205 indust. 230 degree F tranny temp, too hot?

[jfharper]

Is this too hot? the tranny housing and rear end housing is on the hot side to touch...I'm wondering if this is too hot.

I have a wix paper filter in their just mounted just before the oil cooler. The temp guage is reading from the converter out position. The trans is an instant reverse with torque converter.

I also have a vapomatic filter which is the screen type here that I didn't use because I thought paper would be better filtering...the dealer said their OEM filters are paper...I'm wondering if flow through the torque converter oil cooler is slow. The oil cooler is cool to the touch when the trans oil temp reads 230 F.

I read on some racing forums that guys run the same UTF in their racer and some guys switch to the screen type filter instead of paper...but they probably change everything out between races...the UTF I'm running is NAPA UTF.

I just rebuilt my engine (3 cyl perkins) and the water temp gauge doesn't get abover 120 degree F...I thought this was wrong until I was able to put my finger in the radiator water and it felt like 120 F...but the trans is my concern.

Anyone know if this trans temp is too hot?

Ambient temp today was ~65-70 F in California...I was doing some discing (harrowing) on about 5 acres until the temp got to 230, then I took the disc off and moved some dirt with the bucket in the lowest gear and probably 1200-1800 rpm average and the trans temp hovered around 220 F.

Thanks for any advice.

Since I just sent alot of time on this tractor, I want to make sure I don't break something. Oh yeah, I also replaced the trans pump inside there so that is new and working good...

 

[Jerry/MT]

While I am not familiar with your specific model of tractor, simple logic dictates that if the transmission oil is very hot and the transmission oil cooler is cool, then little or no transmission oil is being cooled by the cooler. There must be an obstrution in the cooler lines or the cooler itself. If you replaced the transmission pump because of a failure, the cooling circuit maybe plugged with debris.

Regarding the cool coolant tmperature, did you check the thermostat for function? It could be failed open and is not allowing the coolant and the engine to come to proper operating temperature. You want it to run at the design temperures so that the engine clearances will be correct and the fuel economy and engine wear will be as per the design. It"s hard on the engine when it runs too cool.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Upon further reviewing your post, the filter you added may not be suitable for the cooling circuit and that may be your problem. 230F tempertures may have allready ruined your transmission oil depending on what it properies are. You need to fix this before you cause some serious damge. You might have all ready done that.

 

[jfharper]

Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your reply.

I changed the trans filter from the paper to the screen type and ran it for about an hour and a half and the trans oil temp ran between 170-185 F...I felt the oil cooler when I was done and it was warm, so the paper filter must have gotten clogged during use and caused the temp to keep increasing.

I put a new thermostat in and the water temp now runs at 165 F a much better operating temperature...thanks for your suggestion.

I have only 30 hours on the new engine rebuild and new trans pump...the high trans oil temp has only gotten to 230 for about 10 minutes...it gradually started increasing on me until it got that high, then I would let it idle until it got down to 215-220. I only ran it at 210-220 for about 45 minutes one day, then about 45 minutes on another day.

Before the temp got that high, it was running at 190-210, then before that ran at 180-200...I'll go ahead and change out 5 gallons of trans fluid to help the system.

From what I've read, the transmission will last longer when the oil is run at cooler temps. The highest trans temp is 300 F, some run at 275 for short periods, but the normal operating temp is 190-210...and that is for car/truck trans oil, not the heaveir duty UTF we run...so hopefully I'm still OK...I guess we'll see after a number of hours.

Yesterday after I ran the tractor at the cooler trans oil temps, I took that plate off under the bell housing to see if there was any oil that leaked into it, and there was very little...there are also no other leaks around the rear end-trans or under off the sump. Another issue that began to arise was the rear end lift would not lift as high once it got to those higher temps...once again, I only ran it for a short while until I stopped and let it cool down than shut it off...I thought my internal hyd pump was going out...it is old and probably worn...but yesterday the lift pump didn't do that problem, it would lift high during the whole time...so it looks like the oil temp got too high and probably caused a viscosity issue with the hyd pump.

I replaced the gasket behind the pump when I replaced the pump so that is new too...hopefully, I haven't done any serious damage...but I would think it is OK...I was watching the oil temp and was aware...I just didn't know if it should run that high or not...it seemed high to me eventhough what I read about trans temps sometimes running that high or higher.