Vehicle: 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2L 2WD Reg Cab Long Bed
Location: DFW, Texas
Posts: 5,479
I say 180 simply to help keep the tranny cooler. That heat exchanger in the rad will heat the oil going back to the tranny if it was actually cooler going to it. I know it's on the cool side of the radiator, but the cooled 180* antifreeze should be cooler than the cooled 195* antifreeze all things being equal.
You're in the south and heat will kill that tranny quicker than anything.
As a slight off topic, I have an aux tranny cooler in my truck and I tried an experiment that has paid off big time.
The way the dodge boys rigged the aux cooler is that fluid would flow from the trans, to the aux cooler, then to the radiator "cooler." It's been 106* from 2 freaking weeks down here and my trans was topping out at 190*, which I wasn't happy about.
I switched the feed line from the trans to go into the radiator first and THEN to the aux cooler before running back to the trans. It now tops out at about 177* on my trans temp gauge. That's a 13* change just by swapping the two lines. It was super easy to do since I reused the quick disconnect when I deleted the check valve. Just food for thought.
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Lots a great advice! Thanks guys. Yes aim4squirrels, I do have to run the octane booster to keep it from pinging. It only pings when set to performance with the Superchips 3815. I think that maybe the gas here in OK city sucks. In Florida I could get 93, here only 91 and I cant find any name brand places such as Mobil, Exxon, Sunoco....nothing! I dont belive that my has a leak. My truck only has 52,400 miles to date. So it does sound like using the 180 is a good idea for how I use the truck. I am going to grind that tab on the thermostat inlet so I can actually get it apart without taking of the compressor next time.
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2000 Quad Cab Sport, 5.9L, 46re, from the cat mandrel bent duals, no mufflers, K&N fipk, 35/12.50/18 Toyo M/Ts, KMC wheels. Superchips 3815, Hell bent 2inch leveling spacers front, 2 inch Skyjacker add a leafs rear. 8.5mm MSD wires, Screamin Demon coil, brass distributor and rotor, Autolites. Always Mobil 1.
Lots a great advice! Thanks guys. Yes aim4squirrels, I do have to run the octane booster to keep it from pinging. It only pings when set to performance with the Superchips 3815. I think that maybe the gas here in OK city sucks. In Florida I could get 93, here only 91 and I cant find any name brand places such as Mobil, Exxon, Sunoco....nothing! I dont belive that my has a leak. My truck only has 52,400 miles to date. So it does sound like using the 180 is a good idea for how I use the truck. I am going to grind that tab on the thermostat inlet so I can actually get it apart without taking of the compressor next time.
Vehicle: 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2L 2WD Reg Cab Long Bed
Location: DFW, Texas
Posts: 5,479
Man, that still shouldn't ping.
I'd park on a steeper hill or driveway and unbolt the TB and shine a flashlight into the back of the intake manifold. Look for some pooling oil. if it is pooling fix that plenum gasket. It won't only stop the ping, it'll pick up the performance a bit.
unless your truck runs really hot, you drive lots in traffic or the ambient air temp is way high, i would not bother. you will not notice any performance difference, your fuel mpg WILL go down and in winter your heater will be cooler. i had a 180 but changed it back due to this. its up to you but i dont think its worth the bother.
If you do a lot of short hop driving then don't switch thermostats. You need your oil to get and stay hot enough to burn off water, acids and other combustion byproducts or sludge will form. This doesn't happen when you make lots of short trips with cooldown periods in between. It will be even worse with a lower temp t-stat.
