Transmission running hot with new 6.0 cooler
 

I bought this truck a year ago, and put guages on last month and notice after cursing on the highway for 30 minutes not towing, the temps would hit 220 degrees on a 90 degree day, I pull over and cool down when this happens. I installed a new by pass valve line on the side of the transmission, thinking it was open, but it did not fix the issue. Today I installed a brand new 6.0 31 row tranny cooler, 1/2 inch lines to connect to the 3/8 metal lines, new Magnafine filter, (old one looked old as hell). Drained torque converter, dropped trans pan, cleaned it, and magnet. Filled with Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF. Went on test drive after 30 mins at 70mph, 100 degree day, trans temp hit 198*EDIT (typed 189 by accident) degrees, this is still to hot. What should I do next? If I tow I bet the temps will shoot super high. Should I replace the metal Transmission lines next? Maybe they are blocked up? Truck has 203,xxxx miles, I can tell that a refurbished trans has been installed from ford. (who knows when)

1999 (late year) 7.3L turbo 4x4.

You don't provide year, model, engine, transmission of truck. If you did, maybe Mark Kovalsky (retired Ford transmission engineer) could post and give you some help.
If I recall correctly from a forum that I used to be on (as did Mark), the 189 degree temp may not be bad depending on which transmission and the conditions you're operating it in.
That's why it's good to have a signature on these forums with your particular equipment noted.

There's no way thats normal temp. If I tow it will go to hot right away. I messaged Mark. Hopefully he replies. I cant find the signature option...

According to Mark.....my 01 F350/V-10 and 4R00 trans and 6.o coller I am sake running at my temps. Tow a 36' 5th wheel sna sometimes the temp is 210 degrees....running normally down the road towing it is still at about 190 to 200.

I don't know what to tell you. 189°F is normal.

You can check cooler flow. Get two containers, each at least a gallon. You'll also need several feet of hose, 7/16" seems to work well.

Remove the cooler line at the rear of the trans. Put the hose over this line and aim the other end of the hose into container #1. Have a helper start the engine. In a few seconds the flow of fluid will be steady. Once it is move the hose to container #2 and keep it there for EXACTLY 15 seconds, then put it back in container #1 and shut the engine off.

If fluid sprayed out of the trans where the cooler line was removed, the test fails. If there is less than a quart of fluid in container #2, the test fails.

If fluid sprays out, not just a dribble, then either the bypass is stuck open or the cooler lines or coolers themselves are plugged.

Mark,

First off I really appreciate your response. MY BAD!!!! it hits 198 DEGREES! not 189....You mentioned the by pass maybe stuck open, but I have a brand new one on the transmission. I had a feeling you would say the temp is in range, but based off other posts it seems maybe 20 degrees + more than the average, but I take your word over anyone else. I will do that test this up coming Saturday and report back.

Two things come to mind first is does you cooler lines go through the radiator or just the cooler and second it may be a good idea to get a scan gauge to check to make sure your gauge you installed is reading accurately. Also where did you install the sending unit for the gauge..

There are no lines running to the radiator, they were running only to the stock Tranny cooler. That's how I have it set up right now with the new 6.0 cooler. I Just realized this may not be correct?? could this be the issue?

The sending unit screws into the port hole on the side of the transmission.

That temp seems pretty normal. I know with Allison transmissions, they like to run between 180*-210* (I run an Allison dealership). If anyone knows whats up, itll be Mark. His info is always spot on and very helpful.

Yes it could. The cooler inside the radiator is very effective. It removes a lot of heat. Without that cooler you're at a distinct disadvantage.

What are the temps outside?

I will do flow test this Saturday, I am guessing it will flow fine. If it doesn't ill install new lines. But regardless, I will also route the lines to go through the radiator as well, I will report back on results from both.

This is one of the transmission line inlet/outlet connections on the radiator.. Do I replace this connection with a different one? it looks blocked off..

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...dfe8fe5403.jpg

Mark will know more on this but I think the 99 with the 7.3 didn't have the lines running through the radiator but most guys replace it and run the lines to make it work. By the looks of that fitting you might need to replace the radiator to make this work..

If it puts things into perspective better, I've got a 6.0L cooler and with a total weight I was a bit over 30,000lbs this weekend, hottest I saw the trans was 200* in 85* weather...

I've got it setup to go from the trans into a spin on filter, than a rad cooler into the 6.0L cooler.

PSDs build from January 1998 thru February 8, 2000, had only the oil-to-air (OTA) cooler in front of the radiator. Ford added the oil-to-water (OTW) cooler in the bottom of the radiator beginning with production on Feb 8, 2000. I'm guessing the previous owner replaced that radiator, and that's why the connections are there.

I stuck a flat head screw driver in the rusty ports and scraped a hole appeared... They look in bad shape I wonder if I can find replacement ones instead of buying a whole new Radiator.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...98789c947b.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...b53f7dcd7f.jpg




http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/d...FQcxaQodKVgDVw

Or I could just go to a salvage yard pull the connectors and OTW lines off a truck..

Ya, nope, they are not spring loaded. The fittings in yours don't look like they would work at all. They are filthy. Never gong to get all the crap cleaned out of there.

Why would Ford install a cooler in the rad, and just not hook it up?





Edit: I could have swore his post right b4 mine was different yesterday.....

I would guess that wasn't the original radiator. I don't even know if you can buy a replacement 99/03 radiator without the cooler. My early build 2000 didn't have the OTW transmission cooler from the factory and I had to buy a new radiator to get one.

New radiator is right at $200 usd.

Late 99 F250 did not come with transmission lines hooked to the radiator. I am guessing when the rad and the original transmission got replaced, they left the set up the same.. Yeah I know dumb. I am going to see if I can take off those connections and sand blast them.

Went to Ford dealer, my friend hooked up his laptop with the ford software no communication issues. while Idling the Proshift guage was reading 129 degrees, his laptop read 129 degrees so the gauge is dead on. Found 2 codes P0541 Manifold intake air heater circuit low (I did an IAH delete.. has to be a soft code not throwing ses), and P1280 Injector Pressure (ICP) circuit out of range; that's interesting because the ICP sensor is brand new just replaced it and the harness... I swore I wired the new pig tail correct. Does anyone have a pic of their ICP sensor with the colors of the wires showing? I want to confirm I wired it right

The 1280 could have been an old code from before you replaced the sensor. If you arn't getting a CEL now I wouldn't worry about it.

It can also be caused by a tuner.

CEL is on currently cleared all codes those two poped right up, no tuner/chip ever installed.

I tried to get a shot of my ICP sensor but all the wires are black. I'm afraid to clean or mess with them to much, with 485k on the odometer they have been through a few heat cycles.

Try posting down in the 99-03 7.3 section, someone will have a picture and/or schematics with wire color handy.

Thanks for the effort! I hope the below pic will help when i look at the wires. (NOT MY TRUCK)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...9723ede86e.jpg

If it helps, I have a 2000 F-350 without the radiator cooling and the 6.0 cooler upgrade. On an 85 degree day at 60, I rarely touch 140 on my transmission if I am empty. I never see 200 unless I am towing and never see over 220.

Did you hook it up to the computer to get the computer reading of the transmission temp to verify your sensors accuracy?

Not sure if this would help you, but I used one of these in a 1997 F Super Duty 7.3. It helped greatly at a price that didn't break the bank.
http://www.dieselsite.com/specialord...ioncooler.aspx

I recently added the newer radiator and lines yo my 99 V10 part numbers are in my thread linked below. :-X22

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...our-input.html

I took off the tranny line connections at the bottom of my radiator and welded 38"s barb connections to them. I hooked up the tranny lines to the radiator then they go to the 6.0 cooler now. Took a pic of the fabricated connection below

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...eae6645439.jpg

-- Hooked up tranny cooler lines to radiator (truck now has rad as a cooler and 6.0 as a cooler) it was 93 degrees out I traveled 65mph down the high way 10 miles, the tranny temp hit 188 degrees, which is higher than others who tow 10k or more with less mods. Something isn't right.. the last thing that is suspect is maybe the torque converter? Maybe I can take it to a transmission shop and have them activate the torque converter while parked some how?

I have the Rad cooler and 6.0 cooler, towing with CGVW was over 30,000 lbs, hottest I saw was 200.

Just the pickup alone on 95* weather it hits about 160*

On a side note, I saw lower temps in OD than in D at the same speeds.

Yeah... something isnt right with my transmission.

Maybe the lockup isn't working on the torque converter

I'm going to buy Torque app and see if I can diag the torque converter with it.

Well if you tap into the wire for the lockup, you can manually lock it up wile in gear with your foot on the brake, if it kills the truck it's working. If not, well, it's not working. Idk if it's really the best way to test it, but it's one way to do it.

I can't remember off hand what wire it is but if you do a search I'm sure it's a easy find.


Or if your running down the hwy in OD, get to a point where it will down shift, it'll downshift than it's almost like it will do a half shift when the converter locks back up.

At this point I'm going to wait to diag the ICP and torque converter until I get the Torque pro app. I have 2 iphones, I will switch one to a Samsung Galaxy (I will buy one within a week) With torque app I can watch the ICP voltage and figure out right away if its the wiring, or watch the ICP gauge and see if its a bad ICP sensor. Torque pro app also has TC slip guage, so why play around? When I can figure both out with that cool app. Will update in 4 days when I got the new Samsung Galaxy s5 and obdII blue tooth adapter.

I believe Mark K mentioned OD being part of the cooling circuit on a 4R100 transmission.

OP 188° cruising seems high to me. I wasn't getting that high until a mountain pass doing 70mph without the OTW cooler.

Took the truck out into the country to visit parents, drove 45 minutes at 67 mph, 99 degrees out side, tranny temp hit 212 degrees, obvious problem here. I have also noticed since I flushed the tranny with new fluid the torque converter cover weep hole has fluid dripping out of it, I wonder what is leaking up there, a shaft seal? the converter it's self? I'm still Waiting on the new Samsung galaxy S5 to ship in from Amazon so I can get Torque pro app for droid. Check engine light kept going on and off during the drive too (ICP). I plan to just park the truck till the phone show's up. I still plan to diag the ICP and the torque converter with it, if it's a bad torque converter I really don't want to tear down the transmission to find the problem. If it is a bad torque converter, I might as well do a rear main seal while I got the tranny out.

Torque converter seal, you probably need the newer Viton version.

I read about that newer version... thanks!

-Ok, got new phone, got torque pro. Determined ICP was reading 0.0 Voltage.. swamped wires around in different combos until voltage hit 0.5v (KOEO) and I think 3.1v while running. Check engine light is now gone.

-Transmission issue.. I am not sure what the TC slip should be compared to the Engine RPM I made two videos for you guys to watch my numbers..
tell me what you guys think!

on ramp to highway video 1

I maintain speed better in the second video.. shouldn't the Torque rpm and engine Rpm be much closer when crusing?
Look at the video screen shot below you see a big difference.
highway video 2

Also I am not getting a coolant temp or Engine oil temp.. is this torque or an issue with the actual sensors? Coolant dummy gauge seems to be working..

TC slip is the difference in RPM from engine speed to torque converter output (transmission input) speed.

No, they should be very far apart when cruising. The only time they will be the same is with the trans in gear and the truck stopped. When the truck is stopped and the engine is idling in gear the output of the torque converter is zero and the input is the same as engine speed. So slip across the converter is (engine speed) - (output speed) = engine speed.

At cruise speed TC slip should be zero, +- about 10. Your's never gets anywhere near zero, which says that the torque converter isn't locking. That's why it is running hot.

Thank you Mark, I am relived to have this issue diagnosed. I will buy a stock converter and replace it. I will post pics and some of the process, for others to learn. Once again thank you!