Tranny Temp Gauge

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by gos

Shadofax

The fan is on a thermostatic switch and comes on at 180*. Running through the aux cooler and the radiator cooler, the trans is always at 180 or below. JS.

Hmm, ok.

Anyone that has plumbed there temp gauge down to the E4OD plug on the drivers side, when you pulled that plug to put the sensor plug in it's place, you didn't get any fluid drain did you? I'd think the fluid level in the pan would be below that?

[liltimmy08]

Originally Posted by Shadofax

Hmm, ok.

Anyone that has plumbed there temp gauge down to the E4OD plug on the drivers side, when you pulled that plug to put the sensor plug in it's place, you didn't get any fluid drain did you? I'd think the fluid level in the pan would be below that?

I didn't get any fluid leaking out when I pulled the plug. I'm sure its not the most accurate reading but its better then no reading.

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by liltimmy08

I didn't get any fluid leaking out when I pulled the plug. I'm sure its not the most accurate reading but its better then no reading.

This was the recommended port from the tranny guy on here. I had my pan off last night and couldn't see it come directly through into the pan area, I'm guessing it goes into the Valve Body right above the pan? And so it would be getting readings from fluid flowing through there once the vehicle is being driven?

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by reptillikus

Ive been running my Autometer gauge in that same spot on my F250. I hit 205º once, towing the bronco in 100º weather. Around town or on the highway, it never goes above 180º. I still have the trans plumbed thru the radiator, after which it passes thru my remote filter, and then a small aux cooler. Its on 35s, so i dunno if the difference is the bigger diesel radiator, or the Banks TransCommand.

jam0o0, i suspect it is before the torque converter because the temp change is slow & steady, it doesnt move around with the converter when it locks/unlocks.

Kev or anyone that's running the Autometer tranny temp gauge (or if they are all wired the same basically)....my question:

I downloaded the instructions off of autometers site, and have the 2 1/16ths trans temp analog electric gauge on it's way.

Q1: the backlit lighting says + goes to 12V lighting, so that would put it on with everything else. neg. says ground or dimming circuit on some import vehicles? Has anyone got their gauges into the factory dimming circuit and if so how/what wire(s) are we looking for? I'd really like for this to dim with all other instrument lights.

[Aurorabusa]

The factory lighting wire is light blue with a red line.You could splice into the circuit at the light inside the ash tray.

[Shadofax]

Excellent, had not thought of that. I have not had an ashtray for a decade, so I must have cut and taped those wires off back there somewhere. And that's right below where I'm going to mount the trans gauge. So splicing into the lt blue/red stripe wire would give me + and dimming effect?

[Aurorabusa]

Exactly.There might be a ground wire with that blue/red wire for your ground also.It will dim with everything else.

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by Aurorabusa

Exactly.There might be a ground wire with that blue/red wire for your ground also.It will dim with everything else.

Went out and checked, and yep, behind my CB (mounted where the ashtray used to be) there is a group of wires, including a light blue/red stripe and a black for ground.

[sdstriper]

The critical temperature readings are fluid temps from the converter, or the fluid out line. Temps from the pan are from cooled fluid, not the best reading IMO but you see alot of the aftermarket pans with sensor provision, marketing gimick really... If that port does not get fluid flow, all you are reading is the transmission case temperature. What is the actual purpose of that port?

[reptillikus]

That port is in the path of the fluid. My gauge reads hotter there than it does tapped into the remote filter housing.

Originally Posted by Shadofax

Kev or anyone that's running the Autometer tranny temp gauge (or if they are all wired the same basically)....my question:

I downloaded the instructions off of autometers site, and have the 2 1/16ths trans temp analog electric gauge on it's way.

Q1: the backlit lighting says + goes to 12V lighting, so that would put it on with everything else. neg. says ground or dimming circuit on some import vehicles? Has anyone got their gauges into the factory dimming circuit and if so how/what wire(s) are we looking for? I'd really like for this to dim with all other instrument lights.

I tapped into the +12 for the dimmer circuit behind the switch. On the F250 my Autometers are LED, so they were way too bright, and i ended up adding a potentiometer into the circuit (hidden behind the dash) to allow me to dim them enough to match the factory gauges. On the bronco my Autometers are incandescent so i didnt need the potentiometer.

[PWMTN]

Originally Posted by sdstriper

The critical temperature readings are fluid temps from the converter, or the fluid out line. Temps from the pan are from cooled fluid, not the best reading IMO but you see alot of the aftermarket pans with sensor provision, marketing gimick really... If that port does not get fluid flow, all you are reading is the transmission case temperature. What is the actual purpose of that port?

==========
Two school of thought on location. The outlet will read the highest because the fluid had been heated by the tranny. The pan is what the tranny sees and uses. Lots of us are not monitoring the external cooler efficency, but just care what the tranny is using = pan sender.
If you have adequate cooling and use high temp full syn atf then either location.should not be an issue. My fan on switch in the pan comes on at 180F and the red light switch comes on at 250F. Result is 3 bungs in the pan.
BTW, you should always use a manual override on switch to deal with a bad temp switch that won't turn on the blower.
Your choice. IMO, your selection of the tranny out line is just fine. Just easier to do the pan thing instead of 3 tees in the out line. For the out line install look for a combined gauge sender with the temp switch in the same unit to reduce the number of connections.
Paul

[sdstriper]

Originally Posted by PWMTN

==========The outlet will read the highest because the fluid had been heated by the tranny

Ultimately thats what we want to know to keep from cooking the internals, I don't care whats happened to the fluid after its been cooled... The easy way is not always the best way, thats why I consider the pan provision kind of gimicky. Switched sensors for hot line out and pan temps are another option if you want to monitor both.

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by sdstriper

Ultimately thats what we want to know to keep from cooking the internals, I don't care whats happened to the fluid after its been cooled... The easy way is not always the best way, thats why I consider the pan provision kind of gimicky. Switched sensors for hot line out and pan temps are another option if you want to monitor both.

true. but keep in mind this is not a pan provision. As I mentioned earlier this is a "plug test port" located just above the pan, likely going into a valve body passage. Where this passage comes/goes, don't know. but being in the valve body I'd think it would give a pretty decent reading...not the coolest for sure, but perhaps not the hottest, but I would like something steady and accurate.

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by reptillikus

That port is in the path of the fluid. My gauge reads hotter there than it does tapped into the remote filter housing.



I tapped into the +12 for the dimmer circuit behind the switch. On the F250 my Autometers are LED, so they were way too bright, and i ended up adding a potentiometer into the circuit (hidden behind the dash) to allow me to dim them enough to match the factory gauges. On the bronco my Autometers are incandescent so i didnt need the potentiometer.

Got the meter today, suprise. was supposed to be here Monday, way to go Summit.

That lt Blue/red stripe wire is what I'm going for, that's the internal lighting and should go up to a dimmer or whatever is used to make all internal lights brighter/dimmer. Mine's not LED either, and came with a little green boot to put over the buld so it should be kinda close to stock with green light, black background, white numbers, orange/red pointer and silver outer round trim (which is like XLT trim on a '95 vs. EB woodgrain).

One question though...the bulb obviously has a ground, and it has about 6" of wire. A ground is a ground I'd think? So, since the gauge also must be grounded why run 2 wires? I was just going to take the bulb ground wire and bring it right around and feed it into the ground connector for the gauge, and then just have 1 ground wire go find a vehicle ground wire nearby. Any issue with that?

[Hefty]

ground is ground. Mark can you post the part # from summit for the guage

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by Hefty

ground is ground. Mark can you post the part # from summit for the guage

yea, it's the 3357 Trans Temp sport-comp from autometer. Looks to be a real nice unit. Tomorrow I'll probably take the next step and make sure one of the plugs fit the tranny.

[Hefty]

Thanks Mark

[sackman9975]

Originally Posted by Shadofax

Excellent, had not thought of that. I have not had an ashtray for a decade, so I must have cut and taped those wires off back there somewhere. And that's right below where I'm going to mount the trans gauge. So splicing into the lt blue/red stripe wire would give me + and dimming effect?

Shado, I ran my lighting wire to the fuse inside the fusebox for the instrument/dimmer. Works great. Just make sure you place it onto the blade of the side that feeds, so if the fuse blows it's still protected.

[Shadofax]

Originally Posted by sackman9975

Shado, I ran my lighting wire to the fuse inside the fusebox for the instrument/dimmer. Works great. Just make sure you place it onto the blade of the side that feeds, so if the fuse blows it's still protected.

On the + side of things I need to run 2 wires....

1 for the backlight bulb, and this one is just going to tap into the lighting circuit as mentioned (lt. blue/red stripe) for dimming.

1 for the gauge, just going to find a nearby + to tap into, and the instructions say to then add a littlefuse 4amp 3ag fast acting cartridge fuse.

[thePUNISHER]

Originally Posted by Shadofax

This was the recommended port from the tranny guy on here. I had my pan off last night and couldn't see it come directly through into the pan area, I'm guessing it goes into the Valve Body right above the pan? And so it would be getting readings from fluid flowing through there once the vehicle is being driven?

it is the line pressure tap. it is direct line pressure in that port. it is a large worm trail passage in the case which feeds several circuits.