I do get around, don't I?

That chart looks like it probably was valid once upon a time. Type F fluid, and others from the 60's and 70's did not have the temperature resistance the modern fluids have. They did break down and damage transmissions at temps that are like what the chart shows. I've run transmissions over 300F, and teardowns showed that they still looked like new. I wouldn't run MY trans that hot, but I sure did run test transmissions that hot.

I was involved with an off-road race team (think Baja 1000, etc) that ran an E4OD, then a 4R100, and then a TorqShift. We had one race where the trans cooler line was damaged, limiting flow to the coolers. There was still enough flow for lube, also due to a modified lube system. The trans survived the race. The driver reported that the gauge (320F maximum) was pegged for the last couple hundred miles. A teardown revealed the trans was still operable, but there was ample evidence that it was HOT. The solder had melted and dripped out of the solenoids!!!! We checked, that solder has a melting point of about 450F!!! This trans ran Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. Conventional fluids would not have survived this. The Mobil 1 did look really nasty, it was past brown well into black.

If you keep the trans between 160 and 220 F you'll never have a heat related problem. If you get occaisional excursions (pun intended!) to 250F, you won't damage anything. 250F does not mean that the trans fluid is destroyed and needs immediate replacement, but I would change it no longer than 30k mile intervals.

As for cooling it, the 6.0L coolers are the best trans coolers I've seen. The 2003-2004 ones are a bit larger than the later ones, but either one does a fantastic job of controlling trans temps.

Don't remove the radiator cooler. It is an EXTREMELY effective way to cool the ATF. As for those of you that think it is there to warm the ATF in cold weather, I ran a lot of cold weather testing that proved that it NEVER warms the trans. The ATF is ALWAYS hotter than the water in the cold side of the radiator.

 

Good to "see" you again Mark. Didn't realize you were posting under a different name.

Always good to have a real expert on the boards and not just a bunch of us posers.

 

On a similar note...... we had a lead engineer/designer of the Northstar engine on the Cadillac forums. Wasn't long ago Cadillac made him stop posting information and free advice about Cadillacs. They felt it was costing their repair shops a significant loss of income countrywide.

 

Thanks for your wisdom - it prey much falls in line with what i believed... change the tranny fluid about every other year (30-45k).
I had thought of adding a fan to my stock cooler to give a little extra air flow, but we recently completed a trip from NC to OH & PA, up thru Fancy Gap in VA. There are some long 7-9% gades up thru there and the tranny would hit 220 in a few rare instances and drop back off pretty quick - I think the clutch fan would kick in and add some more umph to the cooling effect. I'm going to add a engine temp gauge so I can compare the 2 temps.
This trip also reinforced my decision to buy the v10 - it performed outstanding.

 

Kovalsky - maybe I was a bit confrontational when I challenged your comments. I didn't have the time to research fifteen forums to judge your previous posts for myself. However, I usually appreciate it when generic claims are challenged aggressively because the truth eventually comes out. I'm glad that others have validated your credibility because now I know a little more about trans durability than I did before. I'm just not the type to take much on faith when it comes to the internet. Frankly, I think it's a treat to have some actual manufacturer experience even if it is a couple of years removed from the production line. No hard feelings?

Can we talk fluids now? Is there a "best" fluid for our 4R100's? And what is really the change interval for the filter? When I replaced mine a couple of months ago, I took the old one apart and it looked new.

 

Mr. Obvious, do you believe everything you read?

 

No offense taken. And it's not a couple years removed, I left Ford in February, 2007.

I like Mobil 1 synthetic ATF.

I once saw a filter that came out of a wrecked ambulance that had 369,000 miles. The service records showed that it was the original filter. While it wasn't totally clean, it did not need to be replaced.

I change my filter at about 100k miles. It's not that fine of a filter that it needs changing before that (or probably even then) unless the trans fails. Then the filter clogs.

 

While I don't know why Cadillac made him stop posting, I do know why Ford made me stop.

There is a law that was passed in the aftermath of the Explorer/Firestone debacle that made that happen. The new law, called the TREAD act, requires that any time an employee of a company is told about a potential safety complaint the company MUST make a formal report to the government. If I posted here and people knew I was a Ford employee, they could tell me that a paint bubble was a safety defect and I would be required by law to make a formal report. If I did enough of those reports I probably would get good enough to not take more than a day or two to make the report. You could see how this would get out of hand REALLY fast. If I didn't make the report, Ford would be liable, not me. It is a lose-lose situation for any manufacturer, so any repsonsible company does not let their employees to post. They can't afford it.

I agreed with why Ford told me to stop. I feel that Ford did nothing wrong in that move, and I'll bet that's why Cadillac did the same thing.

 

Hey, paint bubbles are a safety defect.

 

But now that I don't work for Ford, I can just ignore that!

 

Mark,

Thanks for all the good info on trans temp.