Cylinder Head Temp gauge helps warn of knock?

[HeatRaveR]

Does anyone know at about what cylinder head temp that I'll start to really increase the risk of detonation on a mostly stock L28ET? (naturally, I'd rather not run the temp up unnecessarily to find out the hard way! ^^; )

[BRAAP]

Boy oh boy… It sounds like you have a LONG way to go in understanding what is taking place in the combustion chamber of turbonic power plant.

 

 

Uh, well at ANY and ALL temps the engine CAN and WILL detonate, period! Even a dead cold engine, say at 32 degrees, (0 celsius), can and will detonate. Cylinder head temp is in NO way ANY indication of knock, nor will it warn of that. Of course, the higher the engine temp, the greater the possibility. There are WAY too many other factors that cause detonation.

As for detecting the onset of detonation, your ears are a FAR better indicator than the your engine temp gauge and even then, unheard detonation will destroy an engine.

 

Don’t trust your ears, and do NOT use your temp gauge for that purpose.

[HeatRaveR]

Well yes, I know it's more than just head temp that causes detonation. I've edited my original wording to hopefully clarify what I'm getting at. I was just wanting to see if it might provide some kind of warning in terms of being a contributing risk factor (vs being the sole cause) when I'm running the car "aggressively" (ie track, climbing mountains, etc.). My line of thinking was like, "If I see X degrees of temperature my odds of detonation just doubled" (or something like that).

 

Well, at the very least, such a gauge should at least help warn me if I'm in danger of melting/warping something, right? Either way, I'm trying to find out about what temp I'm flirting with something getting damaged. I've seen head temp gauges that have a 270-degree range and ones with a 600-degree range. So knowing where the danger area is would help figure out which is more suitable.