18CrewDually
Senior Member
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- Jul 20, 2011
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- 2,456
His profile says 2014 Z71
Max Chevy Trans Temperature
- Thread starter Herk7769
- Start date
His profile says 2014 Z71
elchilero53
Senior Member
As my profile says 2014 Z71 4WD. It came with the tow package installed (integral brake controller, heavy rear suspension, tranny cooler, oil cooler, integrated trailer sway monitoring and control). It does very well for an SUV, plus the cats get plenty of room to ride in confort, something they wouldn't have with a pickup truck. I'm towing around 6K to 6.5K when we go on vacation to New Mexico every year. Tow rating is 8200#. I watch the speed and don't tow faster than 65 mph even on the freeway. Really steep hils are a bit slow and things heat up on a long grade, but killing the a/c really helps a lot. I shut it off at the base of a long up hill grade and turn it back on when we reach the top.
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northstar1960
Senior Member
T stats are cheap . a cooler one is better then drilling a hole . you can also add a external transmission oil cooler . i' tow from Florida to the Rockies twice every year . with the coolers that come all ready plus the one i added and the cooler t-stat i never over heat . you shouldn't have to pull the radiator unless you think you have obstructions . an extra trans oil cooler would be the best bang for your buck .
Hey, I appreciate it. I did add a tranny cooler that goes in series with the little OEM one. It helped the tranny temps tremendously (about 30 degrees throughout). It's the coolant creeping up past 210 that I'm wondering about. Maybe it's fine to creep up some and I just have to watch it to not get out of hand.
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northstar1960
Senior Member
210 isn't bad for coolant or even a little more when pulling grades etc . keeping tranny cool and engine oil are the two biggies .
The easiest thing to do is change your fluid twice a year and your filter once a year and run synthetic fluid and stop worrying so much about your tranny temperature. The physical transmission can handle the heat it's just cheap fluids that start to break down, synthetics have much better ability to handle the heat. $65 for 6 quarts of ATF is cheap insurance.
When I plowed and towed, I changed the fluid every fall before plow season and the fluid and filter every spring before towing season. I would get trans temps of close to 250 plowing with zero issues. I had to have the transmission pulled down around 215K miles because my reverse band broke (had nothing to do with heat or fluid) the 65 year old tech( been rebuilding transmissions since the 70's) asked if I had already replaced the tranny because it was way to clean and had to little wear to have that many miles on it. I told him I used mobil one and changed it twice a year.
When I plowed and towed, I changed the fluid every fall before plow season and the fluid and filter every spring before towing season. I would get trans temps of close to 250 plowing with zero issues. I had to have the transmission pulled down around 215K miles because my reverse band broke (had nothing to do with heat or fluid) the 65 year old tech( been rebuilding transmissions since the 70's) asked if I had already replaced the tranny because it was way to clean and had to little wear to have that many miles on it. I told him I used mobil one and changed it twice a year.
Reading along with buttered popcorn in hand....
My only comment is, use the best transmission fluid you can purchase and change it often, people tend to ignore the transmission until it craps out and then it's always expensive....and...
If you have an Allison transmission, only use Allison transmission fluid and change the filter and fluid on the recommended change intervals. Allison's like clean, fresh fluid and filters.
My only comment is, use the best transmission fluid you can purchase and change it often, people tend to ignore the transmission until it craps out and then it's always expensive....and...
If you have an Allison transmission, only use Allison transmission fluid and change the filter and fluid on the recommended change intervals. Allison's like clean, fresh fluid and filters.
If it's an Allison, you are making a mistake. I've dealt with Allison in the past and the first thing they do when there is a transmission issue is do a fluid analysis and if it's not Allison specified fluid and filters, they get real crabby, real fast.
elchilero53
Senior Member
Well, I sold the Tahoe and bought a 2017 Silverado 1500 with the 6.2L V8 and the 8-speed tranny. We took a drive today in 102 - 104 degree heat through lots of hills. Temp held steady at about 181 degrees. If the temp rose to 185, it quickly went back down to 181, which I thought was very interesting. Cooling system? It does have an external tranny cooler as part of the tow package.
I installed one of these on my Silverado. Temp never gets over 180 even towing my 7K# boat up to Lake Tahoe. Before the cooler was installed, I got close to 230.
Made all my stainless lines too.
Dang it 230 is getting up there even with the synthetic and blends fluid. I have seen mine hit 223 on a 19% 9 mile pull in upper 90 degree NC heat. When i crested the pull she started cooling down quick along with radiator temp it was about the same. I did not notice any fans turning on so it must have not hit that temp yet. I am not sure what that temp is for the extra fans to turn on.
Yep....I immediately changed the fluid after I saw that.
My 1/2T didn't come with the trans temp on the dash so I sent the instrument cluster out to a shop that put one in. Was best investment I ever made.
My truck only has the engine fan.
My 2015 GMC Sierra has it on the DIC but I had to Enable/turn it on. I think i have the one radiator fan then a auxiliary fan that will turn on under load. It was my first time up the grade with 7,000 lbs the 5.3L handled it perfect
elchilero53
Senior Member
That's what I had to do to mine as well. I have it right behind the Trailer Brake Gain Readout monitor (which has to be enabled, too. The newer models of GM trucks and SUVs have twin fans. My old 2014 Tahoe with the 5.3 and 6-speed had twin fans side-by-side. When the temps rise, you can hear them kick on - they are pretty loud unless you have active noise management, then you don't hear very much noise if anything at all.
The new 8-speeds apparently operate at higher temps. I learned from the GM-Truck Forum that the 8-speeds may have an internal thermostat designed to maintain a specific temperature even with an external cooler but no one seems to be able to confirm this. The 8-speeds use synthetic transmission fluid much like the current production 6-speed trannies.
My tranny temp fluctuations occurred while climbing a hill. We'll see how it does under a load pulling the trailer later this summer.
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scale obsession
New Member
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- Aug 11, 2018
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I have a 16' silverado 1/2. How does one go about turning the aux fan on?
TheWolfPaq82
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- May 21, 2017
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As the post you're replying to is almost 2 years old, and this thread is 8 years old, I'm not sure if you'll get a response.
elchilero53
Senior Member
It comes on automatically when temps start rising. You can tell it is on when the roar from under the hood increases while pulling a load.
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