I know this has been discussed before but I dont understand how we have such varying tranny temps when towing. I towed this week from SOuthern WA to LEavenworth and the tranny temps no matter how I drove got to 235 and it was rather cool, 70 +/- outside.

My trailer on weighs 4800 and I have a 09 with 3.55s.

I also talked to the service mgr at my dealership and he said that there is no issue with that temp but I dont know if i agree. My point is i just dont understand how so many people quote such low temps when hauling much heavier loads.

 

As a starting point, with my 3.23 rear end, unloaded, flatlands of northern Illinois, rolling hills of Wisconsin, rural highway/freeway/thru small town, temps range from 135 to 155 F, outside temperature dependent, temperatures 75-95F..My truck does have the towing package, so should have HD cooler. I drive like an old man.

 

The owners manual states 180 degrees as normal operating temperature.Have your service manager run your vin.# to see if you have a heavy duty transmission cooler. I have a heavy duty cooler and the highest my trans. temp reading was 178 while pulling my pontoon boat up a hill with outside temp at 104.

 

I know I'm going to catch a lot of slack for this but I'd change my thermostat to a 180 to cool the tranny down some...problem solved, lol! And for those of you who feel that it would harm your emissions, bla bla bla...we heard it a million times on here. All you're going to do is confuse him and prolong finding a fix, so let's let him try it...okay, lol? If issues arrise from the change, just put the old one back in...simple as that. Then all you non believers can put me in the punish corner and give me the I told you so beat down, lol!

 

How is a 180* thermostat going to help cool the tranny fluid when it doesn't run thru the radiator?

 

I knew this was coming, lol! I don't know if you're insinuating that I'm wrong or asking how, lol! But if you're trying to tell me that hood compartment and engine temps have nothing to do with the tranny temp, I'm not going to dispute it...that's your oppinion. But here are a few questions to ponder...let's forget the tranny cooler, is the converter affected by the heat of the engine, is the tranmission housing affected by the heat of the engine, does aluminum obsorb heat when connected to cast iron, is the fluid affected by any of the above, does the air coming from your engine compartment and through and around your transmissioin affect the temp, does air affect the fins on finned cooler pan, if so then why wouldn't hot air from the engine and compartment affect the tranny temp, if the car was parked and running would the tranny reach operating temp and could you hold your hand on the transmission housing or pan after it sitting there for a couple of hours, if it does reach operating temps while sitting there in park...can you explain how because the transmission isn't working yet or even breaking a sweat when compared to driving, but it is connected to the engine, if you stuck in traffic and at a stand still, would you eventually start feeling heat coming off of your floor board, where's the heat coming from, if I crank the car up and let it sit there four four hours at running temp without overheating, would the tranny build up heat sitting there for such a long time, if I hook a pump and drive gear to the converter in a tranny that is not connected to an engine, would the tranny warm up, if not then why, when does the tranny heat come from when it's not moving the car? I'm sure some of this sounds far fetched to most of you, my common sense says that the engine has everything to do with tranny temp...just my dumb a** oppinion

 

Surprise - there are lots of moving parts, in a transmission, that is not wheeling down the road. Still lots of friction there.

 

And I agree, but what do you think the temp would be while out of the vehicle sitting on a bench hooked up to a pump with a drive gear connected to the converter? So you have fluid pumping through the tranny and the converter spinning at ilde rpms in park. Which do you think will reach hotter temps, the one on the bench or the one hooked up in your truck while in park and in the same position and why, lol? Because the heat from the engine and compartment will eventually spread to the back of the tranny because aluminum aborbs heat, just as it does while driving down the street. I'm just using common sense and I am not absolutely positive. I know this much, when you pour a beer into a frozen mug the beer drops in temp, yummy, lol! Would you pour your beer into a hot glass that you just got out of the dishwasher, lol? The temp of the liquid is greatly affected by the casing around it, just as the casing around the trany...case closed, he he! So if you can drop the engine temp down 10 degrees which will drop the engine compartment air down, which will drop the air around the tranny down...why would'nt it help cool the tranny down some. Geezem, a little set of fins on your pan helps cool the tranny down, lol!. I say go for the 180...just a hunch, what's it going to hurt trying it out? Now for some of that ice cold beer, lol! Look...even the smilies are smart enough to know better...they're using some of those frozen 180 degree beer mugs lol!

 

You are wrong there! Heat ALWAYS radiates toward cold. It's just physics. If the surrounding air is cooler than the metal, it will radiate heat toward it.

Truth be told, ambient air temperature has very little effect on this stuff.

Also, you don't have to keep justifying your t-stat. If you like it - fine.

But, it's not designed to run at that temperature, and would have major emissions failure around here.

 

So...Is it possible for the guy to install a larger tranny cooler or an auxilary cooler?