Transmission temp while at dunes

Last time I was at sand mountain I noticed my trans temp pegged 240. Now I was Beatin on the truck pretty hard. At 27000 miles I lost the front pump seal and it was fixed per that recall but I'm wondering when I lost that pump and fluid if it caused more issues in the tranny causing it now to heat up more. At the time it went out I told ford I really think they should replace the tranny and they didn't. Any one observe that high of a temp while off-roading? My tranny is regularly at 190-210 daily driving which I think is rather high ?? Any thoughts? I do have 35 in toyo mts. Obviously a deeper pan and larger cooler would help the fluid stay cooler a little bit longer but shit I'm kind of sick and tired of justifying buying all these damn parts just to be able to use the truck off-road haha

Ive spiked my trans temp to 235° in the dunes running really hard on a 80° day with factory ATF. Once i converted the trans to Amsoil i havnt seen temps go over 220° in the same conditions/driving.

190-205° would be considered normal operating temp for our trucks.

205-225° would be expected during spirited runs.

225-250° would be extreme situations such as hill climbs, or hard desert running. Let cool as soon as possible.

275° is the absolute max, VERY temporary operating temp (such as a long hill climb), before you will considerably reduce the life of your ATF and trans. Let cool immediatly.

At 300° you WILL damage internal transmission parts, including warpage of metal parts, degradation of clutches, and melting of seals. Transmission oil oxidizes, (forming varnish-like substances causing further clutch slippage and compounding heat build up) and transmission oil life is extremely short. If you see this temp, break out the check book.


Every 20° above 200°, oil oxidation rate doubles.

For EXAMPLE, say, at 200°, ATF life is 100,000 miles,
220° ATF life is 50,000 miles,
240°- 25,000,
260°- 12,500,
280°- 6,250,
300°- 3,125 miles.... And so on...

Obviously those numbers arnt going to be exact and is only hypothetical, because every transmission sees differant temps on a day to day basis, as in one day, your trans will only see 195°, while on another it sees 220°....

Obviously a larger cooler with fan, would be one of the better ways to control trans temps a lot better. Couple that with some Amsoil ATF and finned/deeper pan and that would go a long way.

I have seen my temps go over 200 when playing in the sand. Want to say it got up around 230 for short periods. Remember in the sand you have lots of drag on the driveline (even more when in 4wd) and tend to be in higher RPM's to stay in the power band.

How does ford feel about swapping trans fluid and adding pan/coolers?
I figure they would not care that you are using a better fluid, but I considered doing the pan (hope the clearance/build issues guys were having have been resolved) but did not want to deal with a dealer trying to claim my warranty is void over a cooler or pan being installed should I have a trans issue down the road.

As long as the replacement fluid is equal or greater quality and is same spec, ford CANNOT legally void warranty unless there is absolute proof that said replacement caused the damage.

Some articles...

AMSOIL Warranty Secure

Auto Warranties & Routine Maintenance | Consumer Information

Yea, not really worried about the fluid as they have huge companies backing the fluid and its tested to meet OEM specs. but adding a cooler or finned pan might be a hassle. I guess I could have the dealer install it but I am sure I would pay a premium for that. Its the same reason why I have not done the Power Steering Res and cooler. While it probably will extend the life of the Power steering unit, they seem to fail often enough that I do not want to give the dealer reasons to try denying the claim. (Wish ford would offer a upgraded unit)

The mag moss act is supposed to protect us but when you go up against ford they have way more money and resources than you so most times its a mute point.

Yea I wouldn't see any problems with any of those parts as they don't really directly affect any mechanical operation, so it would be hard to prove that things like those caused the problem.

But yea, going to court with ford prolly wouldn't work out to well most of the time. Lol

Cool so I shouldn't freak out seeing 240. Last time when I saw that we pulled off and ran the truck at a slower pace to get temp down which is what I will do again but probably gonna get fluid changed out to something better. Yah I'm leery about doing the pan and what not just cause my dealer already know I use this truck too its potential ha they already noted my rear leafs and bump stop as having a highly modified suspension and my front bashed skid plate as damaged and needing to be replaced lol it would suck to throw a pan on there and have the tranny fail and then start pointing fingers


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I have hit 240's at Silver Lake Sand dunes, mainly when I was running the paddles on the back. Last year I installed a auxiliary trans cooler with a fan mounted on it that I can turn on and that seemed to help a bit, but when playing hard for extended periods can still get it in the 230's, but it will cool down fast.

How did the paddles work? I have found, on the 2 strike atv's at least, having less traction in sand when you have a stock machine is faster, or at least more fun and drivable. On those machines you want some spin to keep the revs up.

Wonder how they would work on a raptor.

--John

Mine is supercharged and yes you need some power to turn them. When I had the paddles built I went with 10 paddles on the tires. If I did it again I would go with 8.