[speediq99]

Hello,

I recently added a bd gt and a pml tranny pan to my titan. I put 9 qts of aimsoil fluid.

The tranny temp is all over the place and I was expecting something different. There are times when things run at 145-150 and other times when it goes to 190-195 and stays in that range. This is mostly driving in town with minor stop and go, same time of day.

I really wasn't expecting to see the 190 range with the pml pan.

Is this normal?
If not, what do I start checking for?

I am getting ready to tow in the mountains on hot weather and this doesn't look promising.
Coolant temp is 195.

Mike

 

[Quartz]

This thread and bills1974's thread about his auxiliary cooler have me curious. I'm going to hook up my code reader and see what I can monitor.

 

[AZPRO4X]

There is nothing wrong with temps that are under 200* . Trans fluid doesn't start to breakdown until well over 230*.

 

[Lemans]

My BD GT trans. temp reads 147-165. That is with no towing, but truck is sitting on 35's. Trans. temp seems to be always around 90-100 deg. hotter than ambient temp. Coolant is 190 average. 192 is the highest I have ever seen. I am suprised that with AMSOIL and the trans. pan you are getting those readings. Mine has factory fluid and stock pan.
Later.

 

[speediq99]

Well, it doesn't get any better.
Today, I took the truck and trailer for a drive up the hills. It was 75-80 degrees out.

The tranny temp went through the roof. It hit 220 on the first climb and the gauge went to the second mark from the top, not good at all.
The water temp was 196-200 max.
The oil was at the half-way mark.

It basically went this way. Towing on 4th, the temp was 188 or so. Shifted to 3rd on the first hill, engine at 3600rpms, temp went to 200 very quickly.
Tranny shifted to 2nd gear for a few seconds, down to 3rd and back to 2nd. Then I kept it on 3rd at 3500rpm and 50mph. In a couple of minutes, tranny temp hit 220-225 and stayed there.
It came back down to 195 in 5min or so after I reached the top.

Basically, this is not good at all for Arizona. The trailer was empty (7000 lbs). I was the only one in the truck and truck was empty.
When the temps climb to 100 or so, and I load things up, this truck doesn't have a chance.

This really stinks. I am at a complete loss now. The AMSOIL and PML pan should avoid this. That is the reason I went this route.
I hate to add a tranny cooler w/o getting to the bottom of this problem.

Does anyone have any ideas as what to try next?
Would a dealer have a good way to troubleshoot this?
This really doesn't happen unless I climb w/ a trailer in tow and it gets really bad.

Mike

 

[AZPRO4X]

Oh your a AZ person too hahaha .. The Dodge 3500 CTD i had before my titan the trans temp would sit at 225* all summer log. For some reason when we would pull our 15K toyhauler up to flagstaff the temp would never really get any hotter so i never worried about it. The thing about those PML pans is no matter how much extra oil you put in the system its still gonna get hot it will just take it longer especially in this kind of heat. Im going to guess you might have a partial blockage somewhere or the gauge is not reading right. If you really want to get rid of the heat bypass the factory cooler and hook up a fan controled one.

 

[speediq99]

What is the factory cooler? Is this the one in front of the radiator on the drive side, above the fan?

Does anyone know of a good fan controlled tranny cooler?
Most people here seem to be using regular tranny coolers not the ones w/ a fan.
That is an interesting suggestion but now I have to mess w/ wiring.

These trucks are supposed to handle these loads w/o problem. What gives???
It used to be much better when the truck was new. I don't remember having this problem at all.

Mike

 

[Quartz]

What gives???
It used to be much better when the truck was new. I don't remember having this problem at all.

Mike

I think you have half way answered your own question. If you didn't have this problem at all when the truck was new, something has happened to your truck. You need to figure what has changed. What has changed since you bought the truck?

 

[speediq99]

I agree but what is it and how do I troubleshoot this mess?
It looks like others are having similar issues so there has to be something in common with all these trucks that transmissions are heating up and people are adding coolers.

Mike

 

[NBhunter80]

I'm willing to bet it has to do with your programmer. I roasted the tranny on my old F250 diesel a couple months after installing a programmer. I learned from that lesson and didn't use the max power setting for towing ever again. I know that the diesels get much more power from a programmer, but if you were towing 7k up a hill with a programmer on your Titan, there's a good chance that is the reason you are heating up the tranny. Try returning to stock setting next time you tow and see if that makes a difference. My tranny barely heats up if I tow 7k up a hill in 4th with my stock Titan using matic S fluid.

 

[speediq99]

No, it is not the programmer. I am pretty sure about this one.
I have tried 2 programmers already. I have also towed w/ and w/o the programmer (Stock), same effect.
The reason for adding the PML and AIMSOIL in the first place was b/c the tranny was heating up too much.
That was before I even had a programmer on.

Mike