In past postings, I've noticed that several have placed the transmission temperature sender in the small hole above the shift rod on the E4OD. The purpose for this hole is for a pressure test port, assuming I've been correctly informed. When I installed my guages (all AutoMeter), I also put the sender in that same location. BAD IDEA. The sender restricts flow through the transmission, causing excessive temperature gains. I recently relocated it to a 3/8inch Tee with correct bushing reducers that I put in the return line. Indicated temperature (no load, level cruise, 70mph, 65 degree ambient) dropped from 160 to 120. Internal temp using Edge Evolution in data stream mode shows a drop from 203 to 170. It's possible that your sender is shorter than the 3/4inch beyond the thread of the AutoMeter. If not, you're cruisin' for a bruisin'!!!

 

I had an AutoMeter in my old truck 460 w/E4OD. It worked flawlessly in the test port. Maybe yours has the odd casting irregularity I have read about that can screw up the sender. I read one thread by a fellow that installed it in the test port and the exit line and saw little if any difference. Maybe you just had an odd situation.

Frank

 

The sender can't restrict flow. There is no flow at the test port.

 

I too have not had any problems, and I'm running the Autometer gauges. Think I'll do a little research though...

Max

 

An odd casting is a possibility; I've seen them before. All I can go by is the physical evidence; the temperatures, internal & cooled, dropped significantly when I moved the sender to the cooler return line. The cooler arrangement is trans-to-radiator, radiator-to-26k aux cooler, aux-to-trans; I removed the factory single-loop cooler from the circuit. I used a 3/8" tee with reducer bushings to allow plenty of flow around the sender. As for the possibility of flow restriction, I'll investigate further when I get the truck back from its rear-end repair job (my trans books are in the back seat).

 

An odd casting is not a possibility. There is nothing flowing near that port. All it does is connect the test port to line pressure. When something is blocking the hole, like the original plug or a sender, nothing flows. If the sender is longer than the original plug, still nothing flows.

The sender can't get far enough in to restrict anything. The passage has a curve, and the sender would have to be several inches long and flexible enough to get to someplace that could cause a problem.

I don't doubt that you have seen a temp difference, but something else caused the difference, not a flow restriction by having the sender in the test port.

 

By putting it in the return line, it makes sense that it would read cooler. You are measuring the temperature of oil that has passed all the way through the radiators if and if they are working right, the oil would naturally be cooler. It is likely that both readings are accurate, but are just different because the sensore is post-cooler. You want the sensor placed somewhere that it reads fluid that is at the actual temperature of the transmission. I would move it back to the test port, or if you are not comfortable with that, at least to feed line instead of the return.

 

The move to the return line was based on recommendations from the transmission rebuilder, not an arbitrary choice of my own. In fact, they explicitly said "Don't put it in the feed line. You'd be frightened by what you see". The rebuilder, Transmission Exchange, is not a fly-by-night operation, nor a low-volume supplier. And this is one of their Tow-Matrix Super Heavy Duty units. The thing that impressed me after moving it was the cooler internal temperature, using the factory sensor mounted on the solenoid pack.