Transmission Temp Gauge install w/pics (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Nice! I like it. Maybe I will finally get that gauge done afterall. I change my ATF on the 80 every oil change and it's always nice and fresh smelling and pink:eek: so maybe my driving like a little old lady really isn't stressing anything out:D

Maybe once I finally get that S/C mounted in the 'Runner. Too many projects, too little time:rolleyes:
 
Nice! I like it. Maybe I will finally get that gauge done afterall. I change my ATF on the 80 every oil change and it's always nice and fresh smelling and pink:eek: so maybe my driving like a little old lady really isn't stressing anything out:D

snip

wow, even I, admittedly superanal about such things, am not changing my ATF at every oil change... :eek:

unless you are going synthetic oil and changing it every 15K, then maybe then...
 
Let us know what the temps are after ten miles or more at speeds above 60 mph. I'm guessing they will settle in closer to 180+ at prolonged hiway speeds especially if there are elevation changes.

I spent a few good hours today in combined highway driving and very bad rush hour traffic with about 75 degree ambient temps. The trans temp never went above the 175 degree line and mostly hovered a tad below it, probably averaging around 160. I imagine the trans wasn't exactly working hard today, though. No major hill climbs or anything like that.
 
One more thing I learned from the University of Hardknox. If at some point you start to see the temp go up while you're on the highway for an extended period of time, the torque converter's lockup is starting to fail.

Overhanger, so what have the temps been with the Oz VB?

OZ Extreme A440F with OZ VB and torque converter temps have been 125F to 180F around town in city driving and 180F to 200F when good and warmed up on the hiway. I think it is the torque converter that really heats things up and I'm waiting for some extended hiway miles and offroad readings to tell the story more completely. The requisite additional aftermarket ATF cooler is a B&M sandwich style and I'm not sure it's the best choice yet. A similar size but thinner PermaCool seemed to do a better job and let the tranny temps get cooler on extended downhills in the mountains than the B&M seems to be doing. I think more roadtrip testing is in order! :bounce2:
 
I've noticed that between 30 minutes to an hour of being on the highway at about 65mph the temp actually start to come down and level off. A decrease from 190 to 180 and leveled off has been seen, that's with a 12"X11" aftermarket transmission cooler and bypassing the stock cooler.

I can't remember where your temp gage was picking up the temp from?
 
I've noticed that between 30 minutes to an hour of being on the highway at about 65mph the temp actually start to come down and level off. A decrease from 190 to 180 and leveled off has been seen, that's with a 12"X11" aftermarket transmission cooler and bypassing the stock cooler.

I can't remember where your temp gage was picking up the temp from?

You are using a LARGE cooler, aren't you!? The one I'm using is is a little more than half that size but it is in series with the stock, radiator located cooler. Sensor is on the union that connects the tranny fluid outlet to the hard line to the radiator.
 
You are using a LARGE cooler, aren't you!? The one I'm using is is a little more than half that size but it is in series with the stock, radiator located cooler. Sensor is on the union that connects the tranny fluid outlet to the hard line to the radiator.

The aux cooler I've got for my A440 is about 12x12. It is also in series with the stock in radiator cooler. My sender is in the return line but the gauge (Nordskog) has been backordered forever so I don't know what temps I'm seeing yet.
 
Did a lot more driving today. Ambient temp was mid 70s. On the open freeway, the temps were the lowest, around 155-160.

When driving slow on a very windy back road, the temps got to around 175. So far, I've not seen more than that.

Again, measured at the pan, not towing, and so far, no major hill climbs or long steep grades.

Oh, and it's got 5 quarts of Mobil 1 in it. I don't know how that affects temps.
 
I like that Pod. Where did you find one that fits an 80?

This is what I finally did to install a transmission temp gauge. I know a lot of people have installed senders in the lines, and other various places, all of which are nice set ups, but I wanted something simple and easy. I wanted to install the sender in place of the drain plug.

The problem is the drain plug is M10x1.5. It’s a pretty small plug and after spending almost a week and countless hours searching the web and visiting a local instruments supply store, I came to the conclusion that there was only one temp sending unit on the entire planet that was that size. And there were no adapters in that size to mate to any other sender.

The sending unit is from VDO, part No. 323-091. And I had a hard time finding it. It’s not a common sender at all, but I finally tracked one down. The sending unit matches up with VDO transmission temp gauge part No. 310-107. The problem with this gauge is that it has a range of 150-400 degrees, whereas our transmissions generally run under 200 degrees. To make matters worse, the gauge face basically has 150-200 degree range as the first two hash marks and the 200-400 degree range make up the rest of the gauge range. (See pic in second post) So, most of the time, the needle is going to be setting near the low point.

On the other hand, if the needle is anywhere but the low point, there’s no mistaking that the tranny is headed for trouble. So, in a way it's a glorified idiot light. But at least I'll know the tranny is headed towards overheating before the light kicks on at 300+ degrees.

VDO makes two other temperature gauges. One with a range of 100-250, intended for water temp and one with a range of 120-300, intended for oil temp. Neither will work with this trans sending unit, even though VDO advertises all their sendings units as being 10-180Ohm range. I tried. They end up reading way to too low.

To install, I just removed the stock plug, and drained out almost exactly 5 quarts of tranny fluid (a lot more than the 2 quarts the manual says for some reason). I then installed sender. The head of the sender is smaller than the drain plug, so I couldn’t use the stock crush washer. I made a washer that fit, but I’ll be checking to make sure it doesn’t leak. The number of threads on the sender is the same as the stock drain plug. The sending unit itself protrudes another approximate inch into the pan.

By the way, does anyone know if the stock A/T oil temp idiot light is suppose to come on and then off with the ignition switch like most of the other lights? Because mine doesn’t come on at all. But I definitely have the stock sensor.

Pic 1: Draining the fluid. Strangely 5 quarts came out, even though the book says only 2 should have. But I see this is pretty common from other posts. I took the oppertunity to put back in 5 quarts of Mobil 1 ATF.

Pic 2: The new VDO sender in place. Fortunately, the sender is pretty well protected, so the chances of it getting damaged off road is not huge.

Pic 3: Shows the Land Cruiser A-pillar pod I ordered from "egauges.com". This is an Autometer part. Part no. ATM-15413. Fits the 2-1/16 size gauges. I painted it grey to sort of match the interior. It's shown here with a 100-250 VDO water temp gauge I was experimenting with.
 
BRIAN, just a question, I ordered everything on the list and I finally opened up the packages only to find out there is no wiring. Do you run your own wring for it?
 
The gauge pod is from Autometer I believe. eguages.com has them. Fits only 2 1/16th diameter gauges.

As for the wiring, yes, you have run to your own wiring. It's pretty straight forward. S is for Signal or sending unit and that wire runs to the sending until. I tie the light bulb ground and gauge ground together and run that to a ground somewhere. The other two wires are power for the gauge and power for the light. I have my gauges wired to come on with the ignition, which means I tied them into a fuse in the box. I can't remember exactly which fuse it was, but it was one of the fuses that only had power when the ignition was turned on.

I powered the light on the gauge from the tail light fuse, when powers the dash and parking lights, so whenever the parking lights are turned on, the gauge light turns on.

An update on the usability of the gauge. The highest temp that I've ever seen so far was around 170-180ish as measured by the gauge and that was on an extremely hot day while climbing a long highway hill. For normal driving, the gauge seems to indicate right around 150 indicated or just a hair higher (around 160 indicated).

I have to imagine if the tranny ever gets hot enough (300something degrees) to kick off that idiot light, something is has to be really wrong, but then I don't know if towing or severe loads, really kicks up the working temp or not. Maybe 200+ as measured from this place is very common and normal when towing.

In any case, these trannys definately run cool under normal driving.
 
I take my signal for my ISSPRO gauge at the same place as the idiot light sender is .. ( output line )

main.php


Then I usually see 130ºF temps around the town and as far as I nave only one time 190 after a hard run .. ( I'm running 315 with stock gears )

main.php
 
I like the gauge pod you got there...was looking for another place cause I got the tranny temp gauige but my pod is full...
 
Tapage, that's a slick set up. That's ideally what I wanted to do and go with a much better gauge with wider range, but ultimately I got lazy.

Are not that hard .. with the apropiate tee brass fitting, and the gauge sender .. it's really easy, only un screw and scre back again all together .. up the cable from the sender to the gauge throught the t-case lever and boot and done ..
 
Brian, finally getting around to putting this all together. Sensor is in, pod is painted. For the wiring, did you make a hole in the A-pillar and plumb the wires down or did you just route them on the side of the dash? And then for the connection to the sensor, where did you route that wire?I was thinking about cutting a small hole in the transfer case boot but not sure if that's a good idea :(
 
The bung just below the "T" fitting Tapage shows is a good location. Drill and tap with a 1/8 pipe thread, use some teflon pipe sealant and away you go. There is ample fluid trickling out as you drill/tap to push any metal chips out, just take your time.
 
The bung just below the "T" fitting Tapage shows is a good location. Drill and tap with a 1/8 pipe thread, use some teflon pipe sealant and away you go. There is ample fluid trickling out as you drill/tap to push any metal chips out, just take your time.

Has anybody actually tapped the bung that he is referring to? I assume he is talking about the one below the brass T with the white paint-looking stuff on it.
 
I have was kinda a pain in the ass and I have a right angle drill, wouldn't try it without one. The hole was easy enough to tap. Put in my autometer sender and never had a leak or worry... I now have all sorts or other transmission issues but I would have never known if not for the gauge instal... hth
 
I have was kinda a pain in the ass and I have a right angle drill, wouldn't try it without one. The hole was easy enough to tap. Put in my autometer sender and never had a leak or worry... I now have all sorts or other transmission issues but I would have never known if not for the gauge instal... hth

Thanks for the advice. Did you rely on the trans fluid pouring out to flush metal particles out? Seems like it would be a messy job, but probably the only way to keep shaving out of the trans.

I'm wondering if it would be easier to source a brass T like Tapage did.

I know there was talk about using some sort of epoxy to glue the sender to the transmission. Seems easy enough but I'm not sure how effective it would be.

Another option I thought might work would be to put a T-fitting in the middle of the rubber line on the way to the trans cooler on the radiator. I haven't seen anybody do that, do you guys think it would work?

I would think that this method might yield more accurate results than the trans pan since the hot tranny fluid is not mixing with cooler oil although it might lose a slight amount of heat whilst traveling through the hard line to the rubber line and t-fitting.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom