Without me reading a direct statement, I have gotten the feeling that the consensus on this board is the stock trans temp gauge is junk.

Anyone care to elaborate? I'm installing the 3 gauge pod in my Ex and was going to put in my Firestone air press gauge, Differential temp and Voltmeter. The only thing I wonder about is should I be getting the trans gauge instead of the voltmeter.

Anyone know about the stock meter?

 

It depends on how much information you want to know.

If you want to know if the tranny temp is 185* or 190*, forget it, the stock gauge doesn't work that way.

If you are satisfied (as am I) with "OK", "Getting Hot", "Too Hot", then it works just fine.

 

ITPdiesel has a good side by side showing the stock tranny gauge vs an aftermarket one. If the linke doest work just look at the gauges section.

 

Like I said. If you want to know if the fluid is 150* or 160*, the factory gauge ain't going to do it.

If all you want to know is if your tranny is getting too hot and you need to cool it down, then the factory gauge works just fine.

It depends on your point of view.

 

I like my trans temp gauge, it's good piece of mind, especially when towing heavy. It's possible that the you wouldn't notice the factory gauge until it was too late. They don't climb into the danger zone until the trans is already pretty hot. At least with an after market gauge you can watch exactly what the temp is doing.

 

I'd take a tranny temp guage over a differential temp guage anyday. But that's just me...

 

But what exactly is "pretty hot"? If you have followed these boards (and many others) you will have seen that there is a great debate over exactly how hot is too hot. I won't start that fight all over again in this post. So let's just say critical tranny temps are an issue over which there is great disagreement.

So, while knowing if your tranny is 165* or 170* might give you peace of mind, it turns many others into "Nervous Nellies".

I also see little reason why you believe that you will watch an aftermarket gauge like a hawk, but are incapable of even noticing the factory gauge.

You can call me a simpleton if you want, but when I take a quick look at my factory gauges, if the needles are all in the "Normal" zone, that is all the peace of mind that I need.

 

I don't know, folks. I've been trying to research this one, and I have come to the conclusion that I do want a aftermarket Trans temp gauge.

I think that the IPTdiesel site got me thinking, but I also ran into this site, Blowin Smoke , and it made me a believer that the gauge could be replaced by a light and there would be no difference. (Except that we see the red light better)

The only question for me now is what temperatures to watch for. Time to do more research......

 

I guess my point is, that the factory gauge sits in the middle most of the time. I think this gets us conditioned to sort of ignore it. An after market gauge is more accurate and always shows you the correct temp and for me at least, this makes me watch closer. This may not be the case for everyone. If you feel good with the factory gauge, that's your choice. If you feel good with an after market gauge, well that's your choice too. I also think that the factory gauge can move pretty quick once the temps do get high, and by high I mean 200 or over. I sure don't want my transmission getting any hotter than it needs to be and I like to know it's getting hot, rather than be warned it's already hot.

It's all about personal preference, I personally like my gauges. I use ALL my gauges to monitor the state of things and it does make me feel better to know that my tranny is running at 150 or 180 degrees rather than just knowing it is in the "middle".




You want to keep it under 200 degrees, the lower the better, well within reason. The trans needs to have some heat to function properly. Good luck with your decision. It's true, you will find many opinions on this subject, Do what makes YOU feel comfortable.

 

The factory gauge goes to the middle and stays there from 51* to 220*. We can debate the <200* versus something else, but I will leave that for another day.

So, when my gauge is "in the middle", I know that I am below 220*. I do not really understand how knowing that the temp is 195* or 207* or 186* helps me in any way.

 

Your right, the actual "safe" temp is debatable, I don't want mine getting above 200 degrees. Knowing the exact temp is my preference, may not matter to others, just the way I like it.

 

I tow, and the temperature of the trans when pulling 9000+ lbs can and does rise dramatically due to terrain and ambient temperature. I had a trans blowout many years ago while pulling a boat back to NJ from Lake Ontario. (Ford passenger van 350cid) This was on a grade, and the only thing I had left was brakes. I had a aux trans cooler installed, but apparently it was not enough. The trans shop showed me the burned oil, and the fried clutches. I had had the oil changed only 4 thousand miles before. The techs said it was a classic case of overheating. The idiot light never came on.


I do not want that to happen again. I see the Ford gauge is no better than the idiot light that I had on the van, so I'll install the gauge and an extra tru-cool cooler. If I see the temp rise into the danger zone while towing, I'll pull over and let the engine idle while it cools down.

 

OK. Another day has come.

What is the "danger zone"?

Accurate data is only valuable if you know what the data means.

See what I mean. You want it as cool as possible (within reason), except it still needs to be hot (but not too hot).

So, is 165* too cool, too hot or just right? What about 175*? 145*? Etc.

What you have just described is exactly what the Ford gauge does, let's you know when you are in the "danger zone" (as defined by Ford) so that you can slow down and let the tranny cool. It seems to be that you just disagree with Ford's location of the "danger zone" and want to define your own.

Ford engineers (the only ones to have actually performed durability testing on the 4R100 and 5R110) say anything below 220* is normal, and it is not even worthy of notifying the driver until the temp goes above this.

Why is everyone so quick to dismiss the opinion of these engineers?

 

FWIW, I found this information...

According to the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association, 90% of all transmission failures are caused by overheating. If fluid temps can be held to 175°, ATF will last almost indefinitely, and as a rule of thumb, every 20° increase in operating temperature above 175° halves the life expectancy of a transmission. According to 4R100 guru Gregg Evans: "Should run around 150-190 most of the time, anything over 200 is something you should watch, if it stays above 200 most of the time there is a problem."

I'm sure Ford has some fine engineers, but they are not infallible, they did design the fuel system in our trucks. I plan to spend this weekend fixing that.

Now I'm not saying getting above 200° will immediately ruin the transmission, just that over time it can shorten the life of the transmission. Is this is absolute fact, I don't know but why take a chance? I sure don't want to with my transmission.

 

Old news. That quote has been flying around these boards for years. No one knows who started it. No one knows when it was started. 1945? 1960? 1984?

See, even you don't really believe your own quote.

Lots of old wives tales out there:

"If you keep doing that, it will fall off".

"Don't worry, you won't get pregnant".

I am sure that at least some of these tales had an "expert" authority supporting them.


OK. March 3, 2006:

Posting Guru Jschira says "running your tranny above 200* is OK and will not hurt the tranny."

There. Now everyone can start quoting me and have an "expert" basis for their opinion.