pillar. If I went with all 3 gauges I was thinking about mounting the trans temp and boost down under the center dash section in single mounting cups, next to where I put my prodigy. The single EGT gauge sells for about $180.

Thanks,

Mitch

AH64ID

For you guys who want to monitor EGT on a stock truck.. A couple words from experiance.. Your trucks will run soo hot it will scare you, its normal, but it doesn't seem right. 1400* happens very easily when towing, more if you let it. Both my dad and I had gauges on our stock trucks, we now run Smarty Jr's because of the super hot stock EGT's.. We didn't get the Smarty for the power, just the EGT drop..

Ace

Boost is nice to have so you can be alerted to a boost leak before it causes a major problem. If you notice you're only getting 10lbs. where before you had 20 going up the same hill at that speed you might have a leak. Other than that, they are probably not really necessary.

qzilla

The scout is $349 retail and the egt kit is $109 retail. RETAIL is a number we have to produce. I would be suprised if you paid much over $350 for that setup on the street.

Also, the Scout is NOT a power adder and WILL NOT control ANY power adder on the 600 series and newer Cummins.

WhiteMule

Now that's some good info (and maybe some ammo to get the wife to buy into the Smarty Jr). It's almost scary to think that I could have been running EGT's in excess of 1400* and didn't know it.

I've definately got to get some gauges. Just haven't decided if I want to go back with a digital setup or go analog on this truck. Some good reading in this thread.

How much would you say that your EGT's dropped w/Jr?

AH64ID

I haven't seen over 1300* yet, generally never over 1200-1250*...

Fisherguy

Since I've had guages I've never been anywhere near 1400, soon as I get in the red (1250 I think) I either ease off or gear down, and that's towing on the 'performance' setting on my Bully Dog.

AH64ID

I am saying on a bone stock truck that tows 1400* happens very easily...

I have to really try to get mine over 1200* while towing.. and still it rarely happens.