Transmission Temp Gauge install w/pics (2 Viewers)

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My Newest Water and ( Tranny aka Jenner ) Setup for temps. Blue is water,Red is Transmission fluid. About 3 yrs old now.
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Recently I installed a AutoMeter factory match trans temp gauge. I installed the sender in the pan and normal driving even when ambient temps are 95ish produces about 140-145. I have seen it as high as 175 while my 6000lb. 80 propels itself down the Rubicon when it's 90ish outside and that's a very hot day at 6500ft elev.
The oil in the pan is representative of the core trans temp because that fluid just lubed the guts and then fell into the pan immediately after returning from the cooler. In my experience with learning and building the trans in my diesel pickup, the fluid that exits the trans and heads toward the cooler just left the toque converter where tremendous heat can be generated during certain times. Times like when you are forcing your beast up a mountain road with converter unlocked or rock crawling on a hot day. Cruising with converter locked always renders lower temps due to no internal slip in the converter.
It's true that ultimate fluid temp is what destroys the fluids ability to lube your trans but putting a sending unit in the out line can induce a lot of unnecessary worrying because that's the hottest fluid in the system and its only that hot for a moment until it reaches the radiator.
A premier performance transmission builder here in the U.S. (Goerend) advised me to put the sender in the pan of my built 48re in order to monitor actual average transmission temp with out the dramatic spikes that can happen in the line from the converter to the cooler.
I also carry, in my vehicle, an inexpensive infrared thermometer as a second reference and it has shown my gauges to be accurate thus far. It's nice because you can monitor temps anywhere on the vehicle or even check for fever. :)
 
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Cool mod but I heard watching trans temps on the 80 was about as boring as watching paint dry.... Has anyone seen it spike into the range of concern?
 
Cool mod but I heard watching trans temps on the 80 was about as boring as watching paint dry.... Has anyone seen it spike into the range of concern?

Never. Not even towing in the hot summertime. On the highway (depending on time of year) mine stays a boring 130-140° F.) In town (summertime or towing) it might go 165-175°F at most.

Temps definitely rise anytime the Torque Converter is not locked up...or when conditions are such that there isn't good air flow through the transmission tunnel, but never into a range of any concern. If there were an easy way for folks to just 'test' their unit and see how it is performing, most would not go to the trouble to install a gauge permanently.

Actually, my IR temp gun reads really close (withing a few degrees) to what my gauge reads...when I shoot the middle of the transmission pan. I'm sure I could get it to go up around 200 if I were towing something heavy over mountain passes...but average person probably doesn't need to monitor their trans temp.
 
Cool mod but I heard watching trans temps on the 80 was about as boring as watching paint dry.... Has anyone seen it spike into the range of concern?
I got a diesel swap with original tranny. It’s important info I need to know.
 
Has anyone done the drain plug sender with the A440E from the 62's? I ran the part numbers of the different models trans. drain plugs & they are different. I cant locate the specs. on my plug from my '88 62 to see if a sender is available the same size.
 
Has anyone done the drain plug sender with the A440E from the 62's? I ran the part numbers of the different models trans. drain plugs & they are different. I cant locate the specs. on my plug from my '88 62 to see if a sender is available the same size.


you could pull the drain plug out and measure the thread pitch. you would need a pitch gauge and a machinist ruler
 
Yeah, thanks for the response Red. That was the problem- I'm wanting a quick changeover for less hassle. I got a measurement from a new one at the dealer. It's M18 w/ a 1.5 thread if anyone else cares.
 
This is what I did on my 62... my temp probe was installed after fluid passed through oem radiator cooler and before my auxiliary unit..... similar set up can be installed with the oem trans cooler of 80...
 
VDO temperature sender, 1/8-27NPT, 120C/250F = 323-095

VDO Vision Black Engine Temperature Gauge Metric (40-120C) = 310-010-002K
Same gauge in imperial units would be = 310-105

42DraftDesigns Universal Oil Temp Adaptor - Drain Plug = 42-908
(photo on the site is of old design, the one in my photos is the new, current design)

:cheers:

Resurrecting this thread because I'm attempting to do this mod and I'm finding that the last part, the "42DraftDesigns Universal Oil Temp Adaptor - Drain Plug = 42-908" is no longer available. Any suggestions on an alternative?
 
Using this thread as inspiration, I have spent the last 8 months (ok, I work slow :flipoff2:) trying to find a clean, easy solution for mounting a temperature sender in the outlet line of the transmission. I wanted the most accurate and timely representation of the heat in the transmission. I didn't want to cut or modify any of the existing hardlines or softlines (I'm picky like that) but I wanted as accurate a solution as possible. My first idea was to copy Tapage's tee fitting. However, after having zero luck finding the appropriate tee fitting that idea was scrapped. I also wanted the sender to be directly in the line of fluid, not in it's own little pocket off the main flow (I'm picky, right?).

I spent some time looking at Wholesale Automatics' kits, I liked Rodney's idea of having the sensor installed in the line. Problem is, with the A343F, the outlet fitting is a cast piece with no space to add an extra sender
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One of the things I liked about Rodney's kit was the choice of gauge (you can see it in MiguelBlue's picture above). The VDO Vision series of gauges looks quite similar to the 80 series dash (white letters on black, red needle, green backlight), and I like keeping my projects OEM looking. The Vision series has three temperature gauges (Water, Oil, and Transmission). As Brian noted in his original post, the range on the Transmission gauge is pretty limited in the normal operating temperature range. I decided that that I liked the range on the Water gauge (80-120C), as a properly operating transmission should generally be in the same range as the coolant temperature. So I went to egauges.com and ordered the gauge, a 1/8-27NPT sender for the gauge, and an Acura Integra a-pillar pod (I followed boydmick's instructions to fit it to the 80 series).

So at this point I had all the parts, but no plan. After some more time studying the EWD, FSM, and A343F manual I went and had a chat with the head Lexus mechanic (and good friend) at the local dealership. We concluded that the OEM ATF temperature sensor's only purpose is to set off the warning light on the dash when the fluid becomes (way, way, way!) too hot. It isn't tied into any other circuits according to any of the information we could find.
Edit: TrickyT made a good point in a post below. I have included part of it here.

We will never be able to tell for certain how involved the OEM ATF temperature sensor is or isn't in the ECU's logic. Since completing this install, I have not noticed any odd behaviour from my transmission, and I will certainly report back if I find anything amiss

I figured that I will check the gauge often enough that I don't require a warning light (this ain't a soccer mom mobile anymore :D). With that in mind I went ahead with finding a way to replace the OEM sender with one for my gauge. I ordered the transmission outlet (shown above) and measured the threads on the sender port (M14x1.5). VDO does make a sender with the appropriate thread count, but the temperature probe looked way too long (from the photo on the egauges site, I never saw one firsthand). So I needed to adapt the sender I had to the outlet. (Edit: I have since ordered the VDO M14x1.5 80-120C temperature sender and mocked it up on my spare cooler outlet. No dice, the sender is indeed way too long to fit.)

After a bunch more googling and hunting around, I found an adapter to mount my 1/8-27NPT sender in a M14x1.5 hole. 42DraftDesigns makes a number of custom CNC products for the VW/Audi market, and they had an adapter that seemed to fit my needs. I fired off an email with a couple very specific questions about dimensions and such and sat back. In under 24 hours I had a reply. Big thanks to John Pelton, the Sales & Shipping Manager at 42DraftDesigns for putting up with my incessant and sometimes nit-picky questions. He answered them all very promptly, and even took a number of photos of their adapter with the same VDO sender installed so I could see how it lined up. He provided some of the best customer service I have received from a vendor (especially for a vendor in a different market and therefore with nothing at stake in my project). Thanks John!

The VDO sender, 42DD adapter and copper washer, and Toyota outlet
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Mocked up. The VDO sender does not affect the flow of ATF
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Showing the depth that the VDO sender will sit at
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So the hard part was over. I had all my pieces in hand. Install time was nigh! I combined this project with another (replacing the rusty ATF cooler lines mounted on the engine and under the DS headlight). During this project I confirmed that the forward line on the A343F (the one with the OEM sender in it) is indeed the transmission fluid outlet where the hot fluid leaves the transmission to be cooled. This is the temperature I wanted to measure, as it should be the hottest point. Things were working out!

I removed the OEM ATF temperature sender (19mm open end wrench IIRC) and compared it to the VDO and adapter:
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The OEM sender in the OEM outlet. Apparently Mr T liked having the temperature probe right in the fluid (most accurate reading possible)
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Showing the depth that the OEM sender sits at
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Comparing the two senders, I had no fears about restricting the ATF flow more than the OEM sender did. I decided to use the O-ring off the original sensor instead of the copper gasket when I installed the VDO sender and 42DD adapter. If it was good enough for Mr T... I'm happy. I originally left the OEM sender off the truck, but my OD light flashed at me after 15 minutes of driving. I consulted the FSM and found that one of the transmission codes is in relation to no signal from the sender. I plugged the OEM sender back in and ziptied it up out of the way, and no more flashy light.

I followed boydmick's instructions (linked above) to install the gauge pod. I ran all the wires down the A-pillar and connected the gauge lights to the rheostat, and used switched power from the gauge fuse to run the temperature gauge. The ground was the factory ground point in the driver's kick panel, and the sender line ran across behind the dash and down to the sender via the grommet in the transmission tunnel (in the perfect location) on the passenger side of the tunnel. The white tube in the photo is the line for the air pressure gauge that will tell me the system pressure in my soon-to-be-complete York OBA project.

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The gauges
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The driver's view
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I've had this installed for almost a week and have formed a good idea of what the temps tend to do. Cruising around the city in cooler weather (15C/60F) produces temperatures of 70C/160F. Working the truck hard today in hot weather (30C/85F) and driving some hills got the temp up to 90C/195F at one point, with it mostly sitting at 80C/175F. The stock ATF cooling setup performs admirably, with temps dropping rapidly when the load on the transmission is reduced (cruising the flats after a long hill, coasting downhill). I also noticed that while cruising the highway at a steady pace with the torque convertor locked up, the temps dropped about 10 degrees C (~15F).

All in all, this is probably one of my top 5 mods in terms of usefulness and knowing how my truck is doing.


Specific parts list:

VDO temperature sender, 1/8-27NPT, 120C/250F = 323-095

VDO Vision Black Engine Temperature Gauge Metric (40-120C) = 310-010-002K
Same gauge in imperial units would be = 310-105

42DraftDesigns Universal Oil Temp Adaptor - Drain Plug = 42-908
(photo on the site is of old design, the one in my photos is the new, current design)

:cheers:
 

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