Transmission overheating?

[npgeorgeuw]

Just got a Taxa Mantis and have to park backwards and uphill (quite a bit steep for about 100ft) to a gravel flat space on my mountain property. Being new to towing it took a bit of finagling since there is a curve involved to getting it to its home. Anyhow, noticed immediately that the radiator fan fired up full bore followed shortly thereafter by the engine throttle cutting out completely. Toggled over and the transmission was at 250+ so I’m assuming that’s why the throttle cut out for awhile.

I know that I was doing a bunch of short forward and reverse shifts and backing uphill, but is this level of overheating expected?

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[Minty JL]

Yeah low air velocity of the the radiator and transcooler will heat things up quick.

The 6L80e in my PPV Tahoe avg'd 132* trans temp, so seeing the temp numbers on these creep me out. The hottest my Tahoe got was 195* while shredding my rear tires doing a 1,2,3,4 gear(s) burnout.....damn I miss that truck.

Even with a huge cam, head, FAST intake, 102mm TB, 3200 stall converter, tuned on 93/E85 and 3.73s, it would get 22mpgs on the highway

 

[TheRealStreetcommander]

I live in the mountains and have a driveway so steep and long, people, particularly flatlanders, just cant comprehend it. That said, I towed heavy this past week. My JT ZF wold NOT push the loaded trailer up my driveway in reverse --just WOT and rested stationary on the converter. No matter the vehicle, this is not a rare occurrence for me. If I'd wanted to be an imbecile, I could have just gotten a running start and made it probably. Instead, what I usually do, is just put it in 4-low, and then it pushes it up the hill in reverse no problem. This has been my standard method for towing heavy on steep hills for many years. Again, most flatlanders wont comprehend our situations. I had a 2017 Cummins and had to do the very same thing all the time. NO vehicle is designed to tow a heavy load on an 18 degree slope.

EVERY vehicle that rests on the converter under and extreme load for more than 10-15 seconds will boil the trans fluid out of it. The heat generated in this situation is phenomenal. The additional mechanical advantage of 4-low is the responsible thing to do in these situations. Fair warning, it will crab extra-impressively when turning in 4 low with the trailer.

 

[npgeorgeuw]

I live in the mountains and have a driveway so steep and long, people, particularly flatlanders, just cant comprehend it. That said, I towed heavy this past week. My JT ZF wold NOT push the loaded trailer up my driveway in reverse --just WOT and rested stationary on the converter. No matter the vehicle, this is not a rare occurrence for me. If I'd wanted to be an imbecile, I could have just gotten a running start and made it probably. Instead, what I usually do, is just put it in 4-low, and then it pushes it up the hill in reverse no problem. This has been my standard method for towing heavy on steep hills for many years. Again, most flatlanders wont comprehend our situations. I had a 2017 Cummins and had to do the very same thing all the time. NO vehicle is designed to tow a heavy load on an 18 degree slope.

EVERY vehicle that rests on the converter under and extreme load for more than 10-15 seconds will boil the trans fluid out of it. The heat generated in this situation is phenomenal. The additional mechanical advantage of 4-low is the responsible thing to do in these situations. Fair warning, it will crab extra-impressively when turning in 4 low with the trailer.

4 lo it is. It (the experience) was a learning experience for sure and at the end I just committed and swung it in place. I was most concerned whether it was normal and now at least a few people have confirmed it is what happens with those of us who have steep drives. Thanks for the input and experience for sure…

 

[ShadowsPapa]

EVERY vehicle that rests on the converter under and extreme load for more than 10-15 seconds will boil the trans fluid out of it. The heat generated in this situation is phenomenal.

Think of the friction as that fluid is tossed around the turbine fins and back around again. The shear, the heat.
It's one reason some early transmissions had fins on the torque converter shell and vented bell housing. Heat.

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