When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
hey guys I notice my trans temp gets really hot fast. For instance just moving my trailer from front of my house to side yard makes temp go to 250. Without any load and driving a couple miles it does the same thing. It's been doing it since I installed the trans temp gauge just trying to figure out what's up. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
250*F is Extremely High without being under immense load. There is a Bypass Valve to ensure fluid circulates in the event of a failure or blockage. That valve can become stuck closed. Or, perhaps your cooler is blocked. Either way, driving it if it reaches 250*F will shorten the life dramatically if not corrected.
I Tow 8,500 lbs. and seldom see 200*F. About 140*F no load at 70*F ambient Temperature.
Have you performed the scheduled maintenance since owning?
I would compare the current Gauge with an OBD-II PERDEL or another gauge and go from there.
30k in 10 yrs? shoot, i do that in one year....lol.... I would suspect you are getting a false reading on your temp indications. I could be wrong, but i wouldnt think its possible to build that kind of temp in that short of duration. Have you checked the temp by feel to verify if its that hot? Pull the dip stick and smell the oil for burnt smell or feel how hot the stick is....
I also would be thinking possibly a bad gauge or wiring snafu somewhere. I have never seen 250 in my truck. Even when pushing a v blade full of wet snow.
Bad gauge also gets my vote. When backing up a hill with our fifth wheel on the back, it will be blowing transmission fluid long before it reaches that kind of temperature.
I replaced my Transmission cooler with the ford 6.0 Transmission cooler. Even in the summertime heat here is Arizona sometimes reaching 110 degrees ambient I never see my Trans temp get over 90 degrees.
Ya I have had the trans rebuilt. Iv owned the truck for about 10 years and put about 30k on it.
When the tranny was rebuilt, was the original oil to air cooler replaced?
A tranny that fails often sends lots of particles through the cooler in the radiator and the oil to air cooler, reducing flow to the cooler circuit. The oil to air cooler has small passages which can clog from these particles. This cooler is not easily cleaned out. It is in series connection with the oil to water cooler in the radiator, so one blocked cooler can reduce the flow to both coolers.
A certain highly regarded former Ford transmission engineer has recommended on this forum replacing the oil to air cooler when replacing the transmission.
And if the oil to air cooler is still the original size, it is not near large enough. Google 6.0 tranny cooler.
I'm not sure if the trans cooler was cleaned after the trans was rebuilt. I'll look into changing the trans cooler. I definately wanna get the temp back down before creating an issue.
You need to use Torque or a scan tool to see what transmission temp the PCM is seeing. It can vary a bit from where you installed the gauge probe, but you'll know pretty quick whether you have a gauge problem or a real problem.
When you cycle your key on after your truck has been sitting overnight, what does the trans temp gauge say? It should be somewhat close to ambient temperature. This is a quick test to see if they gauge is working.
I vote bad gauge too. I have never seen 250* trans temps. Even towing 15k lbs up a 6% grade in 110* weather only gets it to about 210*.
