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Transmission temp 195 F
- Thread starter 3rd Rail
- Start date
The 192F is the coolant, there is a 170F thermostat in the cooling system and I know it opens at 174F so the car is currently trying to cool itself the 166F is the trans temp it’s about 66F-68F outside based on the temp reading in the car and the weather app on my phone backs that up, pics were taken about a mile apart between lights and I’ve been driving for about 35min and just got off the highway, these are my results you can take it or leave it, it’s just free information
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That sounds about right for normal driving. If you start unlocking the torque converter in stop and go or towing you can get the temp to climb over 200. When I change trans fluid I put the trans in drive, hold the brake, and let it run at 1500-2000 rpm and the trans gets up to 195-200 in about 5 min from cold.
Definitely good to get it hot every so often just to burn off condensation but anything over 210-220 over time destroys fluid
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Definitely good to get it hot every so often just to burn off condensation but anything over 210-220 over time destroys fluid
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That’s what I was trying to explain, I’m an engineer and fix helicopters for the army and one of the main reason for component failure especially for plastics is heat cycling or heat soaking and I wanted a trans pan to get rid of the heat as fast as possible when I turn off the car instead of the fluid sitting in the plastic pan which keeps the heat in, I think the misunderstanding is that the metal pan magically keeps the temp down but it doesn’t during heavy acceleration, stop and go traffic or any driving conditions where there isn’t constant airflow over the pan the temp easily raises close to 200F, only in the very specific situation when driving down the highway at 50mph or higher at a consistent engine RPM for a prolonged period of time do the temp drop down to the 170F range once that specific driving situation ends the temp starts to raise again
Agree. Also cruising in overdrive with the converter locked really keeps the temps down compared to flogging her. Did a round trip to Hilton Head, 3000 miles, and I had no trouble heating up things on the twisty mountain roads
. ST is really impressive for what it is and I’ve road raced more purpose built cars. Continue to really enjoy this ride and surprise a lot of people on the highway 
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. ST is really impressive for what it is and I’ve road raced more purpose built cars. Continue to really enjoy this ride and surprise a lot of people on the highway 
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Agree. Also cruising in overdrive with the converter locked really keeps the temps down compared to flogging her. Did a round trip to Hilton Head, 3000 miles, and I had no trouble heating up things on the twisty mountain roads. ST is really impressive for what it is and I’ve road raced more purpose built cars. Continue to really enjoy this ride and surprise a lot of people on the highway
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
. ST is really impressive for what it is and I’ve road raced more purpose built cars. Continue to really enjoy this ride and surprise a lot of people on the highway Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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- Location
- East Freetown, MA
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- 2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Nowhere does it say “make sure is at NORMAL OPERATING TEMP” those words aren’t in the service manual (atleast the one I’m using), it’s the upper end of the operating range, for example the coolant can swing from 174F-230F and maybe a little more that’s a temp difference of 56F, you’re telling the the transmission only has a temp difference of 9F do you know how hard it is to do that in real world situations, the manual also says to make sure the vehicle wasn’t doing towing or other heavy driving which implies the fluid can be a lot hotter and still be in the “normal” range, if I had to make an EDUCATED GUESS based on experience 206F-215F is somewhere in the middle, because if the fluid is checked at that temp based on their testing the trans will still operate smoothly at the lower temp and the higher temp, I’m pretty sure the owners manual says to change the oil at 10k miles also the trans fluid and filter is good till 150k miles which would mean that’s the “normal operating life for those fluids” yet everyone (except for a special few) changes all these fluids a lot sooner, I follow the maintenance manual to the letter but I rather run my trans cooler (if you’re gonna drive yours hard you should let it warm up more) because I don’t drive it hard but that’s just me and it’s worked great for me you do whatever gives you the warm and fuzzies
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- East Freetown, MA
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- 2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
I don't have the manual so I can't quote it from there but the key word here is "Normal". I've read that in several places on this forum as well as other sites. Obviously your not going to want to check the fluid level right after towing a trailer or driving it hard. Same as you wouldn't go out first thing in the moring and check the level when it's cold! It's "Normal" operating temp and that's actually 206-215 degrees. This video is quite popular on this subject and states that as the specification: Video. I was just trying to give you some info that's posted in several locations but you do you and I'll do me. Peace out brother.
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- Location
- East Freetown, MA
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- 2020 Explorer ST, Silver Spruce Metalic
Those digital guages on the instrument cluster are calibrated to the 2 extremes of the temp range so a normal person with no mechanical experience can look down and judge if the car is in good working order for example the coolant gauge hits the center at 174F and stays there all the way to about 230F the same situation applies, it was never meant to be used in a maintenance setting hence why the maintenance manual says to use a scan tool and the temp range in the manual is at the upper end of the range specifically why every other fluid has a high low range to allow for expansion and contraction, because if you check it at 135F there might not be enough fluid for the expansion required and if you check it at 225F there might not be enough fluid to run reliably when the fluid cools and contracts back down
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Windsock, you pretty much said this, but I'll give a 'history' lesson. 
IF you have ever owned an older 'ford' you would know that they teach their gauges to LIE to you. Notorious for having a 'oil pressure' gauge that NEVER told you the truth. It was a simple sensor that just reported a little under the 1/2 way mark on MANY of my old mustangs and ford trucks. So, that gauge on the tow haul is clearly just one of those 'sensors' that reports a range...probably just triggers when it's HOT only. AND usually if like the old ones that were for oil pressure...it's too late by then too. Except that you should then know to replace the trans fluid.
As far as what temps to check your fluid. What is reported as normal and what is used for the 'procedure' for that and if not followed, you run into shifting/trans issues.
IF you have ever owned an older 'ford' you would know that they teach their gauges to LIE to you. Notorious for having a 'oil pressure' gauge that NEVER told you the truth. It was a simple sensor that just reported a little under the 1/2 way mark on MANY of my old mustangs and ford trucks. So, that gauge on the tow haul is clearly just one of those 'sensors' that reports a range...probably just triggers when it's HOT only. AND usually if like the old ones that were for oil pressure...it's too late by then too. Except that you should then know to replace the trans fluid.As far as what temps to check your fluid. What is reported as normal and what is used for the 'procedure' for that and if not followed, you run into shifting/trans issues.
Yeah, the dash gauges, unless actually a numerical readout like in dome Ford vehicles like my Raptor FORScanned dash gauges, is an either on or off idiot indicator. It reads “normal” whenever the monitored item is within the “operating range” which may be a 150+% spread value. The service procedure for the 10R60/80 transmission specifically states to check/set fluid level at 205 degF. Its the “normal” operating temp. We usually aren't asking a whole lot while cruising around so temps run 180-190, but when actually exercising it fully, the temp comes up very quickly to 200+. Thats just how shit works.
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