I have a 2000 5.4L 4x4 with the 4R70W, 3.55 gear. Labor Day weekend I went to SC to buy a racecar and trailer, total weight approx. 6000#. Coming back across the mountains of TN the front seal let go. What a mess, and what a disappointment!! This was the first pulling that I had ever done with this truck. I had been towing with O/D off, no cruise, and going 55-60mph the whole trip. My dealer replaced the unit with a factory reman, no problem. However, I still need to pull this rig starting next race season and I don't know if I can trust this tranny. I wish that I would have had them put in a 4R100 and maybe I could breathe a little easier. What I have decided to do is install a temperature gauge and monitor it while driving. My question is what is the best way to mount the sending unit? Would in the pan be best whereby I have to have a receptacle welded in the pan? Is there a pan that fits this tranny that already has a place for the sending unit? (Mag-Hytec does not have one yet.) I read on one of the forums that the 4R100 has a place for one on the housing on the driver's side. Does the 4R70W have this also?? Shouldn't my truck be able to pull this load with no trouble?? I even thought about an F-250 PSD, but I don't have the money to take a beating on my truck. All suggestions are welcome. Sorry for being so long-winded, but this is the reason I bought this truck was to pull my race car when I was finally able to afford one.

 

Hi JMB

Yeah, know feeling. Lost auto.tranny 4R70W on my 99SC. @16500mi. Was replaced under warranty. Guess i got lucky, only because i wasnt towing at the time. Was in town,local, kinda odd cause it went out about 2 months after my last tow.....?

Anyhow there have been many posts on at temp. guages. Did you look back on this bd. Go back as far as you can. Some good ideas, actual install, pics. etc. Different install locations....Or maybe those that posted will do again?

Havent done it yet, but will be doing. One placement for the sender unit was in the out-going fluid line, (hope i said that right)
that is "before it goes thru the auto. trans. cooler."
So you get the hottest temp, not the lowest.

Good luck.....OT

 

In the pan, you'll see the temp of the fluid that the tranny is taking in, and be able to monitor the cooling system as well.And have a nice drain plug for service. get a drain plug kit and use the sender instead of the plug.

 

I had the trans temp sender mounted on the pan in a B&M drain kit. The only time the temp got above 100 was at the strip. I moved the sender to the trans outlet/cooler inlet line, now it reads about 150-160 in normal driving, higher in traffic during warm weather or at the track. TH400, aftermarket cooler, VDO gauge and sender. My motorhome is setup the same way, gauge sender on cooler inlet line. If I put a gauge on the F 150 it will also go on the cooler inlet, the location where the fluid temp is hottest. I don't know if this helps but I won't be moving the sender back to the pan any time soon.

 

I have autometer gauges and A-pillar pod from http://egauges.com .
I don't have them installed yet, but here is the plan.
The autometer tranny temp gauge (electric) comes with a 1/8" NPT threaded sender. The 4R70 and 4R100 tranny have a test port near the linkage which is plugged with an 1/8" NPT plug.
My understanding is that this test port is in the vicinity of the torque converter and should read from one of the hottest spots in the tranny. No tube cutting, not splicing, no removing the pan.

The placement advice came from the tech support hotline at
http://bankspower.com

Supposedly, there is a similar port near the base of the oil filter mount. Haven't looked yet, but have the gauge for it.

I wanted the gauges because I tow a 5000 lb TT through the Sierra's on occasion.

 

HI!... The best place to install a tranny temp sender is in the outgoing line from the tranny, before any tranny coolers or rad. Installing the tranny sender in the tranny pan it'self will give you false readings. I hope the tranny temp guage you bought was a "MECHANICAL" guage. They are the most accurate and can still function when the vehicle is off. An electrical guage is not that accurate and does'nt work when the vehicles off. I used a AUTOMETER "PHANTOM" tranny temp guage and mounted it in one of my 3 "A" pillar guage pods. I tapped into the out going tranny line using a AUTOMETER tranny temp manifold. If you need parts #'s just E-MAIL me. I also have some pics of my guage set-up. Hope this helps you out.

 

Hi Neal,

Any ideas on how close the temp at the test port will be to the temp in the outlet line to the cooler?

Also, I understand that an electrical gauge will not work without power however, from the autometer website, http://www.autometer.com/hp/index.html ->
Tech Tips/FAQ->Mechanical vs. Electrical

"Both mechanical and electrical gauges are equally accurate. "

thanks,

frieed

 

HI!... FRIEED : I've run both the electrical and mechanical AUTOMETER guages over the years and have noticed that the electrical guages have always been off a bit. The mechanicals, at least for me have ALWAYS been dead nuts on. As for a tranny sender location, I mounted mine in the tranny line right under the rad cradle. I was told by several tranny buildser's around here to never install a sender in the tranny or tranny pan because of "HEAT SOAK" and that it will SCEEW the actually temp #'s.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I think I'll attempt this job this weekend. I have decided to put the sender in the line using the Autometer trans. temp. manifold. I'm going to try and mount it close to where Neal suggested. If you guys can think of anything else that might help me, by all means let me know. I was looking underneath yesterday and noticed a small (approx. 3"x10") cooler on the driver's side in front of the radiator. What is that an oil cooler? Man that trans. cooler looks awfully small. Thanks again.

 

HI!... The very small cooler on the driver's side below the rad is the power steering cooler. The larger black cooler on the passenger's side is the tranny cooler. The stock tranny cooler is junk in my opinion and in a very poor location behind the front bumper. Bad air flow. I removed the factory cooler and replaced it with a 10"X 14" aluminum PERMA-COOL Tranny cooler. I also mounted a 10" electric puller fan behind it.It's wired to a manual swith in my tranny guage pod.