Trans Temps High, Trans Service, Fluid Dark 30k

[goatman]

We did a trip to the San Juan Mtns in CO recently. Ran Black Bear Pass, Imogene Pass, Engineer Pass, Yankee Boy Basin, etc. I was very concerned that the trans temps were so high on all of the steep inclines and descents, temps staying in the 220's and much of the time 225-228. In my past experience this is pretty high and will damage the fluid and eventually the transmission. The Bronco has 30k miles on it, and I decided to do a tranny service and replace the fluid and filter. Very glad I did. I don't tow a trailer, it's a daily driver and occasional off road. I was surprised how dark the fluid was, with a touch of a burnt smell. This is concerning to me with only 30k on the Bronco. Replacing this 10 spd trans down the road will be very expensive.

I'm going to seriously consider an auxiliary trans cooler, even though it looks to be pretty expensive. Seems most vehicles I've had, trucks, Jeeps, buggies, race cars, every one got an auxiliary trans cooler. Appears the Bronco needs one as well. The only other thing is to replace the fluid no more than every 20k miles.

So far, I only see a CSF trans cooler for the 2.7, and I have the 2.3, but it looks like it would work. Installing a typical relatively inexpensive cooler doesn't look possible because of the heat exchanger that uses coolant, rather than a typical setup where the factory cooler lines run through the radiator, making it easy to install an aux cooler. I need some more searching.

Sponsored

 

[PWillette]

Yikes, that looks pretty nasty. I haven't seen anything 2.3 specific but Mishimoto has a few different universal options that may work.

https://www.mishimoto.com/heavy-dut...XM8VvxYnxBXFHlFjAB6Rjg3jzROuiuKRoCuZAQAvD_BwE

 

[Ducati1098]

Mid 220's really isn't that high for a 10 speed. Newer transmission like the 10R60 have a normal temperature range of 200+
The transmission overtemp warning doesn't even come on until 275
Also LV and ULV naturally turn dark over time whether there's an issue or not.
Either way, keeping it cooler certainly wont hurt.

 

[B22-2023]

We did a trip to the San Juan Mtns in CO recently. Ran Black Bear Pass, Imogene Pass, Engineer Pass, Yankee Boy Basin, etc. I was very concerned that the trans temps were so high on all of the steep inclines and descents, temps staying in the 220's and much of the time 225-228. In my past experience this is pretty high and will damage the fluid and eventually the transmission. The Bronco has 30k miles on it, and I decided to do a tranny service and replace the fluid and filter. Very glad I did. I don't tow a trailer, it's a daily driver and occasional off road. I was surprised how dark the fluid was, with a touch of a burnt smell. This is concerning to me with only 30k on the Bronco. Replacing this 10 spd trans down the road will be very expensive.

I'm going to seriously consider an auxiliary trans cooler, even though it looks to be pretty expensive. Seems most vehicles I've had, trucks, Jeeps, buggies, race cars, every one got an auxiliary trans cooler. Appears the Bronco needs one as well. The only other thing is to replace the fluid no more than every 20k miles.

So far, I only see a CSF trans cooler for the 2.7, and I have the 2.3, but it looks like it would work. Installing a typical relatively inexpensive cooler doesn't look possible because of the heat exchanger that uses coolant, rather than a typical setup where the factory cooler lines run through the radiator, making it easy to install an aux cooler. I need some more searching.

I’ve ran those passes and others in CO with 10 sp and 2.7L, with a full load of gear. All the same temps you were seeing and higher, into the low 240s. I also have the normal capacity PPE tranny pan and a larger CSF radiator.

I did do an early fluid change post-Moab and pre-Colorado, to get the break in fluid and materials out. Filter looked new. Still saw the higher temps mentioned but my fluid is looking clean when checked.

It‘s no longer a worry after researching - the fluid is designed to withstand much higher temps, and my peak temps are periodic and relatively short-lived. That said, I do like adding coolers when I can, but the price on that CSF is out of hand. A guy here just installed one though and it looked like a good setup.

 

[goatman]

I own an auto repair shop, and we've replaced a few Ford 10 spd autos, like some have experienced on here they are not cheap. My fluid had a slight clutch material/burnt smell to it. I think the smart thing, for us who do go off road, or tow, and experience those higher temps, is to shorten our trans service intervals. Personally, I'm going to trust the look and smell of my old tranny fluid more than spec sheets and reports that it will "be fine, that's normal". It might be fine, and normal, but it sure doesn't hurt to change the fluid more frequently.

I'm deliberating that CSF cooler. Damn, it's a lot of money. But, everything I have has an aux trans cooler...well, except my 6 spd manual F450.

Sponsored