OK, slight issue here. anyone tow a 9200lb TT with an X with 4.30 gears and have had the trans temp gauge jump up to the yellow zone while towing? we were coming back from our last trip and all was fine for the first hour cruising along at 65 in O/D. then all of a sudden you could feel the wind pick up! we had a pretty good head wind and the truck kicked out of O/D and ran fine in 3rd gear for awhile. then I happened to look down and notice the trans. temp. gauge was in the yellow. now I know the gauges are only good for guessing, but I don`t like the fact that it went into the yellow. what I did was slowed down to 60mph kicked it back into O/D and let the gauge come back to normal. it took a few miles, but it dropped to normal. after that all was OK. now when I took a 3500mile round trip to MT. with my 97 Dodge conv. van I never had any issue with trans. temps (Dodge has a trans. overtemp light). the van had 3.90 gears and we cruised 80% of the trip in 3rd gear at 72mph.

I can`t remember, but was there an issue with the factory cooler being too small? I thought I remember reading that somewhere. in the 3 1/2 years I`ve towed with the X I`ve never had this issue. I changed the fluid at approx. 25k miles I now have 48k. so the fluid will be changed shortly!

Thanks for any help.

 

I don't really think you have an issue. You did exactly what you should have done. I would chalk it up to the conditions.

The v10 tranny cooler is pretty good. Some PSD owners would use the V10 cooler until the one for the 5R110 came out. The original 7.3 PSD one is pretty small.

 

Are you certain that it was in 3rd gear? I'll bet you felt the torque converter unlock, but the trans stayed in 4th gear. If it had shifted to 3rd the torque converter would have stayed locked and the trans would have stayed cool.

If this were to happen again press the OD OFF button. That will shift it to third gear.

 

No, I`m positive it was 3rd gear. in O/D when the TC unlocks the RPM`s only jump approx. 2-300 rpm. when the truck shifts from O/D to 3rd the RPM jump is approx. 8-900rpm. it was just weird that I`ve driven in the same conditions before and never had this issue. I`ve got one more trip coming up in Oct. except that will be all country roads at 55mph.

Thanks Monsta! I knew there was some type of trans cooler issue. I just didn`t know which engine had the issue!

Does anyone know what the approx. trans temp is when it gets into the yellow zone?

 

230°f.
....

 

I was told the quickest way to trash the transmission in my Explorer was to tow in Overdrive. Something about the transmission cooler not being engaged 100% of the time. I switched to full synthetic fluid and towed 4,000lbs quite a bit with the overdrive locked out....never a problem. I'm now towing 5-7,000lbs with my V10 Excursion Limited, in tow mode, and it barely notices any trailer is back there! The tranny fluid that's in my Excursion is clean and my trans temp gauge does not move out of the normal area.....I love it, Mike.

 

Utter nonsense.

Tow in OD as long as the truck doesn't continually hunt between OD & 3rd or if the TC continually unlocks and lock.

 

+1.

I'm curious though Mike, what do you mean "in tow mode?"

Stewart

 

I was refering to the Overdrive being locked out Stewart. I was also told that the gears in Overdrive are very shallow, due to the low ratio, and that they wear out quickly under heavy loading.....any truth to that Monsta?.....Thanks, Mike.

 

I agree, and I'm sure Joe would too....

 

Sounds like more nonsense, you won't be able to stay in OD under great stress anyway.

 

That's what I thought also EXv10...Mike.

 

I have had the same thin happen to me, not all the way to the yellow but high enough to see a change in the guage. I also pull a 12,000 TT constantly and only pull with the OD turned off. It would take a long down hill to be able to turn it off. I have a v10 with 3.73 and I noticed my transmission temp go up pulling through the Oregon mountains when the outside ambient tmep was 88+. I just slowed down and let it cool off and kept driving. It didn't take 2 minutes for the temp to go back down even with going up hill. I hope this helps your mind a little. We drive about 75,000 a year towing our TT.


Bryan

 

No, there is no truth to that.

 

Thanks Mark.....Mike.