The Tacoma Towing Bible

Don't listen to that bs. I had a dealership tell me a certified pre-owned car that I bought for my son would no longer be warrantied if we did our own oil changes or took it to a third party. Said it has to be done by a certified tech. I said I know you don't expect me to believe you have a "highly paid" certified tech doing oil changes. More likely the kid getting minimum wage that was hired last week with no experience would be doing oil changes. No thanks.

 

Towed our Casita from Texas back to California using an Anderson sway bar and Redark brake controller. It couldn't have been smoother, and most of the time I didn't feel the camper. Even when on Hwy 40 in Texas, where the speed limit is 75mph and the semi's (and everyone else) were moving above that, and I was poking along at 60-65mph, the truck and camper barely moved when they flew past. Great setup.

 

We always talk about keeping trans temps down, but what actual values are we talking here that you guys monitoring temps are seeing? Even not towing just loaded up doing some more mountainous driving or down further south in hotter climates I've seen my torque converter temps up to 220F and 210F in the pan. Shorter periods of time which I assume isn't too bad for the ATF life but was curious what others see and if I'm just paranoid.

Haven't towed the car trailer on the highway since setting up my ultragauge so not sure where I'm at during that. 2.5 gen DCLB tow package with the factory trans cooler.

 

When towing, I see steady state temps of 180ish during highway driving, going up to 190 when climbing (S4 and torque converter locked). That's the pan, torque converter gets higher obviously. It seems like the typical temp is right below the coolant temp.

I've seen the pan hit 200 on a long grade in 3rd; I should have just left it in S4 for that one (4Runner). Around town it goes up and down.

Sounds like your truck is fooling around in 5th and locking/ unlocking the torque converter. If you ever notice it shifting a few hundred RPM (less than a full downshift) back and forth when in 5th, you'd be better off in 4. You'll immediately notice you need less gas pedal to maintain the same speed, and using 4th downhill saves your brakes too.

 

Yeah it definitely sits much lower like 160-180 during normal driving and flat highway. I've only seen the pan hit 200 a few times, just wondering if theres any numbers where people start to get concerned with. I use lower gears on downhills all the time coming down from mountains and whatnot, and going up when it starts hunting around like you said. (more often than I'd like lol)

 

I see 200s frequently with normal driving. My driveway is a short hill - it’ll get to 200 pretty fast there. Usually 180-190 flat and low speeds.