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Old 02-15-2001, 05:51 AM   #1
Neil Wallerstein
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Question What gauges are best to monitor a turbo engine?

I know this was asked before but there were few real answers. With all the talk about gauge pods I was wondering what guages would be best for monitoring a turbo engine. I already know boost so that leaves two holes to be filled. EGT and oil temp? EGT and oil pressure?
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Old 02-15-2001, 06:48 AM   #2
allbent
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I am getting what I think are the 4 most important - Boost for the steering column, oil temp, oil pressure, and EGT for the STi pod. EGT is about the best for tuning, the others are the best for monitoring. Of course, this is IMHO......

Adam
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Old 02-15-2001, 06:54 AM   #3
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excuse my stupidness but whats EGT?
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Old 02-15-2001, 06:56 AM   #4
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Exhaust Gas Temperature...lets you know if the turbo is going to melt down or is running inefficiently.
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Old 02-15-2001, 07:38 AM   #5
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No, exhaust gas temperature lets you know if you're running rich or lean.
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Old 02-15-2001, 07:42 AM   #6
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Boost, EGT, Oil Temp.

Oil pressure is no more an issue than with a non-turbo car, unless you could monitor pressure to the turbo itself, maybe.

[Edit: I forgot this was the WRX forum. You don't need fuel pressure.]

[This message has been edited by Jon Bogert (edited February 15, 2001).]
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Old 02-15-2001, 08:19 AM   #7
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AIR/FUEL RATIO Gauge lets you know if you're running rich or lean.

EGT lets you know how stressed the turbo is by the amount of heat going by the o2 sensors.

My ideas for gauges:
Boost, EGT, A/F Meter

--kC
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Old 02-15-2001, 08:21 AM   #8
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I think oil pressure is very important - in any car.

The idiot light only tells you when it is too late.

Let's say you're doing a track day, and are suffering partial oil starvation. A gauge will let you know that but with the stock idiot light you may only see a flicker, if that.

Both of my old English Fords come with oil pressure gauges, and they are a very useful gauge indeed.

Glenn
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Old 02-15-2001, 08:22 AM   #9
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Funny, I use my EGT gauge to judge whether I'm rich or lean.
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Old 02-15-2001, 08:28 AM   #10
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Boost-to tell if anything is wrong with the turbo/wastgate. Also nesisary if upgrading the car
EGT-measures temperature of the exaust gasses. Richer the motor runs cooler the egt and vice versa. To hot/lean and bye bye pistons...
A/F-the blinky light kind are not so good. Get a digital number voltage only gauge.
Fuel pressure-any drop in pressure under boost is a very bad thing
Those are the biggies for a turbo car. oil pressure and all the others should go on any car turbo or not.
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Old 02-15-2001, 09:01 AM   #11
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Isn't the EGT gauge used to tell if your 5" chrome exhaust tip is getting hot before it melts your bumper cover? Hahahaha

RidinLow is, of course, correct. Both times.
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Old 02-15-2001, 10:54 AM   #12
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I would also highly recommend a Fuel pressure gauge. Especially if you plan on running 6psi+ of boost.
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Old 02-15-2001, 04:02 PM   #13
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Exclamation


EGT: RidinLow, your a/f mixture directly affects the temps of the exhaust gas. This is how you can use the EGT gauge to adjust mixture, because there is SOME correlation between the mix and the EGT. The more rich the mix, the cooler the EGT, the leaner, the hotter.

An a/f gauge reads this more directly by reading the O2 content in the exhaust stream. The EGT is useful because things OTHER than mix can affect the exhaust temps, and it allows you to find problems not neccesarily related to mix.

Oil Pressure: I too think Oil Pressue is a HUGE deal. Ditto what Glenn says about the idiot light. Notice factory built cars like the Porsche RS, etc. all come with both an oil pressure gauge and oil pressure warning light the size of your hand. And the sensors on those cars are tuned to trip the light BEFORE you get into trouble, whereas on most "consumer" cars, they're set to go off WHEN you're in trouble.
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Old 02-15-2001, 05:29 PM   #14
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Question

Quote:
The EGT is useful because things OTHER than mix can affect the exhaust temps, and it allows you to find problems not neccesarily related to mix.
Like what other things besides the mixture?
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Old 02-16-2001, 10:25 AM   #15
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>Like what other things besides the mixture [affect EGT]?

Compressor trim, compressor sizing, bearing efficiency for the compressor wheel, ignition problems, hot spotting due to bad head/intake work.

There are also purely mechanical things that will make changes in the readings you get (but not neccesarily the actualy combustion temps) like changes in downpipe configuration or length, changed heat shielding, etc.

We found this out the hard way at a track event when a friends DSM was suddenly reading 200* lower EGT's that it had been earlier in the morning. He was very confused and spend 2 sessions trying to sort the fuel mix back out, thinking it had somehow gotten over rich to cause the temp drop. Turns out the tie downs for the header-wrap that he had on a big chunk of his downpipe, etc. had failed and most of the insulation had come away. The result was that the exhaust was radiating more heat into the engine bay, so less heat was being read at the EGT sensor.
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Old 02-16-2001, 03:30 PM   #16
Neil Wallerstein
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Question

OK, Assuming there won't be much tuning going on in the first year of my cars life would you go with:

A) Boost, EGT, Oil Temp

B) Boost, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure

C) Boost, Oil Temp, AF

D) Boost, Oil Pressure, AF

I may do a little tuning with the car but I won't go for anything above 250hp..

[This message has been edited by Neil Wallerstein (edited February 18, 2001).]
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Old 02-17-2001, 12:46 AM   #17
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Engine timing has alot to do with EGT vs AFR. If you pre-ignite (due to timing, not octane related), you EGT will readdifferent than what your AFR will read (EGT high temp and AFR rich). To do the best monitoring, you should use both, but not an absolute. Just my .02
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Old 02-18-2001, 07:00 AM   #18
Neil Wallerstein
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-Bump-
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Old 02-18-2001, 07:55 AM   #19
allbent
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Since 30 hp should be very easy to come by in these cars, I don't think that there will be major problems with the AF ratio. This would cause me to choose your choice (B), boost, oil pressure, oil temperature. Good luck on getting a consensus here......

Adam
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