47re temps in traffic

[Unreal Summit]

So I know it's been asked but I can't find the answer to satisfy my question. I got a quadzilla with the trans temp gauge in the port in the passenger side of the trans. It's starting to warm up here finally. 74 degrees and I was in the drive thru waiting on my wife's food. Well the temp kept climbing to about 157. I know I was sitting still and the temp came back down when I got to moving. But I don't remember it being that high last year.  Maybe I just can't recall right or I am just being paranoid. However any help or calming words would be awesome! Lol.  Bout 20 mins of driving and the temp is starting to show going down the road. Max is about 130-140 ish going down the road. 

[kzimmer]

That sounds reasonable to me. A lot of vehicles run closer to coolant temperature, especially newer ones. And yours is still 33°F cooler than your thermostat temp assuming a 190 stat.

[Mopar1973Man]

51 minutes ago, Unreal Summit said:

I got a quadzilla with the trans temp gauge in the port in the passenger side of the trans.

Temperature is invalid.

 

That is not a flowing fluid port. Either you need to tap the cooler line or weld a bung into the pan. 

 

[Unreal Summit]

Yes 190 t-stat. I was thinking that should be an ok temp.   I was considering a deep pan I guess I should go ahead and do it if it will help with temps and give me a better reading without punching a hole in my pan. 

[kzimmer]

I went through the same thing a few years ago, and went with a Derale pan with cooling fins. Temp sensor in the pan. In these winter temps it won't even register a temperature on the highway (Quad shows 100°F minimum)

[Unreal Summit]

Right mine takes forever to show anything when it's colder! I think I'll go with an aluminum deep pan with fins and a spot for a temp sensor

Did you have to lower the filter as well with the deep pan?

[Bullet]

2 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Temperature is invalid.

 

That is not a flowing fluid port. Either you need to tap the cooler line or weld a bung into the pan. 

 

I was gonna say exactly this ^^^.  There has been many debates on where to read from...pan or hot line.  And there's pros and cons to each one.  But I thought it best to read from the hot line...so I get the fluid temp straight out of the torque converter which is the hottest that the fluid will ever get.  To me it's more of a real time reading and the gauge is more active.

[pepsi71ocean]

6 hours ago, Unreal Summit said:

Right mine takes forever to show anything when it's colder! I think I'll go with an aluminum deep pan with fins and a spot for a temp sensor

Did you have to lower the filter as well with the deep pan?

 

It's advised to add the filter filler. Mine came with mine when I got my double deep pan. It's about 2" deep. 

[kzimmer]

10 hours ago, Unreal Summit said:

Did you have to lower the filter as well with the deep pan?

 

3 hours ago, pepsi71ocean said:

 

It's advised to add the filter filler. Mine came with mine when I got my double deep pan. It's about 2" deep. 

 

Mine didn't come with one and it's fine without. I bought mine separately later on from Derale. In theory it should pick up cooler oil from deeper in the pan. Plus, if you're a little low on the dip stick for some reason, it'll still pick up oil.

[Mopar1973Man]

10 hours ago, Bullet said:

I was gonna say exactly this ^^^.  There has been many debates on where to read from...pan or hot line.  And there's pros and cons to each one.  But I thought it best to read from the hot line...so I get the fluid temp straight out of the torque converter which is the hottest that the fluid will ever get.  To me it's more of a real time reading and the gauge is more active.

 

Like my 46RE I've got a clamp on temp sensor for now till I get the bung and weld it in at the next fluid change. At least this is the hot line leaving the transmission to the cooler. As @Dynamic would say the fluid in the pan is what the transmission is going to use right now. The hot line is the temperature of the torque converter and it waste fluid headed for the cooler. 

 

Test ports are not useable because that fluid will not move for long periods if the transmission isn't shift constantly or using that port. The the fluid temp is just heat soak. 

[Unreal Summit]

So the temp I am getting is kinda late information or showing hotter temp that it actually should cause the fluid isnt moving around?  I can see why this is not a good spot for it 

[Bullet]

7 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

As @Dynamic would say the fluid in the pan is what the transmission is going to use right now. The hot line is the temperature of the torque converter and it waste fluid headed for the cooler. 

These are the 2 schools of thought about it.  It comes down to...do you want to know the temp of the oil going in (pan) or do you want to know the temp of it coming out (hot line)?  Both would be the most ideal.

 

In regards to keeping a transmission from overheating...the temp coming out is a much more proactive reading.  But like I said both have their pros and cons. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Unreal Summit said:

So the temp I am getting is kinda late information or showing hotter temp that it actually should cause the fluid isnt moving around?  I can see why this is not a good spot for it 

Yes...very late and somewhat inaccurate as well...as you mentioned. 

[IBMobile]

I have my sensor installed in the line between the transmission and engine coolant heat exchanger.   This is the hottest you will see the fluid.  You will then be able to react to the driving conditions before the fluid returned to the pan is overheated.

A sensor in the pan will show the temp of the fluid being used in the transmission. There is a lag in the reaction time to temperature change.  When you see the temperature going up and react to bring it down it can keep going up 5°-10° before decreasing.    

 

  I have a deep pan, about 1 gallon more fluid, and the fluid coming out of the torque converter heats up just as fast as with the stock pan. 

[Unreal Summit]

You think the deep wasn't worth it?  I can see how getting the reading from thar would be better! 

[kzimmer]

31 minutes ago, Unreal Summit said:

You think the deep wasn't worth it?  I can see how getting the reading from thar would be better! 

 

1 hour ago, IBMobile said:

I have a deep pan, about 1 gallon more fluid, and the fluid coming out of the torque converter heats up just as fast as with the stock pan. 

 

That makes sense, when the TC is unlocked and the truck is working hard, it's going to heat up no matter what. However, because you have more oil in your pan, and in my case there is cooling tubes and drawing oil from lower down, the oil feeding your trans will stay cooler, for longer. How much longer I guess would depend on a bunch of variables. 

[Mopar1973Man]

12 hours ago, kzimmer said:

when the TC is unlocked and the truck is working hard, it's going to heat up no matter what

 

Anytime the TQ conv is unlocked. It doesn't even have to work hard to make it hot. An empty truck traveling speed limit of 15 MPH up grade is enough to over heat a transmission. This is really common out here with the steep climbs and automatic owners for all big 3 truck Ford, Dodge and Chevy. Hence why I having all the luck of changing transmissions.

[Dynamic]

The main reason to use an aluminum pan is to strengthen the bottom of the case. There is literally no structure down there, and a good, heavy aluminum pan will strengthen the case by a pretty significant margin. The extra fluid capacity of a deeper pan is a nice benefit. It really doesn't matter if you have a filter extension or not. Some pans come with them, some don't. It doesn't really matter much.

 

I don't really care how hot the fluid is getting, as long as it is being cooled by my cooling system. A good, well built torque converter, when working hard up around its stall speed will generate a lot of heat as it multiplies torque for you. Some guys like to watch the temp of the fluid coming out of the converter, and that's fine, I guess. But to me, it's fairly useless information because I know it's going to get hot (sometimes REALLY hot) while doing its job. I need to know how effectively the cooling system is removing that heat. That information comes from a probe in the pan.

 

BTW, 157 degrees F is barely even warmed up yet. You DO need to have some temperature in the transmission. I like to see an operating range of about 150 - 190 degrees F. A transmission operating in that range is a happy transmission.

 

[Unreal Summit]

Thank you! I was hoping you would chime in!  I didn't think it was a bad temp. Just had a odd feeling about it.  I am weird like that sometimes!   Do u think the derale deep pan is a good one to buy? I like the price on it! 

[Dynamic]

1 hour ago, Unreal Summit said:

Thank you! I was hoping you would chime in!  I didn't think it was a bad temp. Just had a odd feeling about it.  I am weird like that sometimes!   Do u think the derale deep pan is a good one to buy? I like the price on it! 

I'm not a big fan of the Derale pan. It will not really do anything to strengthen the case, which is the primary purpose of putting a different pan on it, plus I've had some issues with them leaking. They are very thin steel, and I'm just not generally impressed with it.

 

The beefiest pan that I've seen is the PPE. That is the one that I'm shipping my transmissions with these days.

[Unreal Summit]

Awesome! Thank you all for the help! I love to learn all I can.