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Thread: ECT sensor disable???WHY

  1. #1
    Tuner in Training
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    ECT sensor disable???WHY

    Hi all, i have a new to me 06PSD it has a tune loaded in it already. It runs fine, but cooling fan on delay is too long when im towing. I have HPtuners already for my LS projects so i hooked up to the superduty and read file to adjust the temps. One thing i noticed it the ECT sensor in engine>general tab is set to disabled. which didnt seem right. So i downloaded a "stock" file from the repo to look at and it too is set to disabled?

    why and what does this actually mean, because isnt the vistronic fan supposed to use the ECT (and other things) to control fan speed?

    thanks for any input

  2. #2
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    I'm in Arizona... I had the same issue. I'm messing with Desired ECT, Desired EOT, and Enable Max VSS. I just got back from going from Phoenix 2000ft to Flagstaff 7000ft through mountains w/ 10k lbs load. There are some pretty good grades along the way. Ambient temp when I left is north of 105F. Other than traffic, it ran where I would expect with everything else stock.

    I don't have my tuning laptop handy at the moment so I will come back to edit this if I am way off.

    Desired ECT: I moved from 217F to I think 210F?
    Desired EOT: I think I put from 253F to 235F?

    From here on, I remember what I set it to.
    Enable Max VSS: went from 45 to 55mph - I might set this one to 60 mph, but I am afraid of the plastic fan coming apart. I'd love someone else's feedback/opinions on this.
    High speed enable ECT I moved to 225F and EOT to 245F.

    Before I did these changes, I had EOT up around 235F and ECT around 225F and I would back way off to keep it cool. Pulling the same load. The fan wouldn't kick on...

    I know there's a way the dealer would change these settings for people in altitudes and high ambient climates. A lot of these settings, I am told are for fuel savings. I'd rather have that fan going and hammer down, than save a little fuel personally. Another thing to keep in the back of your head is a lot of these trucks have mechanical fans. Mechanical fans don't care about vehicle speed or desired. They turn on at temp X, lock up at temp Y, and turn off at temp Z... These hydraulic clutches are known to not lock up very well after time I guess so maybe having it on and off will reduce its life span. I don't know.

    As for the subject of this post. When I clicked Engine -> General after I licensed it, I see ECT Sensor disabled - No clue why/what this setting is or does but I laughed and now I'm just confused. Mess with the [Fan System -> Fans -> blah]

  3. #3
    Advanced Tuner RandomEnthusiast's Avatar
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    The reason why ect is disabled is it relies on eot temps only pretty much. Since it's a high pressure oil system they had the pcm essentially ignore ect. I haven't played with it to much but lowering your eot for it should kick it on at that temp or around it.

  4. #4
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    I'm super new to diesels and had HPT from LS engine stuff too. Good info and it totally makes sense. I can say with certainty the changes I made lowered my temps quite a bit on climbs. Fan came on sooner and ran longer. Temps stayed lower while towing. You can tell the coolant system is ridiculously oversized. In 105F ambient coming up a hill it would peak coolant to 230F and EOT was around 235F the coolant would drop to 186F within a mile after we leveled off. From the gas world, this is nuts. EOT took a while to cool back down. I've got a brand new oil cooler on my truck and a coolant filter.

    I'll try raising ECT back to stock and lower the EOT desired to 225F and report back. The stock desired EOT @ 253F seems crazy high my tuner alarms @ EOT 225F. Stock ECT @ 217 is too late for the ambient temps we have around here.

    Anyone have any input on the ECT/EOT threshold @ 41F does? Is that the delta of the "thermostat" function of the fan clutch? They're both @ 41F default. The input range is 32-212F freezing to boil? If you make this 212F will the fan never turn on? If it's lower, will it cycle on and off more often?

  5. #5
    Advanced Tuner RandomEnthusiast's Avatar
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    EOT being high is pretty normal on 6.0ls. It's the same way with 7.3ls. They go by EOT since it's a hydraulic oil system. The Cooling system isn't that great. I've seen plenty of thermal issues with 6.0ls. Actually it's one of the main failure points of the 6.0l. It's mostly to do with the oil cooler clogging. Most people recommend running international navistar coolant. It's got less possibilities of particulates dropping out of the coolant clogging the cooler. Your threshold is the difference between eot and ect. You can lower that from what I understand to kick on the fan earlier or later and to keep the ect vs eot to a lower value. I've honestly never played with it. I would want the eot to be as low as possible. Have you ever seen a melted standpipe for the oil filter? I have. It's interesting telling people their engine is fucked when it has a melted stand pipe. Play with it is the only way to learn. I don't have a 6.0l to play with so I couldn't tell you for sure.

  6. #6
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    This post may be a little late. Those temps are too high, even for that environment. Id recommend blowing the radiator, charge air cooler, and condenser out. We see these trucks have radiators plugging up with dust between the fins. They look clean from the outside. We have these blow guns with long snouts, with like 5 or 6 vertical holes. You slide it down between the radiator and charge air cooler, blowing the radiator out with shop compressed air. Then turn it to the front to blow the condenser and cac. Take your time get all areas.

    I uploaded a video just a bit ago to show you what I do. It's a short video... I'm mostly talking about improving AC performance, but it applies to the cooling system as well. The vehicle I was working on actually ran at 230F ect just driving down the road unloaded. So it's just a suggestion, give it a try. https://youtu.be/NoB_53lcz7Y

    I'm sure your also aware of clogged oil cooler performance. Anytime you see EOT more than 20degrees hotter than ECT, its likely time to change it. Your temperatures (235 and 225) looked normal as far as that's concerned. Once you pass 40mph or so, the fan really isn't capable of moving much more air than what's being forced through the radiator by surrounding air, and then becomes a large parasitic draw on power likely leading to even hotter temperatures.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by bradearlywine View Post
    This post may be a little late. Those temps are too high, even for that environment. Id recommend blowing the radiator, charge air cooler, and condenser out. We see these trucks have radiators plugging up with dust between the fins. They look clean from the outside. We have these blow guns with long snouts, with like 5 or 6 vertical holes. You slide it down between the radiator and charge air cooler, blowing the radiator out with shop compressed air. Then turn it to the front to blow the condenser and cac. Take your time get all areas.
    I uploaded a video just a bit ago to show you what I do. It's a short video... I'm mostly talking about improving AC performance, but it applies to the cooling system as well. The vehicle I was working on actually ran at 230F ect just driving down the road unloaded. So it's just a suggestion, give it a try. https://youtu.be/NoB_53lcz7Y
    I'm sure your also aware of clogged oil cooler performance. Anytime you see EOT more than 20degrees hotter than ECT, its likely time to change it. Your temperatures (235 and 225) looked normal as far as that's concerned. Once you pass 40mph or so, the fan really isn't capable of moving much more air than what's being forced through the radiator by surrounding air, and then becomes a large parasitic draw on power likely leading to even hotter temperatures.
    Thanks for the comment and suggestions. I can see a bunch of crud in the condenser so this is probably it. It's going to the mechanic tomorrow for a bunch of other maintenance and I asked him to look at this too. EGT sensor going in, fluids, filters, etc. It's been up to ambient 120F here recently and we're making a trip through death valley in a few weeks. Should be good times. I was driving today unloaded and 115 outside @ 70mph the EOT was up to 215F and ECT was 210. I don't think this is right. New to diesels so maybe it's fine.

  8. #8
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    My mechanic blew out the condenser and the rad and it's running 10-15F cooler now on oil and coolant and the delta is smaller. AC is colder now too. Thanks for the tip! the fan kicked on much sooner (lower temp) and for shorter time on the drive home.