Transmission Temperatures?

[GCinSC2]

Originally Posted by TravisH

Some indication this may be normal but I'm sending in to Blackstone Labs for analysis so will have a better idea of ATF health in a few weeks.

Thanks!

Lab report, I like it!

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by TravisH

So I got an auxiliary ATF cooler installed today.

Driving in 100° Tucson desert 85mph up slight incline (not towing) I was getting 179° max.

Great improvement!

If any Tundra owners are concerned I HIGHLY recommend adding the cooler! A guy sells a kit on tundra forums which is mostly authentic Toyota parts and a HD Hayden cooler. Expensive but complete and takes a couple hours to install.

Attached is my ATF at ~15,000 miles. I topped it off before I took a trip with AS back around May and it was clear pink, not quite like the new on the left but way closer to that! So this cloudy stinking mess of ATF is from towing some long grades in SW summer....

Some indication this may be normal but I'm sending in to Blackstone Labs for analysis so will have a better idea of ATF health in a few weeks.

Thanks!

"Changing" won't do all the fluid, better to flush and get all the old stuff out of the converter also.

How about a secondary filter?...adds fluid, runs cooler. Especially if the vehicle already has a factory ATF cooler.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

On our 95 2500 Burb w/o OEM temp gauge...

[TravisH]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

"Changing" won't do all the fluid, better to flush and get all the old stuff out of the converter also.

How about a secondary filter?...adds fluid, runs cooler. Especially if the vehicle already has a factory ATF cooler.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

On our 95 2500 Burb w/o OEM temp gauge...

F&F may be viable for such a young transmission.

I recall warnings about doing this to older transmissions as it can have negative effects from loosening what ever. Not sure if that's true but I always did soft flushes.

Thanks!

[ROBERT CROSS]

We had many fleet operators we serviced at the Chevy store. We power flushed at 60k and never had a problem no matter the year.
Changing the pan fluid and leaving the cooler and torque converter full is not ideal.

With our 95 Burb I flushed at 20k, changed the pan filter, added an external filter, continued to change the external filter and power flush every 30k. Never dropped the pan again and sold it at 165k.👍
TETO

Bob
🇺🇸

[TravisH]

So....

I installed an auxiliary ATF cooler and now get reasonable 200°+/- when towing in 100° ambient weather!

I sent a sample of the ATF into Blackstone labs and despite it looking rather dark they reported is tests as perfectly fine! No obvious wear nor insolubles..No dirt no silicone.....well below averages!

So maybe Toyota engineers are onto something!

I still feel very good about having the ATF cooler as seeing close to 260° was disturbing at best!

Thanks!

Trav

[TravisH]

I sent that "burnt" ATF into Blackstone Labs for analysis! $30.

The report came back stating:

"Your Tundra's transmission looks great in this first sample. There are
many reasons we could've expected extra metal to show up (metal from factory wear-in, wear-in from your
ATF cooler installation, possible wear from towing you did over the summer, hot temps, etc.) -- but we didn't
find any such extra wear. Metals are in good shape next to averages, which are based on a ~38,700-mile
interval. With the viscosity in spec and insolubles at just a trace, there's no reason to think this fluid saw
more heat than it could handle."

I could post actual numbers if anyone is interested but bottom line they came in below averages for ATF with 38K miles! A good result!

So toss out your old preconceived notions of ATF temperatures as it looks like 300° may be the new red line to be concerned about as far as I've gathered....

Never the less I am glad I installed the cooler! I'll see what happens with next Blackstone Labs test at maybe 38K miles....