my food doesn't burn up nor are temps that high. they run about 50-60 degrees hotter than the machine is set, when using it set for 225..
the P is at factory settings.
i'll test it but i already know the auger doesn't run continuously.
i fill the hopper to the top but my hopper is smaller than yours.
as far as i can tell, the machine runs as intended, except for an inability to hold heat, on the 180 setting, it does sometimes hit over 400. same with the smoke setting.
traeger was unhelpful in correcting this.
I think you definitely need to check / adjust the "P" setting. Also, if your temps are spiking that much, you should check the connection of your temp probe to the control board, a loose connection can cause big temp swings like that. The temp probe screws into a terminal block, directly on the control board, and those screws can come loose, just don't try to tighten them too much and break the terminal block.
Mine had those temp swings when I had a short in the wiring for the probe, and it would short to the body, and the controller would just keep pumping pellets into the fire pot.
My Traeger has some temp swings but no where near what you are talking about. When set to 225, I usually swing 215 - 240. this seems normal for Traegers from all the users I have asked.
Good luck if you even try to call treager, since they moved out of the country they are useless, but there are a lot of users out there from the early days when Traeger was still a quality smoker, that can help with issues, you just need to ask around.
I plan to replace mine sometime in the "not too distant future", and I plan to spring the money for the Yoder. I have a work colleague who bought the Mak 2 star (ditched his traeger), and is very happy with it.