What kind of temps have you seen? I'm honestly curious.

I'm just having a hard time trying to figure out why everyone thinks a bigger pan is such a bad thing. It may not be what everyone needs, nobody is saying that. I'm protecting an investment, I had to have my tranny rebuilt, and I didn't want to be worrying about temps with the new one. I spent the money and went with a bigger pan ALONG with a bigger 6.0L cooler. It has done what I wanted it to, I have a hard time getting my temps over 150* working the snot out of the truck.
Everyone's concern is that it takes longer for the fluid to cool down with a bigger pan, well I never let my temps get up there because I have a bigger cooler. I guess I see it as going one step further. Start with a bigger cooler, and then a bigger pan with keep temps down even longer.

 

I just saved up and bought a transmission I wouldn't ever have to worry about again. I haven't towed anything heavy yet, but 130* is all I could get it to running 100HP tune thru the mountains with about 6k lbs in tow. I don't wanna talk about how much fuel that spirited little 400mi drive consumed... Same drive in stock tune with old trans and stock cooler (and no OTW) would run 180* without pushing it hard - since I knew trans was on its last legs.

Based on friends' BTS stories I was more concerned about LOW temps - thats why I asked Brian about that when I was there. He simply says 'You can't hurt my transmission'...

 

Working it in the filed the hottest I ever noticed is 160* neighborhood. The hottest I've ever seen it is stop and go traffic on a hot day on new black asphalt, when it approached 200*.

 

You can hurt it.... but it still keeps going...



For anyone interested https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...-stuck-on.html
long story/short... my TC locked up (installer did not blow crap out of old cooler), broke the center shaft while backing up to my camper. Drove 250 miles pulling a 30ft camper, frying the tranny the whole way to Lead Hill as it would not go faster than 55/60mph. Brian did not say a word about rebuilding it. So... yes it can be hurt.... but it will not 'die'...<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

So where is the best place to get the temperature from?

 

Here! Here!
You are so right. We are here to share our experiences with each other to help one another keep our trucks running with the least amount of expense.

 

The best place to place an aftermarket temp sensor is in the test port on the left side of the case.

One of my trucks has the ATS finned deep aluminum pan and it does NOT help keep the fluid cool. That truck actually has a temp sensor in the test port and another sensor in the pan, (where ATS provided a threaded hole for a sensor). The sensor in the test port is pretty close to what the PCM reports. The sensor in the pan reads about 15-30 degrees cooler depending on the condition.

Last summer, I had an overheating issue with that truck and the trans fluid got hot as well. I pulled over and let the engine idle and it took a very long time to cool the fluid. I plan on replacing the aluminum pan with an OEM unit before camping season.

 

Thanks for the info.
Sorry to hear the truck had a problem... I am looking into a larger cooler as well and possibly a backup cooler hooked to the trans gauge.

Thanks for the quick reply..Deane

 

When it was overheating and the trans was hot what was the difference between the trans and the pan temp?

I was reading in the Febuary Diesel Power magazine and it says to put the probe in the pan, not the case. (page 130) Then on page 140 it says to help by putting a larger capacity finned "cooling pan." I guess that is what you get when you get your info from a purple companies sales rep instead of having an actual transmission engineer available for input like we have here

 

That is when I saw the largest delta, around 25-30 degrees. By default I keep the switch so it shows the sensor in the test port while towing. Engine coolant temps were in the 250 degree range and trans temps were about 230 so I pulled over. The engine cooled down quickly but trans temps took much longer. I would flip the switch to see the pan mounted sensor and it was in the 180-190 range while the sensor in the test port was 210-220 for quite a while. I suspect the circulation inside the pan is quite poor so it's possible to see a variety of readings depending on where the sensor is placed. Of all my trucks, the one with the deep aluminum pan has the highest transmission fluid temps.

 

A new radiator and injector rebuild solved my overheating problem. Truck tows great now.

 

So how do you cool the transmission? Mine checked with the scan II gauge. pulling 10k 5th wheel with 2004 f2504x4 with 6.0. temps get up to close to Trans. 240 engine 230.

 

A big cooler is how you cool it.

The 6.0L trucks came from the factory with the biggest cooler you can get. If you are getting 240°F and 230°F towing only 10k, something is wrong. Often there is junk like leaves, grass, paper, etc, blocking the airflow through the cooling system. That's the place to start

 

Thanks for the quick response. Have looked before ,but I will check again. I even removed my after market g tube grill and replaced with the stock grill.

 

Will this cooler bolt directly into a 2000 excursion or will I need more pieces of the puzzle? Also how should the routing go? Through the radiator to the cooler then return to the transmission? Thank you for any help.