Excuse me!
But, anyone that prefers thier trans. temp probe to be in the pan v/s the hot out line does not understand the trans./heat issues, how the transmition functions, or is just lazy and places it in the easyest location and passes it off as "O" I only need to know sorta how hot it might be.

I have seen what happens when the trans. oil has been to hot and did'nt know it. And it aint pretty. Average pan temp dos'nt tell you anythig but the average temp of the oil in the pan. Nothing specific about anything.

Thats my rant and I stand by it.

 

You're excused! Exactly -average temp - that's what I want to know. The most consistent average temperature over time. Lazy couch potato that I am.

I suppose I could install 3 senders and switch between the 3 points of reference, but I'd probably forget where I was looking and allow it to overheat while sampling the cooler return. Or maybe become continuously alarmed near the top of every long hill, preoccupied staring at the gauge when I should be looking at the road.

No, I think my tranny and it's cooling system are well-enough designed to handle most situations quite well. So I'll just keep an eye on the overall average temp from time-to-time in case anything goes amiss and pay more attention to the road, thank you very much!

 

Yup. Me too. Boy, this is kinda like an oil thread aint it? These guys really get PO'd when you don't agree with them.

 

I find it kind of funny that we are perfectly alright looking at an "average" temperature when it comes to our engine coolant!
My trans temp is taken in the pan. And, yes, I have seen firsthand, (and smelled firsthand) and repaired, overheated automatic transmissions. MOST of the transmissions were run low on fluid, or were slipping due to wear prior to failure. I can understand why some would take the temp at the outlet of the transmission, however, I feel that if I use my trans temp gauge like I use my coolant temp gauge, when it starts climbing, I have to decide if it is a problem, or just normal extra load.

 

Oh Goody,
The tranny shops and parts houses love you guys.
Try an aux. engine temp gauge and you will always know exactly what your engine temp is at any given time, so it can be shut down BEFOR she blows.
Blind faith in designed systems, now thats a scary concept.

 

Let me ask you a question. How do you know you need the tranny cooler on your wish list in your sig? Is it because your spikes are high at the top of a hill? Or are you just guessing?

 

I have an Autometer 2 5/8 coolant temp gauge in my truck. If anyone thinks that the temperature indicated on that gauge is the hottest coolant in the engine, I would beg to differ. I believe that the trans oil teperature will increase with load, just as coolant will in the cooling system.
The coolant temp in my truck stays pretty constant at 180 degrees, it will climb some on a grade, if ambient is high, and if the A/C is on. The transmission oil will as well, I expect that. I never said your way was wrong, I just feel my way works for me. I do ALL my own transmission work, and worked on Torqueflites when I was a Chrysler Tech. The biggest killer of transmissions I personally saw was in Fleet applications (Highway Patrol, and the Ambulances) They would let them Idle in park for long periods of time and the transmissions would overheat. This was due to the Torqueflite NOT pumping fluid in Park. I made sure they knew that when idling to leave the transmissions in Neutral. The failure rate dropped to almost zero.
I monitor the temp in my pan just like the temp in my coolant, if it starts to climb ABNORMALLY I stop and see why. I have NEVER had a trans failure due to overheating. I have blown the hell out of a couple on the dragstrip though.
I may put a seperate gauge in the hot line just to see what it does, and what the correlation is between the two.
Now I am curious.
There are a lot of sharp people on this site, that is why I joined, and I would never expect everyone to agree on everything. That is how I learn!

 

well this got interesting.

And the comment about it being easier to put it in the pan vs. the hot line is completely wrong. Think about you have to drain the fluid, drill the hole, tap the hole, clean the pan, re-install it, and fill the thing back up. In addition to time it also cost more money. your looking at least 50-100 for the fluid to refill it. VS the hot line where you unscrew the factory sensor and get a adapter depending on your gauge and plug it in

But like in my original comment if you know what your monitoring and you adapt to it your fine. Well expect maybe if you put the sensor in the cool line.

 

Most guys putting the sensor in the pan are putting it there because they bought a pan and it has the sensor port there already.

And...Your giving these guys too much credit to actually go and use the OEM sensor location. Imagine that, the factory used a location right out of the HOT LINE! You don't have that option on the early truck obviously.

The biggest arguements here are based completely on whether the cool line or pan are better than the hot line. Again

 

except that the factory sensor is set to kick you out of OD at 280 degrees i don't know if i would go along with Chrysler's logic on that one

 

For us lazy people who have the probe installed in the pan, what temps should we be worried about?

 

Head, your DD pan along with the extra fluid capacity it provides should moderate that rig to a fairly steady temp at all times unloaded. Have you noticed it stabilizes at any certain temp yet? I haven't seen the temp in the DD pan on our 07's 48RE go above 150 yet. But I haven't towed with it with it either and it probably has a tighter converter.

Learn how how it behaves trans-temp-wise under varying driving conditions, then just watch for changes.

 

When going down the road my temps stay below 125, even when towing. My temps spike when I come to a stop, which puzzles me. The hottest I ever saw was 180 degrees. Maybe it's because I don't tow that heavy. I was only towing about 5500 lbs when it spiked to 180.

 

when you say "come to a stop" do you mean at a light, in drive, or stopped and in park?

 

man i guess i need to do something about mine because in the hot line it runs at 250 plus all the time. when i got the truck about 7 months ago the tranny fluid and filter had just been changed but was about 4 qrts low on fluid, their mechanic had been checking the fluid level in park.