It's about 55 degrees outside and my engine has about 1600 miles on it. I'm running on a part throttle break-in tune and never take it above 4000 RPMs. However, today I wasn't even close to that. I pulled out of the driveway, drove down a hill about 1/4 mile, then gently pulled away from a stop sign. The EGT warning light came on and temps skyrocketed to 2200 degrees. Shifting into higher gears did nothing. Eventually, things stabilized then climbed to over 1800 when I pulled into another driveway and was practically idling. I'm scared to drive it right now. What are the scenarios that would cause this kind of problem?

 

Which plugs are you using and what heat range?
Where's the EGT probe located?

When you're running lean, EGT gets super high. Anything over 1800 and you start to melt **** (which, of course, you already know).

your part throttle break-in "tune" is making things worse. Get into the car, creep it home, and start going over your "tuning" calibration for timing.

That's the best thing you can do right now. Don't Drive it anymore for any length of time.

 

Thanks man, it's in the garage right now. When the light went off the first time, I checked my PLX wideband and it read around 13.5:1. My plugs are NGK BKR7E. I also noticed what seemed like high oil pressures when cold the past couple of days, but this is all new to me. I've only had a single boost gauge in the past. At this point, I'm really hoping it's a bad ground. A quick Google search found others with similar issues and it was a bad ground or probe. This came out of the blue, and it's the first time I've driven the car after it's been in the rain. I'm not the tuner, but I've already contacted them.

 

oil pressure will be higher with cold start, and hasn't warmed to where viscosity of the oil lowers to give lower pressure.

I have know information / knowledge about the PLX wideband

 

I know that oil pressure will be higher when cold, but the needle seemed to swing towards 100psi pretty quickly at low RPMs. Maybe I'm paranoid, but it was right after I added a little bit of oil and the turbo seemed to spool up faster, even though I wasn't trying to boost. I think I need a psychiatrist to help me deal with my car issues, lol.

 

Check your timing and go from there. Whats your base timing at

 

I don't know, I'll have to ask them.

 

your timing can be way retarded which will cause the burn late like going out through the exhaust ports increasing egt. i would certainly get the tune checked and also look at the plugs to verify the conditions in the cylinder.

what oil viscosity do you run, and what are your bearing tolerances which can be influential.

ohh, and go to the back of the shrink line, ive been waiting to see him for 10 years hahah

 

I'm going to get it checked out when I can get the car down to the shop. After the EGTs climbed over and indicated 1800 degrees, I shut the car down in my garage and removed the plugs the next day. Below is a picture of them from left to right 4,3,2,1. EGT probe is on cylinder #3. I noticed some oil on the threads, but I'm hoping that's from when they adjusted valves and retorqued the head studs a couple of times and possibly some oil dripped down. I initially thought it might be the valve cover o-rings, since the valve cover gasket is leaking, but the tube was dry. I run 10w40 Brad Penn. Engine specs are also below.