Transmission Gauge Manifold

[kenleyf]

Has anyone used a transmission temp. gauge manifold to install an "in-line" mechanical transmission temp. gauge?

I stumbled across this one from Summitt Racing(Auto Meter 2286 - Auto Meter Transmission Temperature Gauge Manifolds - summitracing.com) and wanted to see if anyone had any experience using one of these or one like it. After reading on the forum and listening to smart people I have come to the conclusion that keeping my transmission cool is the thing to do. I plan on installing the oil cooler as my next project but if this product works I might as well install it while I have all the lines unhooked. I figured I could install this product in-line using 3/8 in. transmission oil hose and clamps but this seems way too easy.

Any feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks!!
Kenley

 

[tsototh]

I'm in the midst of installing one in my truck... That part you are looking at is for installing in a hard line. I got a 3/8 tee, two 3/8 NPT to 3/8 nipples, and then screwed the sender for the gauge into the tee (make sure you use teflon tape). Here are the Summit part numbers:
EAR-991703ERL (tee), SUM-G3116 (nipples - you need two), and ATM-2552 (gauge).

Make sure you put the sender assembly into the output line from the transmission before it goes through the radiator (this is where it is at it's hottest).

I mounted my gauge in the dash above the cupholder like euclid shows: https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/138127-atf-temp-guage-location-install.html. I wired up all of the gauge wires to the cig lighter socket (used all 4 wires IIRC). Used the power for the gauge power, ground for the gauge ground, light power for the gauge light, and light ground (dimming circuit) for the gauge dimmer.

Let me know if you have any more questions on the setup.

 

[ntsqd]

This skates on the edge of one of the net's long standing debates. Where to put the sender. I & others think it should be in the pan. Yet further others think that it should be in the hot line going to the cooler. Each has it's merits. Would recommend searching this topic on various forums unless you are convinced that in the hot line is where you want it. I know that there is a substantial and somewhat heated thread on the topic on coloradoK5.com

 

[tsototh]

Yeah, to me, as has been said before, you'd want to measure the temp at the hottest point. Technically, you could have a great cooling system and still torch your trans without knowing it if you had the sender in your pan (that is where the cool fluid goes before entering the trans). But putting the sender in the pan would be pretty easy as you could probably use the drain plug and put the sender in one of drain plug inserts.

 

[ntsqd]

At the risk of starting the debate over again, I disagree with that. Not all of the fluid coming out of the trans goes to the cooler.

Each monitoring location has it's good and bad points. I'm sure that it's been hashed and re-hashed without doing it again. If it hasn't, there are plenty of other forums where it has been.
Up to the owner to decide which location they want to use.

A note on inline senders though, be careful about partially blocking the line or otherwise causing a flow restriction with the sender. The flip side is that the sender needs full immersion to work well. Can't just expose the botom of it to the hot fluid and expect it to work right. Need to have fluid flow around the sides of the part of the sender below the threads.
I deal with this exact sort of thing weekly at work. What I've found to work moderately well is to use a 'T' fitting one pipe size bigger than the sender thread or the line fittings, which ever is larger. Use a reducer bushing to get down to the sender's thread size. Screw the bushing in as far as you can get it to go into the 'leg' of the 'T' fitting. Sometimes I'll tap the hole deeper if the bushing doesn't screw in very far by hand. Then install the line fittings and the sender. One final thing, when you put the manifold in place make sure that the sender is not on top. If installed in a horizontal part of the line I put the sender on the bottom.

What I've done in doing all of this is create a larger place for the sender to sit in the fluid flow, so it can be fully in the flow without causing a restriction. By putting the sender on the bottom rather than the top any air in the line doesn't get trapped in the high spot just under the sender's reducer bushing. Trapped air would have an accuracy and inconsistancy effect on the sender. Seems odd to think that air could get in there, but if the torque converter is not locked up it is shearing the fluid which results in cavitation. Cavitation is tiny air bubbles.

 

[tsototh]

Good info on the sender. Would you agree the best location to be tapping the transmission itself rather than just the pan then?

 

[ntsqd]

Most transmissions send only the fluid fresh from the converter out to the cooler and then dump it back into the pan.
Putting the sender in the out line, for most transmissions, will let you see the peak fluid temps if you happen to look at the right time. So putting the sender in the out line is where you'd want it if peak fluid temps are your interest and you are anal about always watching the gauge since the temp will vary quite a bit depending on what the trans is and what it's doing (locked converter, unlocked converter, stalled converter, unstalled converter, etc.) I see this location as more concerned with the fluid life than the trans life and to me the fluid is a consumable where the trans, hopefully, is not.

The fluid that drips out of the clutch packs, bearings, etc. drops into the pan. The fluid returning from the cooler drops into the pan. So the pan is more of an average temp of the trans on the whole rather than the temp of the fluid at one location. You won't see a temperature spike by monitoring pan fluid temps, but you will see how the trans is doing overall. To me a pan sender is more interested in the transmission temperature than the fluid temperature even though it is the fluid temperature that you're measuring. Some transmissions have a spot where a temperature sender could be installed in one of the fluid passages. I would say that the same flow and accuracy problems as is easily possible with a sender inline would be a concern unless that location was designed to have a sender in it. The pan is simpler, though I prefer to weld on a bung rather than deal with a sender in a drain plug.

Some folks go for each sender with a switch between they and the gauge. That way they can look at either temp.