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.
Ray/Anyone,
Is there a transmission temp readout in the on board diagnostic array for a 2wd 4.7L 2003 Tundra SR5? I have seen a program and adapter available from www.obdmeter.com for a Palm or Pocket PC. That would be a lot less trouble if the transmission is already keeping track of the temperature. Just connect your Palm to the diagnostic port and monitor remotely.
Ray/Anyone,
Is there a transmission temp readout in the on board diagnostic array for a 2wd 4.7L 2003 Tundra SR5?
I can't speak for the 2003, but there is for the 2004. I checked it with my scan tool and the ATF temperature can be read and is functional. On a recent trip to Home Depot it started out at ambient temperature (which exactly matched the console outside temperature) and rose to a high of 142 degrees.
I think the ultimate head unit would be one with a color LCD screen that allowed you to selectively display OBD-II parameters, in addition to GPS navigation and everything else.
I think the ultimate head unit would be one with a color LCD screen that allowed you to selectively display OBD-II parameters, in addition to GPS navigation and everything else.
HKS makes a device called CAMP that allows you to display temp, rpm, pressure, etc. on any display with RCA in/out jacks. It will attach to just about any sensor. Unfortunately, I lost mine when thieves cleaned out my A/V system.
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I finish what the factory started...
Transmission Cooler Gauge Installation
Linear Mode
