Yeah, you just threw me off for a second... I didn't know what you were trying to abbreviate with p/s. ....Since you were talking about the driver's side of the truck, but I gotcha now.

 

OK, I gotta ask : IF the ATF fluid temp coming out of the torque converter is too high, what do you do about it ? I may not know everything, but the amount of time the fluid is "too hot" vs. going through the coolers and the rest of the tranmission is hardly significant. An overall elevated temperature woild be a more significant reading, would it not ???

Please, share with us how this is so - I'm building a pretty stout engine and I'm concerned about the tranny - even though most of the L guys that have built motors and trannys don't seem to have any issues with theirs with simple additional coolers and valve bodies ???

Thanks !!

 

HI!... Well If I see the trans fluid is too hot I will turn on my tranny cooler fans. You will see in a few minutes the trans fluid temp will drop. If I really overheat the fluid, say to 240 degrees + say at the dragstrip, I will pull back into the pits, shut her down and let the fans run until the temp drops way down. I run REDLIND D4 which doesn't start to burn or varnish until about 250-260 degree's. So I have to heat the fluis up pretty badly before I will start causing damage. Most people run the factory fluid which can start burning at around 200 degree's if they keep it there long enough, say pulling a trailer or what not. I've seen a lot of guys over the years burn up good tranny's due to overheating. I've never been one of them.

 

OK, I don't have separate fans on my tranny cooler - the FAL270 has to do it all on my L. How does running the fans after the truck is shut down (and the tranny fluid isn't circulating) help cool any fluid, other than that which is in the cooler itself ??

Wow, I didn't know the Ford fluid was not able to withstand the temps generated in these trucks when towing, etc. Where did you find the temp info on the Ford fluid ? Just curious...

Thanks again - I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

 

HI!... It's the same principle if your holding a piece of steel at one end with your hand and someone starts heating the opposite end with a torch. Eventually the heat is going to reach youe end and burn your hand. The tranny fan cools the fluid in the cooler and it carries up the lines. Same thing happens with my coolant temp sensor. My mechanical coolant temp sensor is in the ingoing heater core hose at the back of the intake manifold. If I'm running 210 degrees on coolant temp and I turn both rad fans on it only take about 10 minutes to drop the temp gauge to about 170 degrees. The cooling effect of the coolant actually carries all the way through the coolant in the block and back up to where I have the sensor located. Which in turn would probably mean that the coolant in the actual rad is way cooler that 170 degrees but whats in the block is what I'm worried about.


My tranny builder told me he sees the factory fluid start to burn at about 200-210 degrees and a few buddies of mine that are still FORD techs have told me the same thing. Due to I have a 3000 stall converter and race alot I upgrade to a race fluid to prevent it from burning.

 

Here is a place you may want to visit and get some real life info on transission temps and cooling.
Out of your browser bar, search for the following;
Automatic Transmission Fluid Overheating:NJ Forest Service.
There you will find at least a 4 page article.
On page 2, left column, bottom para, it will tell you that Fords top temp is 240°.
It also tells what the loading was on the trucks. Quite servere for slow running.

I have a custom built 4r70w 4x4 with monitoring at the output of the trans toward the radiator.
Top temps seen pulling gross combined weights the same as the article are just 240° at the worst 2 pulling areas over the road both ways. This is not a full time high temp but short durations. The trans cools right down in the 180-190 range within a 1/2 mile over the tops of the hills allowing for average system heating inertia to equalize the gage temps seen.
I also have an auto control fan on a 24,000 GVW aux cooler set for 185 to 200° turrn on.
When running, I can tell by the fan as well as the trans temp gage what is happening to system temps.
The 240 temp does not mean instant fluid failure but it does mean you keep an eye on the fluid for signs of color change or change fluid as often as needed to keep ahead of the oxidation that occurrs.
My application is not race but long term towing at high gross loads.
My tran has been custom built with a "low stall" diesel multi band lockup converter to reduce slip shear heat production, a fully modified valve body with quick shifts, high flow pump and high flow flow control solenoid, mid grade performance clutches and matching discs as well as bands and upgraded front bearing assemblies. Deep pan and a larger radiator.
This transmission no longer uses Mercon V due to the clutch and band material used in the rebuild.
I bring this reference because there is a lot of missinformation about fluids and towing applications.
Natually the more servere the loads, the higher the fluid temps will go at times.
You do all that can be done for cooling, keeping in mind that the closer to max loading, the more you can count of a problem at some point depending on how often the loads is applied.
You cannot just use ever larger aux coolers and fans to keep lowering temps.
The flow rates are limited by line size and the pump capacity beside cooling other parts of the transmission before the fluid finds it's way back to the pan.
I am certainly pulling at max gross weights near 12,000 lbs which is pretty hard on an F150 4.6/3.55 combination not meant to be used that way for prolonged intervals.

 

Neal,

I purchased the Autometer manifold block to ease with the installation of my temp gauge, but I feel that something is wrong with it. The tubing connectors will barely thread into the manifold housing. It almost seems as if the threads in the manifold housing are tapered . . . which would be strange. In addition, I'm having the same issue with the 1/2" mounting nut. I'm curious to know if your manifold exhibited the same problems. Any help?

By the way, whoever was asking about the correct manifold size, the tranny lines are 5/16". Get the 5/16" manifold.

-Craig

 

HI!... The threaded holes in the temp manifold should be NPT. They are supposed to taper, that's how they seal.

 

Fair enough; it seems that the tubing connector bolts screw in enough to make me content. However, the 1/2" NPT mounting nut that the probe screws into barely gets past the first thread on the manifold. The seems very odd to me. Did you just crank the thing down with all your might. Won't it strip?

-Craig

 

HI!... Are you using the TEMP PROBE extension in the temp manifold? You can't scew the temp sensor from the gauge directly into the temp manifold.

 

This is the thing. Many manuel temp probes are meant to go into the pan and not an external block. Depends on what you have.
The electric sensors are quite small so have no problem being used in a block.

 

HI!... Actually the mechanical temp probes are designed to go into a temp manifold. We use them at work all the time. I wish I could be there for him. If he has all the right parts, I could have it installed on his truck in like 20 minutes.

 

Poor pic of my temp manifold installed. 3/8" lines
Tubing connector's were put in as far as I could get them same with temp probe reducer.

 

Done it a few times before eh?


Hmm, What do you guys think about me plumbing a coolant temp sensor into the trans line. Then, I could put a 2 way toggle in my cab, and switch between the one on the engine, and the one on the tranny. Then, the EDGE will show trans temp. If I'm doing something crazy, like a long burnout, or a long pull on a steep hill, I could flip the switch and see what the trans is doing! I think I'm gonna do that! I might put together a kit, if there's any takers!

 

HI!... Here's mine, you can see the adapter between the gauge probe and the manifold.