Best location for E4OD temp sensor?

[divemaster5734]

I like that idea...if I can find a good used guage...I just might do that...

I would like to find a home-made way to keep my coffee hot...


No ! Wait ! tap off of the heater hose and surround the cup with a copper coil....

lol.. that's some hot coffee, a few degrees from water steam..

 

[Cant Write]

Ok I bit and went down the rabbit hole. Also known as the “giggle” machine.

CYA: The summarization of the regurgitated information here within is from a memory bank within my brain that was regularly subjected to large amounts of Budweiser and Whiskey in my youth due to a disagreement between my body and brain......

Conventional Fluid:

220F: Varnish Starts to form on frictions and hard parts which allow the clutches to slip more creating more heat. Vicious Cycle

240F: Seals Harden, Additives Cook

260F: Clutches begin to slip as fluid is breaking down rapidly

315F: Seals Clutches Burn out and Carbon is formed. The fluid is useless and will cook a trans in short order.

Synthetic Fluid can handle higher temps but couldn’t find stuff like the above. Basically found things saying 220F is fine and 250F is getting close to the danger zone.

Synthetic fluid is able to keep the viscosity up at higher temps so the pump can create proper pressure to avoid slippage.

There’s also flash temp vs prolonged temp.

OEM’s seem to mostly measure fluid temp in the pan or body of the trans. (Aisin) has an option to watch converter temps in the RAMs I guess. Seems OEM’s put the vehicle in limp mode after so many seconds of fluid temps ranging around 270F.

My experience: I have BOILED a 4l80e on FSR’s running 4-hi 2nd gear vs 4-lo 3rd gear. The trans was literally puking fluid from everywhere underneath (vent....?) (only rad cooler at the time). I have also been been put on the side of the road at 3am on a long climb on I-40 letting the computer control my vehicle (2007 Yukon Denali 6.2/6l80) when the XMAS tree lit up due to trans fluid temps. TH-400 has never failed me with only rad cooling, same with TH-350. I grew up GM.

I have been convinced that doing what @Cubey does is best practice to measure both.

Run synthetic and lube guard if Post ‘86 Ford trans (website said that)

I would run a TC output sensor and put 250F as my prepare and 270F as my take action temp. And run a pan temp and expect 100F over ambient or cooler. Pop the hood and look/smell fluid once in awhile.

Since I’m short on time, I plan to do neither on my 4l80 (added external cooler) or E4OD and just keep smelling/looking at the fluid and change every 30-50k.

You guys hauling heavy or towing often, I also went down the rabbit hole of how hot the rear axle gets.....yikes!!

Please correct anything I misstated!!

 

[Cubey]

I have been convinced that doing what @Cubey does is best practice to measure both.

Well in the case of the RV, the original intent was to read the TC output, and I was given bad advice by the overpriced transmission shop in regards to cooling. The owner said bypass the rad cooler and run only the aux cooler. TC output was in the red zone, like 300+. I had gone north from Portland to Puyallup to fetch my stuff from storage with the mostly empty cargo trailer but then it slipped out of park etc).

So after 3 nights in a motel because it took me 3 days to empty storage and donate at least half of it, I went back to @Nero 's house because I now had to replace the broken grey water tank and related parts. I plumbed back the rad cooler on my way back and it helped the TC output temperature.

At that point, I decided to dump the barely used ATF in case it got too hot and put a deep aluminum pan with a temperature port and put fresh ATF again. I decided to leave the TC output one because why not, it was already teed in the steel line with a compression fitting.

So then, I had two gauges.

I pulled the TC output gauge from the RV before selling it, putting a straight union on in it's place, leaving the nuts and compression rings, so the tee was just removed and a union put on. Same threads on the union and nuts. Worked fine, no leaks.

And I put that reading from the test port of the van's e4od.

 

[Cubey]

220F: Varnish Starts to form on frictions and hard parts which allow the clutches to slip more creating more heat. Vicious Cycle

That's why I was babying the van so much a month ago, it kept approaching 220, presumably due to the AC condenser being a poor cooler.

The fluid does seem dark, it probably needs to be replaced. Who in how hot it was getting before I had a gauge telling me how hot it was getting!

I hate pan dropping, might just drain and replace for now, since I think factory E4OD pans have a drain?

The only transmission shop I liked here closed down several years ago, pre-covid. I'm guessing that the owner just retired or died and nobody in the family wanted to run it. I don't trust the other shops around here.

 

[KansasIDI]

I think factory E4OD pans have a drain?

4R100 pans do, and they fit on an E4OD. But to my knowledge the factory pans didn’t have a drain.

 

[divemaster5734]

I hate pan dropping, might just drain and replace for now, since I think factory E4OD pans have a drain?

I have a dead E4OD waiting for a scrap run sitting in the bone pile from the ZF swap.
Planned on heading over there today, will check the pan, if it has a drain you can have it.
Will get word back to you by end of today if that works.

 

[Cubey]

4R100 pans do, and they fit on an E4OD. But to my knowledge the factory pans didn’t have a drain.

I thought I saw a drain on this, but maybe the pan was swapped at some point, or I was mistaken. I'm currently too sick to go lay on the ground to look around for it.