Trans temp gauge suggestions???

[keninsb]

OK, after reading Transdude's awesome post on extending transmission life (Extending Automatic Transmission Life), I decided that I want to install a trans oil cooler and a trans temp gauge. There is a pretty good how to in the "Mods of the Month" here:
HOW TO: Digital Gauge Install
But I would prefer an analog gauge. So I have two questions:
1) Does anyone know of a good gauge that would fit the pod mentioned in the above mod? If not, maybe another gauge/pod combo?
2) Are the in line sending units ok or do you have to drill into the trans drain pan? (or is there another place to mount the sending unit on the Tundra trans?)
Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken

[dezert_rida]

You can drill and tap the pan, or just drill it and weld a nut on the outside.

I didnt look at your links but Autometer makes good gauges.

[dsconstructs]

I believe transdude had even said that inline in the return line was still pretty accurate. You'd need to drop your trans pan if you wanted to run the sending unit there.

Autometer does make a good gauge, that's what I'm running only in a mounting cup under the dash. It should fit that pod as well, just may need to cut the optional mounting bolts shorter as I did even for those mounting cups.

[jayotto4]

Originally Posted by keninsb

OK, after reading Transdude's awesome post on extending transmission life (Extending Automatic Transmission Life), I decided that I want to install a trans oil cooler and a trans temp gauge. There is a pretty good how to in the "Mods of the Month" here:
HOW TO: Digital Gauge Install
But I would prefer an analog gauge. So I have two questions:
1) Does anyone know of a good gauge that would fit the pod mentioned in the above mod? If not, maybe another gauge/pod combo?
2) Are the in line sending units ok or do you have to drill into the trans drain pan? (or is there another place to mount the sending unit on the Tundra trans?)
Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken

Trans temp gauge: auto meter is the one I will be using. Great gauges. I was told that B&M makes a drain plug kit that you can use in the trans pan that fits the sender for the auto meter gauge. See my webshots for the gauge install on my 2005 taco.

[keninsb]

Originally Posted by jayotto4

Trans temp gauge: auto meter is the one I will be using. Great gauges. I was told that B&M makes a drain plug kit that you can use in the trans pan that fits the sender for the auto meter gauge. See my webshots for the gauge install on my 2005 taco.

Jayotto4: I like the gauges that you have. I looked on Autometer's site and couldn't find ONE trans temp gauge. Do you have a part number or a link to a page?
Thanks,

Ken

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by keninsb

OK, after reading Transdude's awesome post on extending transmission life (Extending Automatic Transmission Life), I decided that I want to install a trans oil cooler and a trans temp gauge. There is a pretty good how to in the "Mods of the Month" here:
HOW TO: Digital Gauge Install
But I would prefer an analog gauge. So I have two questions:
1) Does anyone know of a good gauge that would fit the pod mentioned in the above mod? If not, maybe another gauge/pod combo?
2) Are the in line sending units ok or do you have to drill into the trans drain pan? (or is there another place to mount the sending unit on the Tundra trans?)
Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken

I've had an Autometer Z-Series Analog Trans Temp Gauge (#2640) installed for about a year now. Mounted it in an Autometer A-Pillar pod. The Z-series gauges are closest in appearance to the stock Tundra instrumentation (black face, white letters and differ only in having a red needle instead of the stock instrument's orange needles). (I'll try to get a pic posted sometime later today).

The gauge package includes the sender/sensor and a couple of different sized brass mounting nuts. I had a local shop drill a hole in the pan and then braze (actually silver solder) one of these brass nuts into the pan. It's a very secure mount and the absolutely most accurate way of measuring the transmission fluid temperature but it's also a very pricey way to to do it since the pan had to be dropped, then reinstalled with Toyota's sealant...and then refilled with about 6 quarts of Type T-IV. Cost me around $200 for the pan work. (I did the rest of the wiring from the sender to the gauge, as well as install of the pod and gauge myself).

Quite frankly, unless you do some pretty serious mountain towing like I do...or dozens of back to back drag strip runs, you'll never see the transmission temperature in the pan ever get much over about 160 degrees. The combination of the oil/water cooler in the bottom of the radiator and the external air/oil cooler is more than sufficient to keep the ATF way below the optimum 175 degrees.

The only time I have ever seen pan temps above 165 degrees is when I'm running the engine at 4500 RPM in 2nd gear at WOT for sustained periods...like 5 to 10 minutes at a time...while towing my 3800 lb trailer up very long (6 to 10 mile) grades of 6% or higher in high ambient (over 90 degree) temperatures. And even then, the very highest pan temperature I've ever seen is only 195 degrees...which is perfectly safe even for hours of operation.

I seriously doubt many (if any) other TS members work their trucks as hard as I do for as long as I do and if I don't experience transmssion overheating, no one else is likely to. So go ahead and install the guage for entertainment value if you want to. But unless you do more extreme towing than I do, don't be feeling you need to do it to extend the life of your transmission.

[TMS2U]

I have a set up from Summit that I use to monitor my power steering fluid temps. It has already let me know that my PS set up was insufficient as I originally designed it so I added extra reserve capacity and a second cooler to keep it below 160oF. With my hydraulic assist and the original configuration I was getting temps of 240oF while rock dancing. Needless to say, thats too hot. Flushed all the PS fluid out and reloaded with some freshies and its all good now!!

The same setup would easily work for the tranny as well. I dont think that there would be much of a temp drop along the line to the radiator, but I guess that will be flow dependant. The set up consists of the analogue gauge, the sending unit, and the aluminum mounting block. The block came with 3/8" barbs so that would also fit in the line to the radiator. Ill dig up the part #'s if anyone is interested. I think it was around $100 for everything and the instal was super easy. Alternatively, if you go to Summit's site and search for oil temp gauges you'll get a boatload of items to check out

[keninsb]

Thanks for the info guys. I checked out Autometer's site again and was able to find all parts needed (the gauge, the pod and the manifold). I haven't checked out Summit yey, but am leaning towards the Autometer because I have yet to hear anything negative about them.
I don't do a lot of heavy towing, but thought it would be interesting to put a gauge in for a week or so before installing a coller and see what difference it makes.
Thanks again for all the info.

Ken

[RockyMtnRay]

Found a few minutes to take some pics of my gauge and sensor this afternoon.

Gauge

Pan mounted sensor

Gauge pic was taken with the engine idling and shows a temp of about 105 degrees. This is after about half an hour of suburban driving with ambient temps of 48 to 50 degrees. It's extremely unusual to see pan temps over about 135 degrees if I'm not towing...even in the summer.

[Herbicidal]

Hey Keninsb,

we have a 26' Outback TT. From the dealer it weighs 4,700 lbs. I felt the stock tranny cooler just wasn't going to cut it (especially for summertime towing), so I ordered a larger cooler and an in-line tranny filter from Transdude. I also picked up an Autometer tranny temp gauge (Summit Racing) and installed it down low just below the cigarette lighter on an adjustable mounting bracket that came with it. I have also installed a thermostatically controlled tranny cooler fan (Summit Racing) that I mounted directly onto the larger cooler. This fan was added for primarily two reasons. First, for when I’m towing the trailer on slower, twisting roads and there is not sufficient airflow, the fan will kick on at a pre-selected temperature. Secondly, when 4 wheelin' on the trails, it is often at a crawling pace and airflow for the tranny cooler is pretty much non-existent. I have the sending unit located in-line before going into the radiator (make sure that unit is grounded!), mainly for ease of installation. Once the fluid temp reaches about 185, the tranny cooler fan comes on and blows about 10 cfm onto the larger cooler. I can watch the temp start to drop pretty quickly. Then it automatically shuts off. It also works quite well in summertime stop and go commute traffic. Here in the Sacramento Valley, temps can easily reach 105 and have gone as high as 112.

My good buddy is a Toyota Master Tech and I had him recently perform a 60k service on my Tundra and he said the tranny fluid looks like new! I am very happy with this setup and it was all pretty easy to install and without busting my wallet on the total cost.

I have pictures in my gallery of pretty much everything I talked about. In my sig. line is some info and links to what I bought. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

[mandzach]

i didnt read this whole thread so sorry if i state whats been stated, but mounting location i used was the lower dash panel (where your knees are)
i unbolted the lower dash panel and drilled a 2 1/8" ? hole and mounted it there -if you look at least on mine there is a small rectangle knock out looking shape in that location, possibly for a traailer brake? anyways thats where i put mine, i had to slightly modify the steel brace on the backside of the panel with a dremel but it made for a tight fit, just mount as low on the panel as possible and you can see the gauge from driving position with no problem.

also Ray is right, unless you do really serious towing up mountians or offroad up mountains you will probably never see the tranny temp move. mine stays at the bottm of the gauge all the time and never coes up over 100.

[keninsb]

Hey Herbicidal and Mandzach thanks for the info.
Well, I ordered a Long trans cooler from a guuy on ebay. It is a 28,000 lb gig so should be more than enough. I also ordered the a-pillar pod, inline manifold and auto-meter gauge. Set me back $96 from this place:
http://www.specialtiesperformance.com/
I ordered from them because the price was very good for all parts, and they were the only outfit I could find that had everything (so I wouldn't have to order pieces from all over).
The only thing left to order is the filter. I have seen some in-line filters that look like a fuel filter, then I have seen the more expensive setups that actually have a spin on filter (like an oil filter). What do you guys recomend in regards to the filter?
This whole thing is overkill for my truck, but I am a firm believer in overkill (plus my truck is kind of my hobby) Just like to do things the right way, and don't mind spending a dollar to save a dime (sometimes).
Thanks again for all the help and advice!

Ken

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by keninsb

The only thing left to order is the filter. I have seen some in-line filters that look like a fuel filter, then I have seen the more expensive setups that actually have a spin on filter (like an oil filter). What do you guys recomend in regards to the filter?

I have the Filtran SPX filter (looks just like an inline fuel filter); others are using the Magnefine (also looks like an inline fuel filter). Both have a filtering element and a magnet to trap any steel bits coming out of the tranny. When I researched this a year or so ago, the consensus was that Filtran & Magnefine were equally good and about as good as one of the fancier permanent mount, spin on filters. IIRC, member "KLS" went the permanent mount, spin on route with a Racor filter. OTOH, I believe that "TransDude" (who does know his transmission stuff ) recommends and sells Filtran filters. I don't think you'll go wrong with any of these filters so buy whichever you can most easily (or economically) find. But do get one of them...while the tranny temp gauge and heavy duty cooler are definitely overkill for your usage, a tranny filter IMO borders on being a necessity for long transmission life.

For best results, these filters should be changed at the same the fluid is changed. I'm planning on changing my filter every 15K when I do a pan drain/refill.