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Originally Posted by rphicks
Hi,
Can anyone give an installation description for a Transmission Cooler Gauge Installation.
I've started pulling a travel trailer and would like to be able to check on the trans. temperature while towing in the mountains.
Also, if you can offer info on an available temp. gauge kit to buy I'd appreciate it.
This is my first post.
2004 Ext. Cab Tundra Stepside, V8, SR5, towing package w/ Trans cooler.
Thanks for any help you can offer,
Randy
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If you upgrade to paid Club Membership, you will be able to read a very detailed writeup in the "Mod of the Month" section of the club garage that describes exactly how to install a transmission temperature gauge.
The person who did this write up used a Nordskog digital gauge and had a shop epoxy his temperature sensor into the transmission pan. I did a similar installation except I used an Autometer Z-series analog gauge (the Z series are fairly similar in appearance to the Tundra's gauges) and I had a shop braze the sensor's mount into the pan. Brazing (with either brass or silver solder) has two advantages over mounting with epoxy: (1) it provides a good ground for the sensor (epoxy is an insulator) and (2) nearly all epoxies begin to break down at temperatures over 150 degrees (the pan temperatures often go over 160 degrees when towing in the mountains).
The pan, BTW, is by far the best place to put the sensor as it (1) reflects the actual temperature of the fluid as it goes into the transmission's guts, and (2) is not nearly as "spiky" as when the sensor is mounted in the output line to the cooler. The temperature of the fluid in the pan, IMO, is also a much more accurate indicator of transmission fluid life than the temperature in the transmission output line to the cooler. The problem is it's much more difficult (and expensive) to do a pan installation...the pan has to be dropped, a hole drilled, a mount brazed in, and then the pan has to be reinstalled with the special cure-in-place gasket material that Toyota requires. It cost me around $200 to have an independent Toyota shop do this pan work. It's quite easy and cheap to put a sensor in the output line to the cooler, but to me a sensor in the output line is great for entertainment value but it really doesn't provide much actionable information.