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6.4L Power Stroke Diesel Engine fitted to 2008 - 2010 F250, F350 and F450 pickup trucks and F350 + Cab Chassis

Transmission temp ?

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Old Aug 11, 2011 | 08:27 AM
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Transmission temp ?

Wondering what everyone is seeing for trans temps? I'm trying to compare what I'm seeing now to my '99, and to me they seem really hot. Just cruising empty they can get up to 170*. The other day I was towing 20K+ behind the pickup and had them up to 230*+ driving through town. I about didn't make a hill because the TC was slipping so bad, was just crawling at about 10mph.
That was with KEM 250 tune.

I just had a transmission flush done and they said everything in the trans looked good. I was seeing the same temps before as after (except for the high temps and slipping).

Guessing my TC is going. Is there a good way to test the cooler? What's available for aftermarket?
 
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Old Aug 11, 2011 | 08:36 AM
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When towing heavy I would strongly suggest towing it in stock form. Unless you have some specific tunes to adjust the tranny.

running empty for me is around 170F Towing I run around 190-200 with about 14K behind me.
Long Long grades I can see 220F maybe at the top. I have my alarm set at 215F so that I back out of it then.

Tranny is suppose to be able to handle 220F maybe a bit more for a few without damage.
<220F for a considerable amount of time.
 
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Old Aug 11, 2011 | 08:52 AM
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Ok, your numbers look a lot like what I usually see, so I'll assume they are normal. I may have to start looking for a bigger cooler though. I'm used to my '99, I had the trans rebuilt and put on a bigger pan and 6.0L cooler, I had to be running the crap out of the truck with a lot of weight for it to hit 170*, it was even hard to get it to 150*.


Originally Posted by senix
When towing heavy I would strongly suggest towing it in stock form. Unless you have some specific tunes to adjust the tranny.
LOL, thanks! No offense, but you won't get me to run my truck back in stock form. I know the risk it takes on the trans, if it goes I'll get it rebuilt. On the highway it actually tows great, temps stay within check. KEM tunes offer better shifting than stock. I hated the way the trans worked when it was stock, especially in tow/haul mode it wouldn't lock it out of 5th gear. Here in Iowa, we have a lot of little sharp hills like a roller coaster. With stock tuning, it'd drop to 3rd to get up the hills, then back up to 5th coasting down the other side, and back and forth going up and down the hills. Mike(KEM) locked out 5th gear for me in tow/haul mode and it does beautiful in 4th gear going up and down the same hills. I love it.
 
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Old Aug 11, 2011 | 08:57 AM
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so it sounds like you do have some trans tunes going on there. That was my concern.

So maybe like you said..getting time for some tranny work.
 
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Old Aug 11, 2011 | 09:09 AM
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I'm justing wondering if it wasn't a "fluke", towing in town trying to keep up with traffic, got the fluid hot, slipping the TC and it just snowballed from there.
I'm watching on my Insight now when the TC is locked, and about the only time is when it's at highway speeds. Might have to call Mike and see if that can be changed.

Do you know, is there a way to "manually" lock the TC? On my '99, you tap into a specific wire and with the flip of a switch I can lock my TC at any speed. It worked great because I tow farm equipment with top speeds of 30mph, and normally the TC wouldn't lock and I could watch my temps climb. When I locked up the TC I could almost watch the temps drop back down. That would have been usefully in this situation.
 
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Old Aug 11, 2011 | 09:12 AM
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As far as I know there is no wire to use since I think all the functions are controlled by the TCM and the PCM now. So all electronic.

Yes it would be nice to be able to lock it lower speeds.
 
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Old Aug 11, 2011 | 09:30 AM
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I just did 2800 miles at 70mph (stock) towing 6000lb, watching the tranny temp and TC slip with my Dashdaq..

tranny temps highest was like 205, and normal in the 194-198 range
and TC slip in the 0-5rpm range (when locked)..

there is no manual mechanism to lock the TC.. this is all pgm controlled.

right now, on the spartan tune I had been using, they have it lock at 45mph.
more time locked, more 'better' mileage
many of us don't like it locked that low, and Spartan is reworking their tunes to have a lo and high lock level versions (as I understand it), but no parameter the user can adjust/select other than a complete tune package.

Sam
 
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Old Aug 14, 2011 | 08:26 AM
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i don't own a trailer to tow anymore, but driving down the road empty my tranny sits right about 159. I didn't have the DashDaq when I was towing the race trailer every weekend, so I don't know what it was then.
 
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Old Aug 14, 2011 | 08:42 AM
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Pulling my 22,000 pound trailer temps just above 200 . I have a over size base and almost two times oil.
 
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