Recomended fluid temps...(oil, trans, coolant)

CaifanSC

SCCoA Member
What are the recomended fluid temperatures for oil, trans and coolant? I was told that trans fluid its around 160*-180*, but i wanted to make sure. I have an oil temp gauge in my 89 but im not too sure what kind of temperature ranges are 'acceptable' for oil. Mine is usually around 210*-230*.

Altho i dont have a coolant temp gauge im considering the posibility of using one of the other two gauges (temp or oil) and splitting it to monitor two temperatures and having a switch determine which of the two is being read at a given time. I read about somebody doing this so i might try it.
 
you just made a post that is interesting but no one will ever answer you. you might get a couple hundred views but no one will ever comment on it :rolleyes:
 
There is a lot of talk about temps in most truck forums since they tow stuff and watch it pretty close. You might find some answers by searching and lurking on fordtruckworld.com but looks like your pioneering the way for SC temps.
 
damn i wonder what oil temp would be without the factory oil cooler? i was considering relocating that whole deal to the fenderwell along with the oil filter. has anyone done this? i had a trans temp guage on the blue 302 car. it only hit 180 when i was doing continuous burnouts/doughnuts and just playing at high rpms/low speeds when there wasnt too much air flowing through the cooler fins. it ran around 160 on the road at 70 or 80mph
 
I'll have to check that truck site in terms of trans temps. I was worried that I was keeping my trans too cold. I have a B&M stacked plate cooler mounted in the rad support and a MAC aluminum deep pan on the AOD and tops i've seen was 165* in city traffic and in a day in the upper 70's. Typically my gauge reads around 150*, even after long driving. I took a 70 mile one-way trip and the gauge just read slightly after 150*.

Any clue on the engine oil temperature readings?
 
Where is your trans temp sending unit mounted? It can make a difference if its in the pan or the output of the cooler, compared to the output of the trans to the cooler. Some people want to see how hot their trans is putting out fluid at, and some like to see how hot the return fluid is. Hard to decide.
 
I've heard 140 - 180*F for the trans temp. Like 7birdslater points out - you wanne be carefull where you have your sender located. There's (hopefully) a considerable difference between what's read at the cooler's output line and the trans pan. While my combo is totally different then your's is, I find about 25*F difference between the two. You can run your fluid at 140*F all day (and/or night) long and not worry one bit about it. Now, if you're running below 80 or something stupid like that THEN you're asking for problem's (winter driving notwithstanding - and that's something to think about).

Just curious - what sized cooler do you have, is it mounted in-line or remote?


As for oil temps - couldn't tell ya'. I'm not going through the trouble of worrying about it. I'll let the engine coolant take care of that. Although it certainly wouldn't hurt to put a similar cooler in use with it. Probably best to keep your stock stuff in use there to let it do the majority of the cooling (nothing beats liquid-to-air cooling ;) ) and have the cooler run as an in-line, additional unit. It does help with the longevity of related components. Again, winter driving notwithstanding.

Just curisou again - where is your oil temp sender mounted?
 
lazybird4pt6 said:
I've heard 140 - 180*F for the trans temp. Like 7birdslater points out - you wanne be carefull where you have your sender located. There's (hopefully) a considerable difference between what's read at the cooler's output line and the trans pan. While my combo is totally different then your's is, I find about 25*F difference between the two. You can run your fluid at 140*F all day (and/or night) long and not worry one bit about it. Now, if you're running below 80 or something stupid like that THEN you're asking for problem's (winter driving notwithstanding - and that's something to think about).

Just curious - what sized cooler do you have, is it mounted in-line or remote?


As for oil temps - couldn't tell ya'. I'm not going through the trouble of worrying about it. I'll let the engine coolant take care of that. Although it certainly wouldn't hurt to put a similar cooler in use with it. Probably best to keep your stock stuff in use there to let it do the majority of the cooling (nothing beats liquid-to-air cooling ;) ) and have the cooler run as an in-line, additional unit. It does help with the longevity of related components. Again, winter driving notwithstanding.

Just curisou again - where is your oil temp sender mounted?

I put my trans fluid sender in one of the ports in the drivers side of the transmission, right above the pan near the linkage. Its an unused port and I read about some other people having it there so thats what i did. I installed a 24k GVW stacked plate B&M in series with the stock cooler in the radiator. Im going to wait until the middle of summer to see how the temperatures behave and if I remain within this 150-180* temperature range. If it gets hotter I might consider adding another cooler, a fan, and a thermostatic valve so that it doesnt cause problems during cold weather.

As far as the oil and oil coolers go, the 89 just has the factory oil cooler hooked up and im seeing temps normally around 200-235*. THe sender was tapped into the bottom of the oil pan on the drivers side. I'd like to do the same to my 35th which already has an aftermarket oil cooler and see how the temperatures differ.
 
I work at a auto body shop and I salvaged a new trans cooler from a totalled SUV. So I am looking to install it and I came accross this topic.

Here is a chart from a Mazda 6s webpage on transmission temperatures.

<img src=http://www.mazda6tech.com/images/6strannycool/transchart.gif>
 
Run your trans fluid thru your radiator FIRST .then into front mounted cooler that way it will warm up in winter and will be just fine in summer 150-175 is about the most desirable temp your looking for.

As for engine oil temp Throw that factory piece of junk away and put a front mounted cooler with a thermal controled adapter, it will open 150-180 and flow oil thru the cooler.
 
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