k I just took a 240 mile ride pulling a 24' camper from Long Island to upstate NY once I got on the hilly backroads the trans temp ( only have stock dash). shot all the way up and then cooled down once I pulled over after a few minutes. Any info will be helpful I'm here for a week in Gilboa NY and don't know any tranny techs so don't wanna chance that. My question is do you think I'll make it home, I have tools, air and anything that I can try would be helpful. There is 195000 on the clock original tranny so I know it's getting close but just wanna try making it home. Thoughts?

or any local respected tranny techs?

 

Were you towing with the O/D on or off? Most advise to tow with it off, it will raise your engine temps, but lower your tranny temp.

Don't hesitate to pull over and let it idle in park. (not in drive, in park or neutral) It will cool itself down and then you can drive some more.

If you are in stop and go traffic your tranny will heat up quickly.

Not sure what size tranny cooler you have, but you might want to upgrade the cooler when you get home.

And if you tow regularly, absolutely get a real tranny gauge so you can accurately monitor the temp.

How much weight are you pulling? How loaded is your cab with gear and passengers?

 

The stock trans cooler is fine when blowing down the highway, but a slow grind up a twisty road is too much for it. The cooler from the 6.0 is a very common mod because it drops into place of the original and solves the issue. The pic shows the oem 7.3 next to a 6.0. Most will recommend that, or delete the stock cooler and go with a good Derale or similar. A cheapie tube and fin cooler in addition to the stock 7.3 is bad idea.

As bigtexan99 said get a real trans temp gauge. And a Magnefine filter is a good idea.

Check the trans fluid and put in fresh if in doubt. Mercon V, not Mercon like your owners manual and dip stick says. If the way home is more down than up I think you'll be fine. Get home and fix'er up. I smoked mine pretty good once, but since then I've put on 60k with fresh fluid, a Magnefine and a 6.0 cooler.

 

Most don't advise that. Those that understand this transmission know that it was designed to tow in overdrive. It could use more cooling, however.

 

When I am pulling my fifth wheel I weigh in at 10 tons gross wt. the only time I shift out of od is when I am on a pull that causes the Trans to start searching, or shifting up and down. I don't know that this will damage the transmission but I don't think it can help. My transmission and cooler are stock with 214K on them and all I do is try to drive with the replacement costs in mind.

 

Yes, that will damage the transmission. If it is searching for a gear then you need to turn off overdrive.

 

There is a bypss tube on the side.of.the.trans that can go bad an cause trans temps.to sore. It's not expensive to replace. 6.0 cooler highly recommended. If you're factory trans gauve was showing hot you can bet you were over 220.

 

UPDATE

ok home now found a so called good tranny shop that I feel did the rite thing. The day after I posted I attempted to drive an hour so the kids could jump on the quads made it half way then the tranny would pull out of all t dgears until I shut off and restarted. flat towed to shop and tech says when he dropped pan there were lots of metal. he said it was probably sucking up to the filter then when I shut down the shavings would then re accumulate.

He installed a ford rebuild from ford with a 3 yr unlimited mileage warrantie at any dealer. Wish I could have beefed tranny up but couldn't in the slotted time.

My question is I'm sure the new TS performance chip helped destroy tranny but would like opinions on the future should I cont. to run chip? has anyone ran this tuner for long periods of time without issue?

paid 3600 for the installation and cost of the ford reman what do u think about price? I thought it was reasonable.

Also will ford know if I remove chip that I was running?

thx to all info is knowledge and appreciated.

 

also tried getting 6.0 cooler but they required stock part # cooler for warranty and it came with stock fluid so ill change to synthetic when I service it at 36000 miles per tranny shop.

 

That's among the dumbest things I've ever heard.

Go figure, Ford.........

Pop

 

that's per the tranny shop not sure if its true or BS due to laziness !

 

I paid a shade under $4k for a heavy duty rebuild with stronger TC, Tugger Overhaul kit and supplemental cooler....but that was back in 2006 I think.

I wonder if you might have received the HD4R100 unit? Can you post the part number from your invoice? The HD unit has some upgrades so you might be in good shape already.

 

No telling what caused it to go but I think a larger 6.0 cooler and a non.OEM Trans Guage and EGT are a must when running a tuner. IMHO

 

it actually says 4100r on the receipt.

 

That's a mistake. There is no such thing as a Ford 4100r.