Those with a ScanGauge. What's your typical transmission temperature?

Our outside temperature has been in the high 90's here. I see temperatures of 160-200 around town. Some of that is stop and go through the city during rush hour. What's everyone else's temperatures typically? At what temperature should I be concerned?

 

Same as you are seeing... 180-190 when towing. 140's most days

 

I monitor my temp for towing or when I have a heavy load in the bed. Without load I can range from 140-200 depending on the hills and my driving. Oddly, going slow in town or on slight inclines gets me the highest temps. I stay cooler going faster on an incline I assume due to the fluid cooler up front.

When towing it tends to stay right around 175 - 200 and in hot temps has been as high as 220. I would stop and let it rest if I ever got to 240. Your limit and how often you change the fluid can vary for how much you want to push things.

 

I actually upgraded and replaced the stock tube and fin cooler with a larger stacked plate cooler as I saw temps climb higher than I was comfortable when towing with the stock cooler. Just got back from a 400 mile trip with the camper and it only reached 235 briefly during a long hill climb. I'd say 'normal' temps during the trip were 200ish across elevation changes and 95+ degree outside temps.

 

I'm curious if someone here has BOTH a scangauge/ultragauge and one of the ELM bluetooth OBD readers + Torque for Android. I still don't trust the custom PIDs that are supposed to read the transmission temp.

With my ELM + Torque, on a day when it's 95*F out, I see the following temps:

Cruising around 50mph steady = 160*F at the pan, 165*F at the torque converter outlet

On the interstate at 80 = 175*F on both

I'm trying to wait until the warranty is up before I modify anything powertrain related, but I plan on installing one of these to hopefully drop the ATF temps to where they max at 170*F under the most extreme conditions.

$133 Mishimoto MMOC-F Heavy Duty Racing Transmission Cooler, with Electric Fan for Maximum Cooling, Universal Fit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035Z3NU...TF8&colid=315DJJJ0SLBRC&coliid=I3EA8Z5WK9GBZL

 

Thanks for the responses. I am assuming you'd have to maintain those temperatures in the chart to have the ill effects of running a high temperature. Periodic spikes should be ok, right?

 

Sort of. You don't want to go too high, period.

On the Tacoma, I believe the red AT TEMP light comes on somewhere between 320-340*F. Once that light comes on, the fluid is done for. It'll be cooked.

 

I decided that 50k change intervals were best for my style of driving/towing. Fluid = $125 ish dollars for 12 qts... New trans is $3500ish. Clean fresh fluid = happy transmission. Temp gauge allows me to know if I'm hurting it. Finally, NEVER TOW IN OVERDRIVE!!

 

Normal city driving is around 180 to 200/210, depending on weather, if its stop and go, etc.

Highway is around 180/190.

If its a steep grade or long uphills I can sometimes see around 220 to 230's.

 

I always wondered when folks start adding armor, tools, camper shells, etc. shouldn't trans cooler be upgraded as well due to all the extra weight being added one?

 

Are you thinking of replacing the stock transmission cooler? I noticed you have an OR and assume you have the tow package.

 

Yup. The tow package cooler helps, but is dinky. I'm hoping there is enough line slack that I can pop the Mishimoto one in its place and just worry about bracket placement.

Yup. Same goes for brakes. If you're adding a bunch of more weight (especially swamper type tires) then you should think about better brakes.

 

I replaced stock cooler with a larger one. The flex lines connect to hard lines to pass through into the engine compartment, I simply popped off those flex lines and ran lines from the new cooler to those hard lines. Used one existing mounting hole and made brackets to anchor to other mounting locations.

 

Which cooler did you upgrade to?

 

I have the dinky stock cooler and lately been seeing 170-180's with the hot weather.
Reading with Elm327 and Torque. Got up to 190 a couple times but not over. This was with normal driving.
The transmission shifts really smooth when the temp is 180.

 

Installed the biggest cooler I could fit.

$58 Hayden 679 Universal 11” Rapid-Cool Add-On Transmission Cooler to Enhance Cooling (not for direct replacement of the factory unit)

Hayden 679. Temps went from 180-215 to 120-160 normal driving. With all the armour, tires and stuff I carry it was good for peace of mind. Hoping to regear to help the tranny but for under $200 it was worth it for the mean time.

Using a scan gauge to measure temps.

 

About overdrive. .. I didn't know that! Thanks!

 

That is impressive. Those temps are almost TOO low but I'd rather lose a little MPG than have to rebuild the transmission later on.

 

What about a bypass thermostat? My sequoia has one that the trans fluid only goes to the cooler if it gets up to 180... I have to override it to change the fluid and get it all