Transmission Temperature - Page 6

saline · 05-29-2009, 10:41 AM

This may not be of any great importance but...when speaking with the previous owner of our 04' PSD SMB he said that he had the billet grill installed because SMB had recommended he do so to provide better air flow than the stock grill. In looking at my billet grill I can see how it provides a bit more unobstructed air than the stock form. Just an observation.

John and Dana · 05-29-2009, 10:54 AM

Saline,

After looking at my grill I agree with what you are saying. On the 08" Ford made the grill opening larger then filled it up with cheap chrome coated plastic.

I talked with Heber at SMB West yesterday regarding this and he said they are trying to get a billet grill designed for the 08" and newer but have not done it yet. Depending on what my test today reveals I may start pushing them on this.

John

Skywagon · 05-29-2009, 11:53 AM

John and Saline
I just went out and looked at mine and I agree-
Considering that these vans run hot anyway, why put all that crap right exactly in front of where it least needs to be?
Bill

I just got off the phone with Jay Minto and he said that if Ford isn't worried, I shouldn't be worried either. He said run it and forget about it. But if it gets real hot (over 150 +_), stop and let it cool down before proceeding. So, that's what I'm going to do. (Except maybe think about a transmission cooler

) However, if I do THAT and the tranny burns up, Ford will say "it's because of that aftermarket trans cooler" You can't win!
Anyway, Thank you all for your input on this thread; If I run across any of you, I'll spring for the beers!

Skywagon · 05-29-2009, 11:56 AM

John,
I'm looking forward to the results of your experiment
Bill

**BroncoHauler** · 05-29-2009, 02:19 PM

Bill,

I hope the 150+/- is a typo, because that's not even up to "normal" operating temperature.

Herb

Skywagon · 05-29-2009, 04:04 PM

Yeah, Herb-
I meant to say 250 deg..
Thanks,
Bill

John and Dana · 05-29-2009, 04:46 PM

The test results are in and my conclusion is the engineer that was in charge of the grill should be demoted to cup holders, no wait then I would be wearing my late.

The transmission cooler is measures 12" x 6" and the obstruction created by the blue oval measure 12" x 6" and is placed 8" directly in front of the trans cooler. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out this could be a problem.

For my test I used a 1.5 mile section of freeway where I could run a loop on a steep grade. The bottom on ramp was a steep up hill and I really hammered it up the hill to try to get the trans working as hard as possible. The grade is steep enough at 65 mph the trans wanted to kick out of overdrive but I just let it shift up and down (I normally don't do this) to generate as much heat as possible. The outside temp was 80 degrees.

Starting at the bottom my temp was 172, after the first climb it was 184. Next run after coasting down I was at 195 (Houston we have a problem). If the cooler is working properly shouldn't the temp drop coasting down hill. Next run 205 at the top and 195 at the bottom. Last run 208 at the bottom and 212 at the top. I am certain that if I kept this up the temp would have continued to rise.

I stopped at the top and removed the grill. Coasting down the temp dropped from 205 to 198. At the top of the first run temp it was 198, then dropping to 195 on the coast down. 2nd run top 198 dropping to 194 at the bottom and the final run had a temp of 197 at the top. The last run was also the fastest, I was in the left lane doing 70mph.

I think this is fairly conclusive evidence that it may not be a transmission problem after all but poor placement of the trans cooler.

I asked my dealer specifically about adding an additional trans. cooler and he said as long as the stock one is still in place and the other one is just supplementing it there should be no problems. He said they see motor homes built on this chassis (class C) and they almost alway have a secondary trans cooler.

I for one will be ditching the factory grill as soon as I can find a replacement and installing the additional trans cool. I also talked with Heber about fabricating something to direct some of the air flow from the bottom of the Aluminess bumper up toward the bottom of the radiator. He told me that on the later 08's they began refitting the factory air dam underneath the Aluminess just for this purpose. Since mine was made in early 08 they didn't do this so he is sending me one of the air dams. I will let you know if this makes a difference.

Bill, with regard to the drive it and ignore it, sure Ford isn't worried about it because even if you are really frying the transmission it will probably last 36,000 miles at which point it isn't their problem.

John

NRL · 05-29-2009, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John & Dana

The test results are in and my conclusion is the engineer that was in charge of the grill should be demoted to cup holders, no wait then I would be wearing my late.

The transmission cooler is measures 12" x 6" and the obstruction created by the blue oval measure 12" x 6" and is placed 8" directly in front of the trans cooler. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out this could be a problem.

For my test I used a 1.5 mile section of freeway where I could run a loop on a steep grade. The bottom on ramp was a steep up hill and I really hammered it up the hill to try to get the trans working as hard as possible. The grade is steep enough at 65 mph the trans wanted to kick out of overdrive but I just let it shift up and down (I normally don't do this) to generate as much heat as possible. The outside temp was 80 degrees.

Starting at the bottom my temp was 172, after the first climb it was 184. Next run after coasting down I was at 195 (Houston we have a problem). If the cooler is working properly shouldn't the temp drop coasting down hill. Next run 205 at the top and 195 at the bottom. Last run 208 at the bottom and 212 at the top. I am certain that if I kept this up the temp would have continued to rise.

I stopped at the top and removed the grill. Coasting down the temp dropped from 205 to 198. At the top of the first run temp it was 198, then dropping to 195 on the coast down. 2nd run top 198 dropping to 194 at the bottom and the final run had a temp of 197 at the top. The last run was also the fastest, I was in the left lane doing 70mph.

I think this is fairly conclusive evidence that it may not be a transmission problem after all but poor placement of the trans cooler.

I asked my dealer specifically about adding an additional trans. cooler and he said as long as the stock one is still in place and the other one is just supplementing it there should be no problems. He said they see motor homes built on this chassis (class C) and they almost alway have a secondary trans cooler.

I for one will be ditching the factory grill as soon as I can find a replacement and installing the additional trans cool. I also talked with Heber about fabricating something to direct some of the air flow from the bottom of the Aluminess bumper up toward the bottom of the radiator. He told me that on the later 08's they began refitting the factory air dam underneath the Aluminess just for this purpose. Since mine was made in early 08 they didn't do this so he is sending me one of the air dams. I will let you know if this makes a difference.

Bill, with regard to the drive it and ignore it, sure Ford isn't worried about it because even if you are really frying the transmission it will probably last 36,000 miles at which point it isn't their problem.

John

I'm sorta repeating but did you ever trace the transmission lines from the cooler and see if the lines run near the exhaust tubes before it reaches the transmission.. In my case, I had a perfectly fine cooler at a good location, replaced it with a even better transmission cooler but it didn't matter since my exhaust and ambient temperture underneath was cooking the transmission lines!

The only thing that ultimately helped were the exhaust wraps, and the thermal sleeves for the transmission lines..the derale tubulator transmission pan and the new transmission cooler.

John and Dana · 05-29-2009, 05:26 PM

NRL,

Yes the transmission lines do run along the exhaust line about 3" from it. I am not familiar with exhaust wraps or thermal sleeves, are these available at the local auto parts store? If they are not expensive I am willing to give it a try.

John

bluedog225 · 05-29-2009, 06:43 PM

I'm probably gonna get banned but.....

I've researched the solar reflective stuff a fair amount and it usually lists something like "coated with 98% pure aluminum." Soooo......

Is it too ghetto for a SMB to wrap some heavy duty foil around the parts in question? You could spray with adhesive on the back side. Cheap, reflective, fireproof, won't melt.

I think the shiny side out to protect from the heat source (trans line) and shiny in to contain a heat source (exhaust). But don't rely on me for that because they put the shiny side facing strange ways in attics.

For those of you with nice rigs, forgive me. I would never do this on my 350z.

(Well, I might...I've got a homemade oil catch can-a husky air compressor air filter inline on the PCV valve line back to the plenum...takes some oil out of the air return and may add 1/4 hp....looks classy.)

Tom