Gentlemen,
I will try to keep this from being overly wordy however please bear with me as I want to make sure I thoroughly explain what I have been seeing and what I have tried.
In 2015 I had my trans build by Firepunk. I got their street/track trans which does have a lower stall tighter converter in it. This summer I have been experiencing what I feel is a high transmission temperature problem. If I am operating at slow speeds as in stop light to stop light or heavy slow traffic or idling in drive for an extended period of time my transmission temperature will climb. I have seen it get as high as 228F while waiting in a longer line. Coolant temperature does also rise along with the trans temperature and it rose to about 208F when I saw trans temp get to 228F however I believe it to be more a result of trans temp driving it up.
I have been dropping it into Neutral if I am at a longer light or if I have to idle for any period of time and this definitely helps keep temp down. Also if I am driving at road speeds of 45mph or faster temps are just fine.. Coolant temp about 190-195F.. Trans temp 167-185F.
I felt like I have got an air flow problem so I investigated the following..
- Removed the charge air cooler and blew it out as well as engine radiator and all coolers (they were not really dirty just felt a good place to start.. did not notice any change)
- Removed and cleaned the thermostat from the trans cooler. The rod was not stuck and no signs of debris found when doing this (noticed no change after this)
- Tested the fan clutch as described in factory service manual by spooning into and grounding pin 4 on the fan clutch connector. The fan clutch did seem to lock up and seemed to be moving a lot of air when I raised engine speed. I did not have a phototach with me to verify engine speed but I can confirm it did increase and decrease fan speed when grounded and ungrounded.
- I connected my fluke meter to pin 4 and monitored my voltage reading and duty cycle while I forced both coolant and trans temps up by placing coardboard in front of the radiator between the trans cooler and radiator. Placed the truck in gear and standing on the brake. When coolant temp reached 212F I observed the meter reading go from 14vdc to 12vdc and duty cycle go to 85% then to 100% and the fan did lock up and coolant temp started to drop to about 208 then kicked off. I let trans temp climb to about 238. Removed the cardboard and coolant temp dropped pretty quick but the fan didn’t stay engaged. I re-grounded the fan clutch manually to force it back on and help cool trans temps down.
I thought I had a failed fan clutch giving me troubles but I feel I can rule that out now so hopefully I can get some questions answered and some direction..
1 – Are these temps cause for concern? Am I just being paranoid? This is not a drag truck or competition truck.. If I was using it as a fully build truck and sitting on the line staging or had a truck built for these purposes I wouldn’t be that concerned.
2 – Is the truck supposed to be turning the fan on to control temps at a lower temp? Does it engauge the fan based on trans temp?
3 – I am wondering if I just need to invest in a aux cooler setup under the bed?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
I will try to keep this from being overly wordy however please bear with me as I want to make sure I thoroughly explain what I have been seeing and what I have tried.
In 2015 I had my trans build by Firepunk. I got their street/track trans which does have a lower stall tighter converter in it. This summer I have been experiencing what I feel is a high transmission temperature problem. If I am operating at slow speeds as in stop light to stop light or heavy slow traffic or idling in drive for an extended period of time my transmission temperature will climb. I have seen it get as high as 228F while waiting in a longer line. Coolant temperature does also rise along with the trans temperature and it rose to about 208F when I saw trans temp get to 228F however I believe it to be more a result of trans temp driving it up.
I have been dropping it into Neutral if I am at a longer light or if I have to idle for any period of time and this definitely helps keep temp down. Also if I am driving at road speeds of 45mph or faster temps are just fine.. Coolant temp about 190-195F.. Trans temp 167-185F.
I felt like I have got an air flow problem so I investigated the following..
- Removed the charge air cooler and blew it out as well as engine radiator and all coolers (they were not really dirty just felt a good place to start.. did not notice any change)
- Removed and cleaned the thermostat from the trans cooler. The rod was not stuck and no signs of debris found when doing this (noticed no change after this)
- Tested the fan clutch as described in factory service manual by spooning into and grounding pin 4 on the fan clutch connector. The fan clutch did seem to lock up and seemed to be moving a lot of air when I raised engine speed. I did not have a phototach with me to verify engine speed but I can confirm it did increase and decrease fan speed when grounded and ungrounded.
- I connected my fluke meter to pin 4 and monitored my voltage reading and duty cycle while I forced both coolant and trans temps up by placing coardboard in front of the radiator between the trans cooler and radiator. Placed the truck in gear and standing on the brake. When coolant temp reached 212F I observed the meter reading go from 14vdc to 12vdc and duty cycle go to 85% then to 100% and the fan did lock up and coolant temp started to drop to about 208 then kicked off. I let trans temp climb to about 238. Removed the cardboard and coolant temp dropped pretty quick but the fan didn’t stay engaged. I re-grounded the fan clutch manually to force it back on and help cool trans temps down.
I thought I had a failed fan clutch giving me troubles but I feel I can rule that out now so hopefully I can get some questions answered and some direction..
1 – Are these temps cause for concern? Am I just being paranoid? This is not a drag truck or competition truck.. If I was using it as a fully build truck and sitting on the line staging or had a truck built for these purposes I wouldn’t be that concerned.
2 – Is the truck supposed to be turning the fan on to control temps at a lower temp? Does it engauge the fan based on trans temp?
3 – I am wondering if I just need to invest in a aux cooler setup under the bed?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks