AlienAbductor

I need help with my transmission cooling. I have searched for hours on here and have not found a conclusive answer, I even called my service tech at the dealership and not surprisingly he could not really help either.

I tow a 30' travel trailer that weighs about 6500lbs. Most of the time the truck performs flawlessly with plenty of power and easy manners on the road, but with the current temperatures in Arizona above 110 degrees, I have experienced some high temps while going up long, steep mountain passes. The transmission has not yet overheated or gone into limp mode, but it has gotten to about 240 degrees nearing the peek of the long uphill climb. I have also noticed a drop in power as the engine gets hotter. This has only happened for a couple of minutes and quickly returns to about 200 degrees as it levels out, but I am still concerned about making the trip many more times over the summer.

My truck is a 2011 FX4 Ecoboost with the tow package. It has about 15K miles with almost 3K towing that trailer. I cannot get a definitive answer on whether or not I have the super cooling transmission cooler or just standard. I have have heard yes and no. I also would like to know if I don't have the super cooling transmission cooler if it is worth the upgrade, or better to get an aftermarket cooler, I have heard they are pretty universal. Would a new Wagner or FR intercooler help this problem?

Any input or assistance is greatly appreciated. Just to be clear I have had zero issues with my truck so far, I just want to keep it running strong for many years and don't want high heat to damage the transmission.

Thanks for the help.

dieselhunter44

Those are kinda high, but still normal temps. The new synthetic fluid can handle a lot more heat than the old conventional could.

Also the transmission is thermostatically controlled, so adding a bigger cooler will do nothing to keep temps down once it's warmed up to operating temp. It will always be in the 190-210 range unloaded. 220-245 with a trailer

bubbabud

As I sit here in my air conditioned house in Tonopah AZ The out side temp is 122
As to your question if your truck has the standard tow package it is equipped with a standard cooler only the trucks with the max tow have the larger trans cooler.
my 11 EB has only the standard tow and I tow 6,000 to Vegas without a problem my trans temp will climb to around 225 on hard pulls and runs at 195 normal.
The synthetic fluid used in these trucks should stand up to this temp your trans warranty and the same thing to the engine warranty if you install a different CAC. I would leave it be and if you think its to hot just down shift and reduce speed a little

AlienAbductor

Thanks for the quick replies. At least I know for sure I have the standard tranny cooler, and from the sound of it you guys don't think there would be a substantial benefit to upgrading to the super cooler. I'll see how the next pull goes and re-evaluate from there. I am glad to hear that 240 degrees is not too unusual for a hard uphill pull, and there is no need for me to bee too concerned about the temps.