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Transmission temperature reading low

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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 06:34 AM
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Transmission temperature reading low

With the colder temperature, I noticed the temperature for the transmission is not getting up to normal as quickly as before. Yesterday I switched to gauge mode and it showed 145 degrees after 20 miles of driving at an outside temperature of 42 degrees.

Does anyone know what the minimum temperature should be? It's not showing a check engine light and shifts good.

Thanks.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 06:40 AM
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Minimum temp would be ambient air temp. You're over thinking this. Too hot is bad. Everything else is OK.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 01:40 PM
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unless it's cold enough that the fluid is frozen solid...but then most people would have different worries...
 
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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 02:17 PM
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140° +/- is about right. Ambient + 80-100° is where you should be.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 04:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Bently_Coop
140° +/- is about right. Ambient + 80-100° is where you should be.
Not for this one, the 6R140 has a thermostat that regulates its temperature.


Originally Posted by msgtord
With the colder temperature, I noticed the temperature for the transmission is not getting up to normal as quickly as before. Yesterday I switched to gauge mode and it showed 145 degrees after 20 miles of driving at an outside temperature of 42 degrees.
Sounds perfectly normal to me. The transmission takes much longer than the engine to come up to temperature, and that gets worse in cold weather. The 6R140 in my '11 would settle in around 195 degrees, but not for at least 30 miles in cold weather. My new F150 behaves very similar.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 05:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Tom
Not for this one, the 6R140 has a thermostat that regulates its temperature.




Sounds perfectly normal to me. The transmission takes much longer than the engine to come up to temperature, and that gets worse in cold weather. The 6R140 in my '11 would settle in around 195 degrees, but not for at least 30 miles in cold weather. My new F150 behaves very similar.
Thanks. I'm just accustomed to older transmissions that warmed up allot quicker. I don't remember it taking this long to warm up last winter and we spent some nights in the teens.

Thanks again.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 06:05 PM
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Originally Posted by msgtord
Thanks. I'm just accustomed to older transmissions that warmed up allot quicker. I don't remember it taking this long to warm up last winter and we spent some nights in the teens.
They really didn't, they just looked like they did. The previous generation transmission temperature "gauge" would read mid-range normal when the trans was above 50 degrees. Every truck I've ever monitored temps on has taken >20 miles for the transmission temp to come up and stabilize. Older designs didn't use a thermostat and would settle in a temperature dependent on load conditions, volume of air through the coolers, and ambient air temp. Modern transmissions are much more consistent and will come all the way up to temperature even in the middle of winter.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2015 | 06:26 PM
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Good info, thanks.
 
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Old Dec 17, 2015 | 01:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Tom
Not for this one, the 6R140 has a thermostat that regulates its temperature.

Sounds perfectly normal to me. The transmission takes much longer than the engine to come up to temperature, and that gets worse in cold weather. The 6R140 in my '11 would settle in around 195 degrees, but not for at least 30 miles in cold weather. My new F150 behaves very similar.
Oops on the mis-information. Thanks for the correction and clarification.
 
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