trans temp question/pressur box question

[Smokin Joes 2500]

OK this is a 2 part question, What can I expect the transmission temp to be at? I have the probe in the back of the pan and it has never even flickered the needle. (havent towed yet) just normal driving, stop-go traffic. Have I just not got it warm enough or is my guage whacked??



Also, Ive been reading some posts on here and am wondering if it is bad for me to leave my EZ box on level 3 all the time? Is this going to hurt my fuel system?? I think its about time for a non-pressure box :-laf

 

[john3976]

OK this is a 2 part question, What can I expect the transmission temp to be at? I have the probe in the back of the pan and it has never even flickered the needle. (havent towed yet) just normal driving, stop-go traffic. Have I just not got it warm enough or is my guage whacked??



Also, Ive been reading some posts on here and am wondering if it is bad for me to leave my EZ box on level 3 all the time? Is this going to hurt my fuel system?? I think its about time for a non-pressure box :-laf

Go to www.Massdiesel.com and buy their replacement line and move your temp probe onto that line you will see gauge movement, When the temps are in the low 60's I only get a temp of about 100 degrees however when the temp reaches the 70's and above I can see temps up to 190 degrees when the temp is in the mid to high 80's and into the 90's.

 

[Smokin Joes 2500]

my probe is rather large??? ISSPRO guage dont know if it will fit in a line???

My needle has never moved!

 

[Ken55]

I've got the same guage in the same place. Let the truck idle for a bit after driving then see if it moves. It should. Dumb question but I did it, you hook up the pos & grnd wires to the box? I forgot to do it and mine never moved a bit.

Ken

 

[john3976]

my probe is rather large??? ISSPRO guage dont know if it will fit in a line???

My needle has never moved!

I have the ISSPRO gauge and it will fit the replacement line.



The reason you don't see any or much movement is because you are reading the fluid temp after it has been through the transmission cooler, put it in the output line to the cooler, that way you will be reading the fluid at its hottest which is what you want to be reading any way.

 

[Giachino]

What can I expect the transmission temp to be at? I have the probe in the back of the pan and it has never even flickered the needle. (havent towed yet) just normal driving, stop-go traffic. Have I just not got it warm enough or is my guage whacked??

I have the exact same setup and my registers between 120-190 depending upon driving (no towing necesssary). . usually settles around 120 cruising on hwy and higher when in stop and go... . hasn't been to warm here in ca the last couple of months..... I'd think the guage isnt hooked up correctly..... after the initial install... . mine was stuck on 165 always... . the installer had the two wires from the temp probe installed backward (swap them)... . and it was fixed... . maybe you have the same issue??



I dont really tow with mine, so dont get all worked up about being in the pan on inline... . either way you can tell if you're too hot... just be more conservative with the pan location... .



Hope it helps

 

[Smokin Joes 2500]

I've got the same guage in the same place. Let the truck idle for a bit after driving then see if it moves. It should. Dumb question but I did it, you hook up the pos & grnd wires to the box? I forgot to do it and mine never moved a bit.

Ken

Good Question Now that you mention I dont rememger doing that :-laf

 

[Smokin Joes 2500]

I have the ISSPRO gauge and it will fit the replacement line.



The reason you don't see any or much movement is because you are reading the fluid temp after it has been through the transmission cooler, put it in the output line to the cooler, that way you will be reading the fluid at its hottest which is what you want to be reading any way.

It will still register a temp even in pan, just looking for a refernce point if the fluid in the pan is abnormaly hot then you got issues.

 

[3grumpy]

Automatic Transmission Temperature:



Temperature of the transmission fluid that leaves the torque converter and goes on to the coolers. Again not very exciting be very important to the life of your transmission and or torque converter.





Average temperatures on a stock truck



Idle in neutral or park – 140 to 160

Idle in gear – 160 to 260 depending on how long.

Cruising – 70 mph no trailer 150-170

Cruising – 70 mph with trailer 160-180

Pulling hill no trailer – 180-220

Pulling hill with trailer – 190-280 depending on load and how long a hill, or weather you can pull the hill in lock up or not





Temps will always be higher when out of lock up, because 90% of the heat generated in an automatic transmission is from the shearing of the fluid in the converter. Temps will be lower when in lock up because the input shaft of your transmission is locked to the crankshaft on the engine



thanks to www.dodgedieseldatabase.com

 

[jsimpson]

Mine never has either...

my probe is rather large??? ISSPRO guage dont know if it will fit in a line???

My needle has never moved!

 

[Smokin Joes 2500]

I've got the same guage in the same place. Let the truck idle for a bit after driving then see if it moves. It should. Dumb question but I did it, you hook up the pos & grnd wires to the box? I forgot to do it and mine never moved a bit.

Ken

Guess what your the WINNER Oo. Oo. Oo. Oo. I, like a dumb "A" forgot to do just that. Reread directions still they werent very clear that I would have to run that wiring. Oh well I did now gauge works fine Go figure

 

[john3976]

It will still register a temp even in pan, just looking for a refernce point if the fluid in the pan is abnormaly hot then you got issues.

The problem with reading from the pan is when the transmission fluid reaches a certain temp the fluid starts to break down and degrade, you may not see that due to reading the temp after it has been through the trans cooler.



It is better to read the fluid at its hottest point and know when you have reached the break down point then to guess if you have in the pan after the fluid has been cooled down.



You could have degraded fluid and never know it from transmission pan readings. The hot out put line there is no guessing when its hot, its hot!

 

[Giachino]

I dont disagree with the logic you've stated... makes sense. But couldnt you just reduce the max temp that is acceptable? e. g. inline = 280, pan = 220..... as an example.

 

[Smokin Joes 2500]

The problem with reading from the pan is when the transmission fluid reaches a certain temp the fluid starts to break down and degrade, you may not see that due to reading the temp after it has been through the trans cooler.



It is better to read the fluid at its hottest point and know when you have reached the break down point then to guess if you have in the pan after the fluid has been cooled down.



You could have degraded fluid and never know it from transmission pan readings. The hot out put line there is no guessing when its hot, its hot!

Im a maintanence man Ill just check the fluid more frequently, plus I change it before it needs done anyway just to be safe. Smotimes i think some guys just want to buy more gadgets and widgets just cause some company says they need them. I guess my transmission is going to go south early cause I dont have the probe in the line, oh well Ill replace it with an "Allice-N-Wonderlon" :-laf :-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[Ken55]

Was just leafing thru the new issue and noticed that the TDR suggests keeping the trans temp sensor in the pan and not the output line. They say the line is pressurized which got me to thinking, can a leak develop in this line and the driver would be unaware of it till his trans seizes up? Just wondering if thats their logic.

 

[WhiteSheep]

I have the same gauge set up everyone is talking about here. The sensor is in the Mag Hytec single D pan. I run about 150 degrees in 95 degree weather here in Phoenix on the freeway with no load. This is about a 30 degree temperature drop from the engine. I did the install myself and agree the instructions are very basic. Check the wiring, it should read something.



I don't understand the logic behind the in line temperature reading. I accept that you are reading the highest temperature, but it is not clear to me that this is the temperature I should be concerned about. I suggest that the input temperature is more important than the output. I know I am going to work the transmission towing in the hills in the heat. I want to know that what is going in is cool, not that what is coming out is hot. What else would it be but hot on a 6 percent grade in 110 heat pulling 5k lb at 75 MPH? What do you think about dual temperature gauges? One in the pan and one in the output line? That would be interesting.



On that note, I have dual water temperature gauges in my gasser '84 F150. One is before the thermostat as normal, the other is outside the thermostat. When the engine temperature is near the opening temperature of the T-stat, I frequently get higher readings from the outside the T-Stat gauge.



Keep it cool.

 

[Task125]

I want to know the second part of your post,EZ setting. what # is safe to run all the time? then for towing?

 

[john3976]

I dont disagree with the logic you've stated... makes sense. But couldnt you just reduce the max temp that is acceptable? e. g. inline = 280, pan = 220..... as an example.

While you can try and use a reduced number, it is much better to know what the real temp was to begin with, it does not take much to send the trans temp past its break down point but the cooler is pretty effective and can mask the highest temp of the fluid.



What if your fluid reaches 250 degrees in the hot out put line but after going through the cooler is down to 200, your fluid has passed the point where it starts to break down and needs to be changed, but by only using a pan reading you will never know that so you leave the fluid in and now it does not do its intended job like it was designed to do because it has broken down.



To be reliable you need to read the temps at the hottest point and that is in the out put line to the cooler.



Cost is not that much and you just might save your self a $3000 dollar transmission job because you chose to monitor instead of guess.

 

[john3976]

I don't understand the logic behind the in line temperature reading. I accept that you are reading the highest temperature, but it is not clear to me that this is the temperature I should be concerned about. I suggest that the input temperature is more important than the output. I know I am going to work the transmission towing in the hills in the heat. I want to know that what is going in is cool, not that what is coming out is hot. What else would it be but hot on a 6 percent grade in 110 heat pulling 5k lb at 75 MPH? What do you think about dual temperature gauges? One in the pan and one in the output line? That would be interesting.

It does not matter if the fluid is cool when it is going into the transmission, the problem you are looking for with a transmission temp gauge is how hot the fluid is so you know when it has hit the temp that it starts to break down. Once you have over heated the fluid and it starts to break down, simply cooling it does not make the fluid all better again, the fluid has lost its ability to properly lubricate and extra wear starts in your transmission.



Don't take my post for it, check with DTT, ATS or Suncoast and the others that build transmissions for a living, I am sure they will give you the right answer and tell you what and where the best place is to take a transmission temp reading from.

 

[puller]

I had the same problem, I installed the isspro gauges and used the line from Mass diesel. I found that the 1/8 fitting from Mass diesel was too small it did not let the temp probe sit in the fluid flow and the readings were slow to register. I change the fitting and the probe just sits at the edge of the flow and "feels" the fluid the reading are 10 to 20 degree higher and faster to respond. If you need any more help PM me and I will respond.



Puller