Overheating pulling 6K

[TitanTough1]

As you guys know I posted my last mod and was towing for the first time last week. Sadly I must report that on day 2 of my towing the tranny gauge indicated overheating. Pulled over and stopped for about 15 minutes. Back on the road and it started overheating again within 5 minutes. Popped the hood...smoke was coming from my oil dipstick. Couldnt pull the tranny dipstick as it is locked in with a bolt to be removed by Nissan only.

Anyhow had the truck towed for safety. Service guys found nothing abnormal. Comments, ideas, anything??? Im stumped and worried that I have a problem waiting to happen.

[tnbowhunter]

several things could make it overheat, one being the type of grade you were towing on, another could be the outside temp.
What gear were you towing in? If your towing on any type of grade it needs to be in 4th gear so the torque converter will stay locked up.
Keep us posted if you find the reason.

[TitanTough1]

We were on steep up and down grades with around 80 degree temps. My wife was driving while I followed in a diesel. She had the tow mode on and kept it in automatic. Should have she put it in the manual mode? I would think the tow mode is supposed to do all that. I wish I could have driven it...but she couldnt handle the big rig.

[tnbowhunter]

going up grades it is very important to keep it in 4th gear, otherwise the trans. is constantly searching for the proper gear regardless if it is in tow mode or not. This keeps the torque converter from locking up. I can almost guarantee that was your problem.

[Austin]

Originally Posted by tnbowhunter

going up grades it is very important to keep it in 4th gear. I can almost guarantee that was your problem.

Ditto. Keep the trans in manual - 4th gear.

[O'silent1]

I will second that motion due to personal experience. Many times after resuming our trip from a pit-stop while towing (23' R-vision #5500 wet), I will forget to put it in 4th, (as D is habit) and within a little while, the tranny guage will start to slowly rise. Upon dropping it down to 4th, the temp guage will IMMEDIATELY respond by dropping back to the normal operating range. Hope this is your problem. Somewhere in the manual, there are some brief towing procedures and this is one of them.

[Mydog]

TitanTough1 responds by saying, "Oh S-hit".

[Potroast]

Install the largest tranny aux cooler you can.

does anyone know if the titan's torque converter has a "lock up" feature? If not, that would definitely cause high tranny temps.

[GETSOMZ28]

Yes, the titan has a lockup TC. I agree with what everyone is saying that the load of a trailer and hills caused the tranny to hunt for the right gear if left in D. If it was put in 4th (like the maual states to do when towing), it wont hunt between 4th and 5th gear (which causes lot of heat if it shifts a lot). Now would be a good time to change out the tranny fluid and install an aux cooler like Potroast suggested!

[NDJollyMon]

Isn't there already a tranny cooler on the Titan? How about with the BIG TOW package? I thought that's what the extra electric fan in the lower grill was for? Am I wrong?

[GETSOMZ28]

No, you are right. The Titan with BT does have an aux cooler, however, there are bigger/better ones out there. The stock one should be sufficient, as many have had no problems pulling a load with the Titan. However, they used 4th gear, not 5th while pulling.

[TitanTough1]

Originally Posted by NDJollyMon

Isn't there already a tranny cooler on the Titan? How about with the BIG TOW package? I thought that's what the extra electric fan in the lower grill was for? Am I wrong?

I do have the big tow package. So I guess we assumed all of that technology was built into the truck.

[TitanTough1]

Yeah I should have reviewed the manual before towing.

[GETSOMZ28]

Actually, after looking through the owners manual, I couldnt find where it states to tow in 4th gear directly (but is does state to not let the tranny hunt between gear often). I know I have read it somewhere, but I guess not in the owners maual.

Anyways, I hope your rig is alright. I would change the diff and tranny fluid for peace of mind. Just my .02

[calgary_redneck]

Nissan claims that towing in 5th is exceptable how ever this does not mean its a good idea especially with nissans over rated near 10,000 towing compacity. Hopefully the tranny didnt get to hot because heat can kill an auto tranny very very fast.