Not jumping ship, but some questions!!

[akangl]

I can't do it guys, I just can't, I love my Titan far too much. While I was at the GMC dealership I overheard several salesmen talking about playing with the Titan after it comes in on trade. I just can't let my baby go.

Now that I have that out, I have some major questions.

When you guys tow what does your trans temp gauge read?? On Friday when we towed our EMPTY TT (4476 lbs) we didn't even make it a mile with a cold truck when the transmission temp gauge shot up to HOT. We fussed with it and the only way we could keep it happy was to tow in 4th gear. We were using tow mode and when we put the shifter in 4th the RPMs when DOWN!! wtf???? It did still heat up several times and was very cranky about towing, transmission was very rough shifting. Dealer is going to look at it on Monday and the tech said he has a TT to pick up anyway and will pick it up with my Titan so they can duplicate the problem.

On another note, hubby went to switch winter tires back to summer today (we have 2 sets of wheels and tires for my baby) and found that on the pass side rear wheel 3 of the lug nuts were VERY loose, 1 was missing, and the other 2 were barely tight. Dealer gave us another lug nut at no charge, tech said he's never had anyone complain in the 20 years he's been turning wrenches. I was NOT happy! Its really bad when you walk into the dealership and the GM runs for cover, the service advisor says "uh oh, what broke this time?", and the tech says he's so sick of working on my truck that for $1000 he'll make it disappear, lol.

Good thing I love my truck! LOL

[BLWedge09]

Originally Posted by akangl

I can't do it guys, I just can't, I love my Titan far too much. While I was at the GMC dealership I overheard several salesmen talking about playing with the Titan after it comes in on trade. I just can't let my baby go.

Now that I have that out, I have some major questions.

When you guys tow what does your trans temp gauge read?? On Friday when we towed our EMPTY TT (4476 lbs) we didn't even make it a mile with a cold truck when the transmission temp gauge shot up to HOT. We fussed with it and the only way we could keep it happy was to tow in 4th gear. We were using tow mode and when we put the shifter in 4th the RPMs when DOWN!! wtf???? It did still heat up several times and was very cranky about towing, transmission was very rough shifting. Dealer is going to look at it on Monday and the tech said he has a TT to pick up anyway and will pick it up with my Titan so they can duplicate the problem.

On another note, hubby went to switch winter tires back to summer today (we have 2 sets of wheels and tires for my baby) and found that on the pass side rear wheel 3 of the lug nuts were VERY loose, 1 was missing, and the other 2 were barely tight. Dealer gave us another lug nut at no charge, tech said he's never had anyone complain in the 20 years he's been turning wrenches. I was NOT happy! Its really bad when you walk into the dealership and the GM runs for cover, the service advisor says "uh oh, what broke this time?", and the tech says he's so sick of working on my truck that for $1000 he'll make it disappear, lol.

Good thing I love my truck! LOL

Some people just seem to be plagued with bad luck around here. Unfortunately, you seem to be one of them. Sorry, I don't have a trans temp guage so I can't really help you out there. I have read where others have had it get pretty hot as well though. Stay on that dealership to make everything right. I sure hope you're not on your way to a third Titan but that would still be better than the alternatives. GOOD LUCK!!

[goathead]

i thought it was supposed to be in 4th while towing. i could see how it would get warmer than normal but not HOT. i think that is not normal.

[moore101]

Do NOT tow in 5th gear. You will kill the transmission. If you notice while in 4th gear the trans is locking/unlocking the converter (RPM's going up and down ~500) then shift into 3rd gear.

[akangl]

We put it in 4th gear right after it heated up, that was less than a mile from our house with a cold truck. We were on FLAT ground. I dunno, my other Titan would tow in 5th gear all day long and the trans temp gauge NEVER even got close to HOT! I don't get it, I really don't.

The tech said it shouldn't do that and it heating up is not normal.

[tnbowhunter]

Most of the time I tow in 4th and with tow mode on. I do occassionaly tow in 5th but only on those rare occasions where the road is straight and flat. I've never had my tranny temp gauge go over mid point.

[TYTAIN]

Yeah, make the dealer fix it, or finish burning it up so they will have to fix it one way or the other.

[rcflier_97]

Good luck with getting your truck fixed. I agree that your tranny fluid reading should not be HOT after just a mile. On my lighter loads (my smaller boat) I tow in 5th, but my party barge gets towed in 4th.

[TYTAIN]

Let us know what happens?

[HudsonValleyTitan]

I'd make them drain and refill the tranny myself, and do the same for the coolant. You have problems if that stranny is rough shifting. it may be just low fluid though.

[TriKKy]

I know exactly how you feel at your dealer....mine was same.

As far as tranny temp while towin....yes mine got hotter, but never shot up to hot or concerned me in any way, that sounds wrong to me....

[flyguy]

Just some thoughts...

When I am not towing and first leave my house in the morning to go to work, my trans temp will shoot up to the mid point and stay there when I am driving through town to get to work (slow speeds) and even stay there when I am at idle at the stoplight. When I get out onto the highway moving at highway speeds after about 5 miles or so, it will drop back down too cold. It does this both when and when I am not towing. I have a 2000 lb TT. I would suggest you try this experiment again and see if the guage drops when you get down the highway a few miles. I don't think a one mile test is a good indication of what is going on.

In any case, with the weight you are towing, tow mode must be turned on. Whether or not you need to be in 4th though is debatable as I don't see anything stated in the manual. As long as the the guage never reaches the high mark I wouldn't worry.

[TriKKy]

Originally Posted by akangl

We put it in 4th gear right after it heated up, that was less than a mile from our house with a cold truck. We were on FLAT ground. I dunno, my other Titan would tow in 5th gear all day long and the trans temp gauge NEVER even got close to HOT! I don't get it, I really don't.

The tech said it shouldn't do that and it heating up is not normal.

I know we've talked about alaska not having lemon for days in service but you should know that if you go through the BBB autoline, they can still lemon it without "STATE" lemon lawing it. What that means is that you don't get things like tax back....but they will probably have to repurchase for purchase price. Hope this helps.

[Justintoxicated]

yea if your towing and you shift to 4th the RPM's can lower. This is because you were in the wrong gear and making the torque converter work hard.

I do tow in 5th but my trailer is well under 1000 lbs probably closer to 700 so I barley know it's there. Unless I'm towing up a really steep hill and then when I put it in 4th the RPM's sometimes actually drop... That is normal. I have not noticed a change in tranny temp though... I think it's ok to tow a light load like this in 5th or it would cost me like an extra $30 per trip in gas. If I had alot of weight I would keep it in 4th though, and just go slower.

As For the Lugnuts, they were probably not Hand Torqued. They were probably put on with Airtools. Perhaps the Compressor was low on air pressure when they put them on or else they were not installed in the criss-cross pattern.

You have the new weight synthetic oil in your diff right? Non-synthetic oil loses viscosity when it heats up.

[titanse05]

Towing in drive..........AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS READ THERE OWNERS MANUAL???????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????