tranmission overheat

[LandyAndy]

Yesterday I got an orange triangle and transmission overheat.I was stuck in traffic,bloody xmas shoppers and shire workers closing 1 lane to water the median strip.
It was VERY HOT in Perth yesterday,outside temp was showing 48degC,obviously heat from the road,it dropped to 42 once mobile.
Fortunately I got a red light just as the warning came up,slipped it into neutral and held the revs up,it went out in about 30 seconds.
Anybody else had overheats with the 8 speed in hot weather towing???? Wonder if its worth fitting an additional cooler inline???
Andrew

[mikeford]

I have a 2012 D4 with the last of the 6 speed auto trans, couple of years ago I went and played at Loveday 4wd park, it was 48c and there was lots of low ratio driving, my air condioner stopped cooling for a while which is normal when the engine gets very hot. Did not get any transmission alarms though .

[incisor]

Wonder if its worth fitting an additional cooler inline???
Andrew
thats what i would be doing.... fan assisted

[Grentarc]

Yesterday I got an orange triangle and transmission overheat.I was stuck in traffic,bloody xmas shoppers and shire workers closing 1 lane to water the median strip.
It was VERY HOT in Perth yesterday,outside temp was showing 48degC,obviously heat from the road,it dropped to 42 once mobile.
Fortunately I got a red light just as the warning came up,slipped it into neutral and held the revs up,it went out in about 30 seconds.
Anybody else had overheats with the 8 speed in hot weather towing???? Wonder if its worth fitting an additional cooler inline???
Andrew

Might be worth hooking up the IID Tool and having it display gearbox temp for you - I know I would be if towing in those sort of conditions

[Russrobe]

I tried to get the transmission shop to fit one when they did the rebuild on mine Andy but they weren't interested.

Although i wanted to isolate it from the radiator completely rather than fit inline like you're saying to prevent ever mixing coolant with trans fluid in the event of a crack or leak...

When i looked into it, there was only a kit available for D3s i believe .

I have done it before to the last zf 6 speed i had in the Ford... Just mounted it behind the front bumper, there should still be plenty of room for us to do the same thing.

[cjc_td5]

Yesterday I got an orange triangle and transmission overheat.I was stuck in traffic,bloody xmas shoppers and shire workers closing 1 lane to water the median strip.
It was VERY HOT in Perth yesterday,outside temp was showing 48degC,obviously heat from the road,it dropped to 42 once mobile.
Fortunately I got a red light just as the warning came up,slipped it into neutral and held the revs up,it went out in about 30 seconds.
Anybody else had overheats with the 8 speed in hot weather towing???? Wonder if its worth fitting an additional cooler inline???
Andrew

Sounds a bit disturbing Andrew :(.
I've towed the boat and car trailer in hot weather and not had that issue (to date). I don't have a solution but will keep an eye out.....

[PerthDisco]

Anybody else had overheats with the 8 speed in hot weather towing???? Wonder if its worth fitting an additional cooler inline???

Andrew


I remember Gordon stating that the D3 (post 06) & D4 cooling system was extremely overspecced. As you weren't climbing mountains at the time this is surprising.

[jonesfam]

Are the rads & coolers full of bugs, seeds or mud/dust?

[Tombie]

Perhaps Andy needs a Diet [emoji13]

[BMKal]

Perhaps Andy needs a Diet [emoji13]

Maybe it was the ironing board strapped across the front of the bull bar. :burnrubber:

[Milton477]

At what temperature does the warning light come on?

[scarry]

If you look at two D4's side by side,one stock and one with an ARB bar, you will notice there is a fair amount of free area on the front of the vehicle that is restricted by the ARB bar,particularly down low.

That said, i have never ever heard of a cooling issue with or with out bar on a D3/4.

I have had the tranny overheat light come on in the D2,but never the D4.

I wouldn't go the cooler,it would probably be more trouble fitting one than it is worth,particularly with the limited space under the bonnet for the hoses,etc.

[GP1200]

Hi Andy,

I have done lots of towing in 40 plus with no issues at all, the only time it got hot was backing up the camper on my very steep driveway, so now I only back in low range and haven't had any issues since, my fan and engine revs rise a lot on Perth hot day on idle ( it sounds like truck on a hot day if you are outside the car ) might have been one of those magical D4 electronic moments - I think we have all had them from time to time.

Mine is a 8 speed too, are you about to head off on your fishing trip?

Maybe give Southerns a quick call early tomorrow morning.

Jack

[Brada]

Mine popped the warning up last year in the Brisbane summer. I left it idling while ducking into shops, wife and kids in the car with the A/c on. I had only owned the disco a week and that came up, I drove a short distance to get the air flowing again and turned it off of to clear the message and it's never returned.

On Fraser Island at the moment and it's not come up again in the soft sand.

PS I don't have a bull bar. Jan2015 build

[LandyAndy]

already up here Jack.Im assuming the roo bar was the problem.
Radiators are clean,checked them yesterday.
Andrew

[Tombie]

What mode were you towing in Andy?

[PeterJ]

Andrew, happen to be talking to Grant from A&B automatics in Dandenong the other day on an 8 speed related matter and he mentioned he was developing a modified thermostat for a customer who also had high temp issues, might be worth a chat for insight around your occurrence. On the other side, I have done quite a lot of monitoring with my IIDtool while towing the van, up north, mid 30s, 90 to 100 kph depending and never seen +100C, even a spirited overtake up a hill outside of Katherine did not push it into 3 digits.

Peter

[LandyAndy]

What mode were you towing in Andy?

Sport Mike.
Mainly for the enhanced downshifting.It soon works out in drive to hold onto the gears longer for the upshift.
Andrew

[shanegtr]

Andrew, happen to be talking to Grant from A&B automatics in Dandenong the other day on an 8 speed related matter and he mentioned he was developing a modified thermostat for a customer who also had high temp issues, might be worth a chat for insight around your occurrence. On the other side, I have done quite a lot of monitoring with my IIDtool while towing the van, up north, mid 30s, 90 to 100 kph depending and never seen +100C, even a spirited overtake up a hill outside of Katherine did not push it into 3 digits.

Peter

I commonly see 103deg with my 6 speed in my D3 when towing. But then again all the other temps constantly sit higher than I would expect too. All taken with my IIDtool and I don't get any specific over temp messages on the dash

[Chops]

Andy, how hot did the hand dial get when this happened?
I've noticed mine seems to get quite hot at times, not that I've ever had a warning light come on, but I'm just wondering.

[LandyAndy]

No hotter than normal Marcus.They do get quite warm.
Andrew

[vbrab]

Have just had a Territory transplant done on my D3, and in process had the EGR valves blanked and fitted with emulators.
Biggest obvious difference is that engine appears to run very much cooler, as coolant no longer being heated by EGR valves. I find that from cold start it can take 6+ k's to get up to middle of temp gauge (usual place my car has always operated at), and if running about town, it will drop from half way to quarter from bottom of gauge, only returning to centre when I am sitting on open road running.
When the pace slows down the temp gauge drops below half.
I figure that will have to help the transmission stay cooler.
Perhaps blanking EGR valves is a "quick cool" option.

[Tombie]

Blanking EGR is not a viable option on later engines... closing them is but requires remapping.

(Yes there are emulators but these are proving flakey)

[scarry]

Mine does take longer to warm up,particularly in cold weather,since egr's have been blanked off.

After warm up,i don't think there is any difference in operating temps.

Maybe one or both of yours were stuck open,even slightly,may have caused the engine to run hotter,before they were blanked off.

What is also noticeable is a lot less smoke out the exhaust when it gets a boot full, than before.

[discorevy]

Have just had a Territory transplant done on my D3, and in process had the EGR valves blanked and fitted with emulators.
Biggest obvious difference is that engine appears to run very much cooler, as coolant no longer being heated by EGR valves. I find that from cold start it can take 6+ k's to get up to middle of temp gauge (usual place my car has always operated at), and if running about town, it will drop from half way to quarter from bottom of gauge, only returning to centre when I am sitting on open road running.
When the pace slows down the temp gauge drops below half.
I figure that will have to help the transmission stay cooler.
Perhaps blanking EGR valves is a "quick cool" option.


that much fluctuation could mean your thermostat could be partially stuck open , do you have a gap tool , nanocom etc to measure?
x2 re the emulators being flakey

[vbrab]

All new hoses and thermostats went in with the motor. It is as others describe slower to warm up and quick to drop below usual halfway mark when not working in a sustained run. If cruising about town, temp does appear that little bit below mark when i had EGR's connected.
Have had others report same issue after removing EGR's when doing transplant.