[hrdtduck]

I suppose I am going to start a bit of a "firestorm" here...but please excuse a newbie to the turbo charged world...I bought a 97 F250 Powerstroke 7.3 then a gauge pod with a Pryometre and was wondering where to put the sensor. Most of the advice & opinion says to install before the turbo...but I gotta ask...wouldn't you want to know what the temperature of the actual intake charge is? After all isn't the temp of the air charge that is hitting the top of the piston what you really would want to know? Forgive my ignorance please, but measuring the temp of the exhaust gases that are passing thru the drive side of the turbo tells you what? I can see it if you want to measure exhaust gas temp to prevent possible damage to the turbo...but the basis of most of the opinion seems to be that you want to protect the pistons as they are made of aluminum and subject to excessive heat damage..Perhaps it would be good to know both values?

 

[paperman]

You really want to know the temp of the fire on top of the piston. But as you can guess there is no practical way to do that. The next best way would be to measure the exhaust temp. and to be as close to the flame as possible. The turbo takes work(heat) out of the exhaust stream so it is not the best position to measure from.

 

[wriott]

you want to know the temp of the exaust gasses comming out the the cyl... so you want to place the probe as close to the cyl as possible but in a location that you can drill and tap from the bottom. most people do it on the drivers side manifold where it turns up to the up pipes.

the intake temp doesnt matter for MOST apps as it wont tell you weather your melting the motor down or not... you dont want your EGTs to get above 1200* for any longer then a few seconds..

 

[hrdtduck]

Makes sense that what you really want to monitor is the combustion temperature...thanks!...can you tell me exactly where I can mount the sensor without drilling & tapping if possible?

 

[bluedge8]

you have to drill and tap, there is no port or plug you can use. my manifold was quite soft and only took 20min total. If you install at the same location as everyone else, then the readings you get you can compare with everyone else's, if you move the location it wont be a direct comparison- and you could be running hotter or colder than what you think you are.

 

[hrdtduck]

I don't suppose anybody has a picture of where they drilled & tapped? Did you have to use a 90deg drill motor or can where one needs to drill be accessed by a regular drill motor?

 

[wriott]

regular drill will work... get under there and take a look... only one place you can put it, but make sure you put it where you can turn the handle of the tap all the way... or else you are gonna be under there ALOT longer...

 

[hrdtduck]

10-4 & Thanks!!

 

[bluedge8]

just as the manifold starts to turn up towards the up pipe, there is a pic somewhere on the net but I don't remember where, it's actually seems like an odd spot to me but thats what everyone else did and I had no problems a cordless drill and common hand tools.

 

[nhill2090]

for the sake of all the intake temps spoken of:

as a general rule,

exhaust temps rise 3* for every 1* the intake air rises

 

[genuineford]

Here is a pic of where you want to install the gauge probe.

3-Gauge Install Pictures

 

[whitjo]

A related question; How long will a probe usually last? I know that most of them are made of inconel but, even at that, I would think it might burn out eventually?

 

[wriott]

i have had one in my lowpro for over 10 years.... no problems yet... and it runs alot hotter then the powerstrokes do

 

[tbolt]

Just a reminder. Don't put grease on the tap or drill bit to trap the shavings. It will only make it worse. Wear some safety glasses while doing this also. Take a tiny screwdriver stick it in the hole as far as you can set the probe at the halfway point so to have it in the center of the manifold. Just my $.02. Good luck.

 

[ciscofreak]

I drilled and tapped with the engine running. Be damned sure to wear safety glasses as the shaving blow everywhere.

 

[NH OIL BURNER]

not to stray off topic but what are the disadvanages of having the probe just after the turbo? when i got my autometer gauge it came with a clamp style probe that goes on the downpipe. seems to work well for me...

 

[PSDEng]

Youre temp reading is gonna be a few hundred degrees low if clamped to the downpipe, and when i say low I mean if safe temperatures are 1250-1300 at the manifold safe temperatures will be a few hundred degrees lower than that at the downpipe.

 

[tbolt]

not to stray off topic but what are the disadvanages of having the probe just after the turbo? when i got my autometer gauge it came with a clamp style probe that goes on the downpipe. seems to work well for me...

Your autometer should have come with that clamp and ceramic bushing and a bung to put in the manifold. The downpipe is ok as long as you add 2-300* as thats what is going into the turbo.

 

[NH OIL BURNER]

I got it used from a member on here so i guess he must not have sent it. i do plan on putting one in the manifold but at least i have something in there for now.

 

[Arisley]

That temp is going to vary from 2 to 300º to more than 500º different than pre turbo. However, post turbo is better for cooling down temps before shutting down.