First Post here, but I've been lurking for awhile. Prior thanks for any replies.

I have a 2018 F150 5.0L, 3.73 gears, Whipple Stage 2, with a borla catback exhaust. Palm Beach Dyno Tune. Love the setup. One thing I've been struggling with is transmission temperatures, especially when pulling my 6,000# enclosed trailer. I live in Utah at an elevation of 5,000', and commonly travel to 9,000'+ elevation, which is usually when i have issues. I have the tow package, but not the max tow package (I think only on 3.5 ecoboost). Normal flat unloaded driving, the transmission temp is normally 195-205 degrees. On a hot day traveling up a mountain unloaded I've touched 220 before, and while pulling a trailer, the max i saw was 230, but that was me driving around the truck as much as possible, driving below 50 mph, downshifting manually, etc. The truck has tons of power and pulls amazing, other than the transmission temps. I've read the 10r80 runs warm, but IMO above 210-215 is hotter than i would like. The 230 temp was on a 95 degree day, with me driving light. I can't imagine doing 100 degrees with a 10,000 lb trailer.

From what I can tell, my truck has a very small transmission cooler mounted near the housing for the transmission. I would like to add another cooler something like this: https://transmissioncoolerguide.com/...cooler-review/ in the stock position for those trucks with the max tow kit. I would plumb it in series with the existing cooler, so that when the transmission gets above 200 degrees, flow goes through both coolers. Under 200 degrees, the coolers would not be used. I believe this is the stock strategy, and i would like to keep that. I have been scouring the internet trying to find any sort of kit that will help me out, but I havent found anything. Right now I'm looking at running custom lines from the transmission to the front, and hoping it all works. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions to help me out? Thank you!!

 

When I drove up Pikes Peak and drove through trail ridge road my trans temps would also reach 230 in my 18' 5.0 and that was empty and no performance mods but like you read, these trans run hot and is normal. I believe the only thing the max tow package provides as far as more cooling is a bigger radiator. They dont use a different auxiliary trans cooler other than what is already on our ten speeds. So that may be another option for you to look into. Not sure if the connections are the same or not though.

 

You could always try changing to a 170* stat first. That should shave 10-20*. Good idea if you're planning to tow often.
I just had a Power By the Hour trans cooler installed on my truck yesterday and on a 4 hour trip my trans temps averaged 135-145 the whole way in 90-95* Texas heat.
I can't speak for how it will do towing since I literally just had it installed and don't tow much in the first place but this is an option as well. It totally disconnects from the factory coolant lines and relies only on that fan/radiator.

 

Ecks,

I actually already installed a 170 thermostat, sorry I should have mentioned that. Problem is that it doesn't offer any more cooling capacity that i already have. Sure the thermostat opens sooner, but once everything is in equilibrium, more power/load is making more heat. From what I've noticed is that it'll run cooler under normal conditions, but if its hot, going uphill, or towing, it doesn't do much of anything. I could see it as a benefit for track racers who are trying to keep their temp spikes in check in the short term, but for me pulling for 1,000+ miles at a time I am actually considering trying to find a 185 degree to switch it out with.

 

4.6 Intruder, thanks for the reply. Do you know if the max tow radiator is installed in the same position as our current cooler? That may be an option. I'll have to look into how much bigger it is.

 

That's actually a little too low.

 

I would like to stay above 190 as a minimum as well, just my preference.

 

That I am not sure on. I do know the the 3.5 eco and 5.0 use the same radiator on the standard and heavy duty payload package so I can only assume since you can only get the max tow with the 3.5 eco that it should mount in same position and should use sane connections. That of course is an assumption though and can't say for sure. I havent seen under the hood of a max tow to see if the connection points are the same.

The cooling fans are also different for max tow so that would also need changed as well looking at the part numbers.

 

Why do you say that? I would think over 100* would be just fine for operating temp. I'm sure it could be an issue for someone living in colder climates.

 

you can always buy my factory cooler I took off see if you can put it to use