Transmission temps on LC 250 (1 Viewer)

[LCQ]

Question for other owners out there, what have you seen with transmission temps? Towing, off road, hot days etc?

Mine creeps up to the pic below in 4 low and driving uphill gravel roads (in a spirited manner) in the high country. The ambient temp is rarely above 70 when I'm up there. Not too concerned about it since I don't have an actual degree measurement yet - keep forgetting to shoot the pan with an IR gun.

Engine oil temp always runs in the middle, as well as coolant temps. Haven't heard the electric fan kick on strong yet.

 

[TheLCProject]

The temperature seems to be within an acceptable range. I'd be curious what that would look like both while towing a trailer or perhaps on a much warmer day.

 

[Rednexus]

Does the LC250 have an external trans cooler? I really dislike generic gauges that don't have actual numbers associated with the ranges. You may also be able to read the actual temp measurement via Torque Pro and a Bluetooth OBDII adapter, assuming the LC250 PID is the same as most other previous Toyota vehicles.

If the 250 is like the previous 150 platform, it may be prone to eating transmissions without regular fluid changes AND either a add-on external cooler (if it does not already have one) or a aftermarket cooler that is bigger than the OEM cooler (if it has a undersized stock cooler). The AT TEMP light on the 150 doesn't kick on until something like 300F, after which the damage the the fluid is done and irreversible internal transmission damage may have already occurred as well.

 

[tacoshawn]

Question for the forum. Has anybody tried an Ultra Gauge on their LC250/GX? I might have to just buy and try.

 

[LCQ]

Not sure if there's an external transmission cooler.

I've tried the torque pro app and it shows engine oil and coolant temps but no transmission temps. Maybe there's a custom PID I need to research to see if I can get a reading. It's been awhile since I used the app and reader.

 

[Jeremy556]

Not sure if there's an external transmission cooler.

I've tried the torque pro app and it shows engine oil and coolant temps but no transmission temps. Maybe there's a custom PID I need to research to see if I can get a reading. It's been awhile since I used the app and reader.

From the diagrams I looked at on TIS, and some pics from bumpers pulled off, it has a cooler integral to the radiator, and no external cooler.
Try these for trans temp PIDs:

 

[Rednexus]

From the diagrams I looked at on TIS, and some pics from bumpers pulled off, it has a cooler integral to the radiator, and no external cooler.
Try these for trans temp PIDs:

Pretty sure that's the same PID I run on my '07, though it appears very common across multiple Toyota models over a 15+ year period.

With no external cooler I can see the trans getting quite hot. Actual sensor readings will be telling, IMO. A not insignificant number of GX460s - also set up without a cooler - have had trans failures around 100K - which are likely also caused by the myth of the fluid being "lifetime".

Hopefully someone can figure out a external cooler add-on for the LC250 .

 

[Jeremy556]

Pretty sure that's the same PID I run on my '07, though it appears very common across multiple Toyota models over a 15+ year period.

With no external cooler I can see the trans getting quite hot. Actual sensor readings will be telling, IMO. A not insignificant number of GX460s - also set up without a cooler - have had trans failures around 100K - which are likely also caused by the myth of the fluid being "lifetime".

Hopefully someone can figure out a external cooler add-on for the LC250 .

Yea, its from the A750/760, but I can't imagine they would change it.

The WS fluid really is lifetime - the trans is probably going to die if you don't change it. I'm nearing 300k and 400k miles on two A750s with fluid changes every 100k. Between this forum and the Tacoma guys, I'm sure there will be a how to along shortly on adding an external trans cooler.

 

[LCQ]

From the diagrams I looked at on TIS, and some pics from bumpers pulled off, it has a cooler integral to the radiator, and no external cooler.
Try these for trans temp PIDs:

No dice on those PIDs.

 

[linuxgod]

The transmission PIDs are probably different. They changed between the 6 and 8 speed in the LC/Tundra and those are different than the 4R, Taco, GX4xx, etc. basically every transmission seems to have different PIDs.

If OBD Fusion doesn’t have the add-on enhanced PID pack for the newer vehicles yet I suspect they will soon. for 1996-2021 my version has every PID available. It’s worth the $15. I think OBDlink MX+ is the same.

 

[LCQ]

Adding a data point since I remembered my IR gun on a different trip. Transmission pan was 229 with the gauge showing here.

 

[Markarian421]

There's a transmission cooler. See:

 

[Rednexus]

Whoof, that is hot! Unless Toyota is running a much better fluid than WS, the LC250 will probably need fairly frequent changes like the GX460.

 

[Corbet]

Hopefully we see an aftermarket cooler come to market.

 

[Markarian421]

Also this:

Source: Transmission overheating issue - https://www.landcruiserforum.com/threads/transmission-overheating-issue.816/post-12662

 

[Rednexus]

Seems like it should be possible to splice into those lines (as they are soft/flexible lines) and add an aux cooler in front of the radiator. I have a Hayden 678 ($50 cooler) on my GX470 and have never gotten a trans temp above 200F - even on full-throttle runs at 100F outside, pulling a camper. Most of the time it runs at 170F.

 

[DenisLM]

Question for other owners out there, what have you seen with transmission temps? Towing, off road, hot days etc?

Mine creeps up to the pic below in 4 low and driving uphill gravel roads (in a spirited manner) in the high country. The ambient temp is rarely above 70 when I'm up there. Not too concerned about it since I don't have an actual degree measurement yet - keep forgetting to shoot the pan with an IR gun.
View attachment 3678158
Engine oil temp always runs in the middle, as well as coolant temps. Haven't heard the electric fan kick on strong yet.

Adding a data point since I remembered my IR gun on a different trip. Transmission pan was 229 with the gauge showing here.

View attachment 3684700 View attachment 3684701

if the bottom picture is 230F the top one probably is pushing 250F

Last weekend I did a steep climb (1300 ft in 0.6 mile) and noticed the trans temperature going up quite a lot, similar to the first pic.
Didn't get any messages or actually touched the red part but it got close.

Done the same trail (forest road) a few times on my 4Runner TRD Pro without problems, however there's no temperature information there so...
Did the same a couple times with a RAM 1500 and noticed temperature rising a bit but nothing concerning.

I kept 4HI, next time I'll try 4LO just in case. On the 4Runner I did 4 LO or HI and worked great either way.
Going down I kept 4 LO and M3 as engine brake and worked great holding the LC down with minimal brake intervention.
The 4LO on the 4Runner let me drive quite faster than I noticed on the Land Cruiser. Feels like the 4 LO is very limited on the gears. I can't go past M3 on 4LO.

Next time I'll carry my temp gun as well just in case.

 

[LCQ]

I'm thinking the transmission cooling system in some of these 250s (or maybe all of them) is not robust. I wasn't with her, but my wife ran into a transmission over temp warning message climbing a trail near Silverton in relatively cool temps - around 65 F. I assume that I haven't seen the warning message, because I've been shifting to low range. While she shouldn't have kept it in high, I feel like we shouldn't be encountering a transmission over temp with <500 pounds of payload (no trailer). Tire size is 275/70/R18 KO3s.

Will take it to the dealer, but I've read in other forums that the ECU doesn't throw a code for a trans over temp warning message. This seems odd to me that the computer wouldn't log it, and my Torque app didn't pick one up. Hopefully I'm wrong and the dealer can see some info. Will update more with dealer comments. Warning to everyone out there - watch your trans temps and use 4 Low when you can. I'm surprised this hasn't cropped up in forums with as many people are hitting high country trails these days. Wondering if my transmission is a unicorn.

 

[Corbet]

I forget when I shifted mine into low when climbing up to Little Giant Basin a couple weeks ago. I was not immediately at the trailhead and it was much warmer out. I did not get any warnings. I want to say I was in high until I hit the abandoned mine site.

 

[Shebamacalla]

I run a scan guage and this is after towing my 5k camper 2.5 hours. Too hot for my liking and I’m planning to tow cross country in the future so think an extra cooler is in order.