Biting the bullet: Converting to electric fuel pump

[Cubey]

I know this will sound a bit random but where is your pyrometer located?

As for the fuel gelling you're probably right that in Southern NM they wouldn't be blending the fuel yet and even the slight freezing caused gelling in the lines. Then presto as soon as you use the white bottle everything is good to go.

It was originally down low on the right side by the dog house, blocked from view by the steering wheel. The boost gauge is too on the other side of the steering pillar.

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I moved it up to the pillar. There was plenty of original sensor cable to relocate it up there. I didn't wire in the back light yet though since I never drive at night. I ran wire for it, but didn't tie it in.

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I can't move boost since the tiny vac tube isn't long enough and it's insanely expensive stuff from Isspro. It matters less anyway. Highest it can ever get to is 8 in this RV weight and wind resistance wise.

A shot of pyro when it was down low. That big coil of yellow wire in the engine bay is the pryo sensor cable.

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[The_Josh_Bear]

Haha I meant the probe location, sorry! Pre-turbo or post-turbo mostly.
But since you mentioned it, that's a much better spot for it!

 

[Cubey]

Haha I meant the probe location, sorry! Pre-turbo or post-turbo mostly.
But since you mentioned it, that's a much better spot for it!

Pre-turbo. The ATS 085 kit came with the gauges, as far as I can tell from the parts diagram. So they have the probe port machined into it.

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[The_Josh_Bear]

Pre-turbo. The ATS 085 kit came with the gauges, as far as I can tell from the parts diagram. So they have the probe port machined into it.

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Oh man cool picture. *some* things are better in vans!

So what's your personal EGT ceiling? I've seen a few times you are saying you back off on hills more for EGT than for coolant temps.

 

[Cubey]

Oh man cool picture. *some* things are better in vans!

So what's your personal EGT ceiling? I've seen a few times you are saying you back off on hills more for EGT than for coolant temps.

Usually my ceiling for EGT for going down the road is 900*F since that gives a big buffer to climb in case I don't notice it right away.

12k*F is basically near catastrophic engine damage due to the aluminum alloy pistons, so staying as much under that is ideal.

On US-70 in NM with the heavy head wind and climbing a grade, it got up around 11k in 3rd gear (C6). Then I manually dropped to 2nd since kickdown doesn't seem to work on this thing.

That increases engine RPMs, reduces EGT but increases coolant temp. EGT was the concerning one though. Coolant never got over 210F but it does have a newish Motorcraft fan clutch and thermostat put on a year ago. 240*F is the catastrophic failure point for coolant.

So yeah EGT was the concerning one. I should have downshifted sooner than I did was all. Today, I downshifted sooner on a steep grade on I-8 near Yuma AZ for the mile or so (semis were slowed to 40-45 too) and both temps were fine. Course it wasn't a hot day and the mountain was blocking the wind, so... take that into account I guess.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Ok gotcha. I consider 1150* ok for extended towing but that's the high end for me. And ever since my mechanical fan really pooped out and I went with E-fans, coolant temp is the big problem for me usually.
I only tow a 4,500lb trailer, so nothing major.

There seems to be a large margin between ~900* and 1200* with my setup though. I can cruise around empty on mild hills at 850* yet go WOT up the I90 Cascade pass towing and I'll just barely get to 1150* on a cool day. Something is goofy with my setup I just haven't figured out what it is yet. Runs hotter cruising than it should.

 

[Cubey]

Ok gotcha. I consider 1150* ok for extended towing but that's the high end for me. And ever since my mechanical fan really pooped out and I went with E-fans, coolant temp is the big problem for me usually.
I only tow a 4,500lb trailer, so nothing major.

There seems to be a large margin between ~900* and 1200* with my setup though. I can cruise around empty on mild hills at 850* yet go WOT up the I90 Cascade pass towing and I'll just barely get to 1150* on a cool day. Something is goofy with my setup I just haven't figured out what it is yet. Runs hotter cruising than it should.

Head wind is a big factor for my RV's EGT. Yesterday on i10 and i8 in AZ, I was cruising at 65-70 on flat stretches at like 700-800*F EGT. But there was almost no wind. Today with a cross/head wind (a bit diagonal to my path of travel), going about 60mph meant about 900*F. I didn't have far to go today to my destination and I had all day to get here, do I stayed slower.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Oh yeah for sure, I forgot to mention I have a cabover camper I sometimes run with my trailer. Actually it's my avatar picture. So that load and the trailer make it really similar to your RV for wind and weight I imagine. Wind is powerful, no surprise on the EGTs there.

I'm a little spoiled in that Western WA is always full of evergreen trees to partially block the wind. We get plenty of wind but it's not like the plains or Eastern WA. So it's not as much of a day-to-day issue over here.

 

[Cubey]

Dang. The fuel transfer pump must be going bad. It's blowing the fuse now.

Huh, I wonder what the problem was. I put in another 10A fuse (I have a ton of blade fuses) just to see if it would blow it, and it hasn't. I wonder if it was a gelling issue with that too. Although the day of that post (11/23) makes me think that wasn't the case. I didn't have hard starting that morning. The hard starting morning was 2 days later. Well, I'll see if I can use up that rear tank of fuel by transferring to save me having to fill up again until February. There is just no telling. Maybe the cheapo pump just doesn't like being very cold or has a very hard time with cold diesel.