Tranny cooler problems??

[Mark Oomkes]

Over on Grounds Trade Xchange there is a thread about a problem with a '02 Ford tranny blowing up as the contractor was backing up a hill with a trailer. Somebody at his dealership told him this is because there is no cooling other than the fan because there is no forward movement.

Is this true? I would think if this were true that Ford would be having a bunch of problems from snow plowers. I'm pretty sure I'm as hard on a tranny backing up plowing as someone is backing a trailer up a hill, unless it's way overloaded.

[4evergreenlawns]

That just does not sound right at all. The fan pull air past the radiator reguardless of the direction the truck is going. Of course you have more air flowing going forward but that has nothing to do with the direction of air flow from the fan.

Seems like there is something missing from this story. Hope you did not hear this from Meyer........

[Pickering Snow]

Mark n Ron

Mark i agree wth Ron something is missing in the story line my new trucks 03 and he two 04s have a trans temp gauge in place of the old volt meter i doubt very much that it gets that hot after the storm we pushed wensday night i never seen the gauge move beyond the half mark all night and that snow was a tranny buster has you know all ready, Some timeswith the wrecker on repos i will back a vech all the way down a road because of access and stealth and it never bothers temp gotta be more to the story like the fable meyer is talking on that 550

[Mark Oomkes]

That's what I am thinking. I think there may be a little embellishment, but that is coming from the dealer\service advisor. The following is a quote from this contractor. He lives in CA now but used to live and plow in the Chicago area.

Ford designed the electronic shift 4 speeds and did not put a reversable pump in the mix, so, when you back up with a 4 speed auto, the oil sits stagnant. If you just got off the road pulling a trailer, then have to back up, if there is any way you can let the truck sit before moving backwards, it will save your tranny.

I do not know that much about transmissions, but this statement does not make sense, either. Don't transmissions require fluid flowing to move the vehicle?? Unless this is referring to fluid going throught the cooler. But there is still fluid flowing, to make the vehicle move, correct? I'll see what I can find out from my dealer as well.

[wyldman]

That's hogwash.The trans pump turns anytime the engine turns.Does the engine turn backwards when you back up ? No.

The only time it could be an issue,is after a long hard pull with a load on,and then you stop and load the truck heavily backing a heavy trailer up a hill.There will not be as much airflow over the trans cooler (fan still pulls some,but not much without the fan clutch engaged),and the trans may get hot.If your pulling that heavy,you should have a trans temp gauge,and be keeping an eye on it.

[Mark Oomkes]

That makes much more sense. This is probably what happened, he lives in San Diego area with a lot of hills, does hardscaping, i.e. heavy trailer loads.

[4evergreenlawns]

Chirs,

My thought as well, with the addition of if things are running that hot shouldn't the fan clutch kick in giving the addtional cool effect?

Just another half story. Someone F'ed up and we get only what he wants us to hear.

[wyldman]

A lot of times the fan clutch won't kick in,as it takes a lot of heat from the rad to do so.Under the right conditions,the trans fluid could get hot,yet the air flowing through rad may not be hot enough to kick in the clutch fan.This would be a rare case though,and only on a vehicle capable of producing lots of trans heat in a short time,without the cooling system getting as hot.Most likely a diesel moving a large trailer or load while moving slowly.

[Randy Clarke]

I agree with Chris..more to this here goes the But.. Reverse gear is higher ratio than first on our Fords so it takes alot of throttle to back-up a heavy load which will build heat fast. More so than a heavy pull forward in 1st (auto). If the guys was pulling heavy than does a hard push in reverse you will see that hookey temp gauge go skyward. Than shut the truck off and all the heat stays in the tranny. Add old fluid a truck that works 2-3 years old hum...
I've had my truck pushing 15k into a site (uphill sand)and stall the trans. that it did not spin the wheels or move the load back futher.