Transmission Temperature

[Steve_382]

Just thought I would update this again. We were going up Little Cottonwood Canyon a week ago and the engine and transmission temps both showed about 213 degress. The air temp was about 90 and we were driving about 35 to 40 mph ( about as fast as you can drive it).

[Skywagon]

John,
Thanks for the potential help. We'll probably be on our way South at the beginning of October or end of September, depending on the weather here, so I'll give you a call.
Bill

[SMBDAD]

Thought I would pass this on for those who are trying to lower trans temps. I purchased a cast aluminum B&M transmission pan for 146.0 deliveredfrom streetsideauto.com. It will hold 3 qts over stock. I did not want to spend the 3-400 for a mag-hytec and thought this the best deal.

[Skywagon]

But does it work?
Bill

[SMBDAD]

Originally Posted by Skywagon

But does it work?
Bill

That I cannot answer yet. In all the reviews I have read in my research everyone agrees that the larger trans pan is a pos. I can only imagine another 3 qts will help. The added cooling benefits of the cast aluminum ( not powdercoated ) will help. Then when replacing I will be switching to sythetic mobil 1 atf, wich can only help. All sounds pretty positive to me. I can afford to try it out at $150 dollars, at $350 dollars it starts to smart a little!

[SMBDAD]

I can now reply on "Does it work?". I wanted to do all my upgrades individually so that I could see the impact of each mod. That did not happen as time and money forced me to do all at once. My upgrades were 1) replacing all rotors with Brakeman rotors (old were warped) 2) Servicing/lubed all bearings 3) Upgraded both diff covers and used Royal purple synthetic oil 4) Drained and filled transfer case with Mobil 1 syn Atf 5) Upgraded trans pan to larger aluminum B&M trans pan and filled/flushed with Mobil 1 syn Atf.
Tranny temps were hitting in the 190's before (cruising the freeway). New tranny temps are around 177 (cruising the freeway). It takes about 35 miles for it to get up to and settle at that temp. The transmission does not seem to shift (search for gears) as often. It seems I have also gained about 1.5 mpg.
I am sure I have lowered some resistance/friction with all the mods so I cannot say it is all due to tranny, but wanted to report the improvement.

One thing. If you do go with the B&M pan, get some longer bolts.

[EMrider]

Wanted to revive this important topic......

As John noted, interference with air-flow is a major cause of high operating temps.

IMHO, the design of the aluminess front bumper is a significant source of trouble too.

My 06 SMB had the stock ford bumper for 3 years and 36k miles. I just added an aluminess front bumper last month. After adding the new bumper, my tranny operating temps are 20-40deg higher at all times than they were before. In normal freeway driving with outside temps of 80-90deg, my tranny is running at 195-200, whereas it used to be consistently about 160-170. I'm also almost always hitting the 215deg water temp mark that activates the fan. Before, I'd only hit 215deg water temp when pulling a substantial grade. I noticed both of these changes immediately when driving home from SMB west after getting the work done.

The source of the trouble is obvious. The aluminess design significantly impedes airflow into the lower half of the radiator and tranny cooler. Not good.

I'm guessing that most owners either get the aluminess added before pickup, or never at all, so will never see the 'before vs. after' comparison. The difference is huge.

I'm going to have the Zylstra folks install an air scoop on the bottom of the front aluminess to re-direct airflow upwards into the bottom of the radiator and tranny cooler. It is pretty cheap and they have done this for several other owners with good results.

If that fails, a little used front aluminess bumper will soon be for sale in the classifieds forum.

R

[scatter]

Interesting results EMrider. I added the Aluminess bumper to my rig a few months after purchase and didn't notice any change in temps. I did fabricate a scoop anyway as my temps have always been higher then I like and it helped a little. Never had the lower temps that you quote with your stock bumper.

[Ford_6L_E350]

I had a similar experience with the Warn bumper on our van. After installing it we had overheating when pulling long, steep grades in hot weather. Hot enough that the van's computer shut down the engine power. It would idle, but it wouldn't pull up the grade. I poured water over the radiator and power was restored.

On close examination, the bottom 1/3 of the radiator had no bugs debris, while the top 2/3 showed bug residue. The conclusion was, limited airflow to the bottom of the radiator.

I added 11 2" holes to the bumper to allow airflow to the bottom of the radiator.



The bottom air dam was added later to stop the tires from throwing rocks straight forward.

What can't be seen in the picture is the baffle I added from the bottom of the bumper to the bottom of the radiator to ensure that air doesn't go under the radiator.

Since the modifications I've had no problems with overheating or high trans temps.

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by EMrider

I'm going to have the Zylstra folks install an air scoop on the bottom of the front aluminess to re-direct airflow upwards into the bottom of the radiator and tranny cooler. It is pretty cheap and they have done this for several other owners with good results.

R

Any idea on the time and cost to install? I've been fairly satisfied with my engine and trans temps (I do have a MagHytec trans pan), but excess heat is the enemy of all things mechanical and electrical, so I'd be interested in additional steps to keep temps down. There seems to be such a large variance in user's engine and trans temps, its hard to tell what the norm might be. I've got three large Hellas on top of my front Aluminess bumper, but like I said, my engine and trans temps have been OK.

I'm heading to Fresno early next month, so a detour on the way home may be in order.


Herb