Help with trany. Its get a little hot.

[Oddball]

I have a 2001 Ford F350 7.3. Last weekend I took the quads up into the mountains to ride around a bit. (The drive to ride the quads was maybe a hour and most of that going up hill on paved roads with speed ranging from 35 through towns to 50 to 60 on the highway. The last 15 minutes was slow because of the rutted dirt road and fairly steep.) I noticed that the trans gauge was reading a little over 180 degrees and still climbing and it was only about 30 degrees outside. Well within save range but it seems a little warm to me considering the cold. I am worried about how hot it will get when it turns summer time.

The quads and trailer probably wieght around 2000 pounds. The truck has a good sized trans cooler mounted in front of the radiator I didnt measure it but it is probable 2 ft wide and 1 1/2 tall. I assume it is stock but I dont know for sure. The radiator is not used at all the line inlet and outlet are capped.

I had the trans rebuilt by a local Aamco joint about 6 months ago. I noticed in the parts used section that they installed a reconditioned E40D6HD Torque Converter. Does that sound right? I thought I had a 4R100.

Any info and reccommendations would be very much appreciated. I spent $3000 on the rebuild and cant afford to do it again. I need to keep it cooled. Thanks!!!

[pinkfloyd]

I'm not sure but here's a bump for ya

[strokin_early_99]

The TC is the same for both transmissions. You do have a 4R100.

Aamco is notorious for saying they do a HD reman but my fathers died in 15months/13K. Just out of warranty. He got more miles out of the 2 factory remans than he did with the aamco trans. I hope they will warranty the overheating problem, they darn well should.

I would suspect that either the in line filter is dirty and making the fluid bypass the cooler. And there is no cooler in the bypass circuit, it just return hot fluid to the pan.

Or the TC is so inefficient that it is just creating a ton of heat in town with a load.

[samiam]

Right up front - I don't know much about this! I do know, however, that I had a new factory Ford tranny put in my truck about 4K miles ago, and just last week noticed tranny fluid dripping. It was coming from a small cylindrical black plastic device, looked like an inline filter. Took it to the shop that did the work and they weren't suprised at all. it was an inline trans fluid filter that had developed a crack in it. It was a filter that came new with the tranny from Ford. They had a new one rushed over from Ford and put it in for free. They also told me that it's not uncommon to see one fail, and sometimes they don't leak, they just plug. I didn't ask for an explanation of how a new tranny plugs up a filter, but now you know all that i know.

[strokin_early_99]

When John Wood built my trans, he took out the inline filter and said to never use them. They plug up and cause the trans to bypass and not cool the fluid. Then he took out the bypass valve and brazed it shut so it can not bypass. He said that way it will always run the fluid through the cooler. He also said if I put an inline filter in on my own he would void the warranty.

[samiam]

Imagine that! The sharp diesel tech (at least I feel that he's sharp) said right off the bat "just trash and bypass" that inline filter when he saw it leaking. The other mechanic pointed out since Ford shipped it with the new Ford tranny it was required in the fine print of the Ford warranty to be in there. Now I'm remembering some jumpy and relatively hard shifts just prior to finding that inline filter leaking last week. The hard shifts reminded me of the day the tranny died and left me stranded. I wonder if that filter was clogged and overheating the tranny. since the new filter last week i put 300 miles on the truck without a single hard shift. nice and smooth (and cool, i suppose). maybe i'll just add a new inline Ford filter to to the yearly spring checklist of stuff to-do on the truck.

Originally Posted by strokin_early_99

.... He also said if I put an inline filter in on my own he would void the warranty.

[strokin_early_99]

Pull it from the line and put in a piece of copper tubing. If you have to take it in for any service or repair throw the filter back in it. 10minutes of your life to throw it back in the line to save a potential catastrophic failure. It is worth it in my book.

[Oddball]

Thanks for the info guys. The truck is sitting down at Aamco right now. I should hear from them tomarrow morning with what they find.

[Oddball]

I talk to the guys at Aamco who took a look at my rig. They told me it was running perfect. They told me and I quote, "We tested it and it ran about 195degrees which is optimal. It is supposed to run between 170 and 225. You don't have to worry unless it is getting close to 250 degrees."

I dont know very much about trannys. Please give me some opinions. Thanks!!!