Don't know the answer w/o getting the manual out of the cold garage. Not. But I've never had mine come on in all the years of towing. I had the light come on once on a 99 full size Montero while towing a fairly light trailer up a hill slowly, however. This despite never seeing it come on while the Montero was towing the heavy boat for thousands of miles. Did some research and found the best way to avoid tranny heat is to keep the RPMs up which was counterintuitive to me. So now that's what I do - avoid lugging which means lots of stress/slippage on the TC.
Don't know the answer w/o getting the manual out of the cold garage. Not. But I've never had mine come on in all the years of towing. I had the light come on once on a 99 full size Montero while towing a fairly light trailer up a hill slowly, however. This despite never seeing it come on while the Montero was towing the heavy boat for thousands of miles. Did some research and found the best way to avoid tranny heat is to keep the RPMs up which was counterintuitive to me. So now that's what I do - avoid lugging which means lots of stress/slippage on the TC.
Presumably you're thinking about moving the trans cooler for a reason - like needing space there? If you're moving it merely to enhance cooling, there may be better ways to enhance cooling such as a supplementary fan.
As to the garage, when you're flopped in bed under a comforter and it's 50 in the garage - too cold to get up. Heh.
<What temp does the trans warning light come on at?>
For the A343F, the test temp for the sender is 230F. Not sure if that's the temp the light comes on at or just a resistance test temp.
<Where is the temp sensor located?>
IIRC, it's located on/in a plumbing elbow on the PS (US) on the side of the tranny.
<Has anyone ever had the light come on and what were the conditions?>
Yes, I had my light come on. First though it may be unfair as I had a custom rad made and they had to use a smaller GM cooler in the bottom tank. The light came on while going up a logging road which was not yet clear of snow. So it was running and busting through the snow, clear spot, bust through snow. All locked up and all uphill. This was also maybe the first time my tranny popped out of park and the cruiser took off backwards when I had gotten out to check the fluid level under the hood because of the light. Lucky I was close as I was able to run it down.
Mine did, was in my buddy's shop powerbraking on a lift while he was under checking for a small issue I was having. Granted, I was doing it for sometime. Stopped as soon as it came on, went out shortly after I quit. Sorry, wish I had more to offer.
It looks like you may need to edit your post or the picture the cruiser took off backwards
My thoughts are to relocate the trans cooler (and provide it with its own fan) to pull the heat away from the front of the radiator and see if change water temp any when I'm pushing it hard. Does anyone think it will help?
I am basically going to do what your thinking about. I would like to leave the rad trans cooler completely out of the loop if I could. I bought a switch from NAPA that comes on at something like 208F and shuts off (opens) again at 176F IIRC. My meds are kicking in but if you want I can get the part number for you tomorrow. You need a switch like this to pull in the fan unless you plan to have it run full time or toggle it. Also, need a location to plumb it in. This was discussed before in a thread here somewhere. It is possible to work a switch and/or gauge in the plumbing on the side of the tranny. I am satisified to use the pan as a location for the switch/gauge but others may feel the temps there are not as hot. Anyway, here is a pic of the pan I modded for the gauge and the switch. I may end up not using this one as I was thinking about fabbing up a deeper one out of heavier material (sort of a built in skid plate) and it would have more capacity. A little worried doing it that way though. Would have to get the new pan resurfaced perfectly flat for the tranny and also worried hitting something and instead of the pan bending, it might shear the little bolts. I had a dent in mine and one pan bolt was busted off. No leaks though. CDan recommended a good fan/cooler setup to me; it's just where to put it? Need to keep the fan out of the water. Ramble off.
Bill, I wouldn't ditch the in radiator tank transmission cooler. In cold weather it helps bring the tranny fluid up to proper operating temperature.
With respect to sampling the temp of the fluid for controlling a fan, I believe that the pan is the very best place to measure. You don't want to overcool the fluid.
I have a "field-fix" auxiliary cooler installed on my '89 Dodge-Cummins One ton 4WD truck.The early Cummins trucks with automatic transmissions had over-heating issues. Since I bought mine new I was able to obtain assistance from Chrysler to address the over-heating issue. It consists of a large air-to-air cooler, with an electric fan, mounted under the truck bed. There is some sort of a thermostat installed that kicks the fan on when the transmission temp starts to creep up. It really works and I have often thought about using one for other applications. Unfortunately Chrysler has discontinued it as all the domestic manufacturers tend to do with stuff that is a few years old.
Rather than trying to out and out replace the existing tranny cooler, why not simply augment the current capacity with an added in-line cooler? This way, you retain the warming effect as noted by Rich, avoid needing enough space to install a full size cooler, and increase the tranny fluid cooling capability as you desire. Something like a smaller cooler plumbed in and placed in a nook or cranny with a homemade shroud and marine bilge blower. That arrangement would easily knock a significant amount of heat out - perhaps 20-30 degrees.
Geez, thank you. So worried about trying to cool it I didn't think about the opposite.
Here is a pic of the switch I chose. Very simple. Just need to hook the fan up through a relay and would be in business. I must apologize. The switch comes on at 184-196F and shuts off at 181F. The threads are M16 x 1.5. It's a coolant temp switch, NAPA part # FS117. There are many to choose from so you may decide on a different one.
Also, here is a pic of the stock trans cooler from the bottom tank of the radiator in case anyone wondered what it looked like.
Doug - I don't know what Phil's total plans are, but I was going to add an additional cooler. The SC intercooler I'm putting in goes in front of the rad which causes the removal of the stock aux. tranny cooler so I was going to put a larger (approx. 6" x 20") cooler just in front of and below the stock rad (between the frame rails - and I have a skid plate to protect it). It's the same setup that Turbocruiser has for his turbocharger and was kind enough to send me some pics. Also, I made a second snorkel for the DS (US) and was going to use that with a small Setrab cooler that I bought for a second aux. cooler as you suggested. I bought a couple of Attwood inline fans and they should be arriving today. Detmar and Rule basically make the same fans FWIW.
Nice. That's going to give you a margin of safety. It will be interesting to calculate the increased fluid capacity, eh? Since you're doing all this plumbing and such it might be fun (?) to toss in a tranny fluid filter for serious bragging rights. They make some with screw off filters for fast replacement like engine oil filters.
