Want to monitor trans temp

[1111Expy1111]

Alrighty then.

It was painful. But my dayjob involves making sure customers get topnotch service online or on the phone. Ultra Gage failed so badly that I refuse to spend my money with them. Just sayin'.

 

[1111Expy1111]

I had this gauge on my '07. Plastic gauge pod Velcroed to the top of the dashboard. Each line can be selected from a long menu. There are also alarms that can be set and flash the red LEDs. I set it to display TransTemp2 and Cylinder Head Temp. The example is displaying Boost and Trans Temp2. The display will automatically cycle thru several parameters if you want to watch more than two. Text LED color is set at the factory. I recall I used green to match the '07 dash. Just plugs into the OBD2 port.




Back in '07 the developers used my Expedition to reprogram the firmware to display trans temp. Flashed a new gauge on the spot in their garage.

Here's my gauge in 2007. (Wasn't monitoring cylinder head temp when the photo was taken.)
View attachment 40054

View attachment 40055

Green was too bright at night. Switched the display to red.

-- Chuck

Really nice but I can't get myself to spend $250 plus the housing cost. If I towed a lot in summertime, I'd get it, but I don't.

 

[ExplorerTom]

It was painful. But my dayjob involves making sure customers get topnotch service online or on the phone. Ultra Gage failed so badly that I refuse to spend my money with them. Just sayin'.

Hey, I get it. My experience with them has been just fine.

When I transferred the UG over to my 2014, I sent them the codes that work on a ScanGauge and they interpreted into UG code speak.

 

[chuck s]

Housing was $8 or so. Nothing exotic.

Only you can decide how valuable knowing the transmission temperature is. Mine never got hot enough to be concerned. But without the gauge I couldn't tell. $250 on a $50,000 SUV is an incidental expense.

-- Chuck

 

[1111Expy1111]

I've given up. I'm going to visit my local tranny shop (they''ve changed the tranny fluid) and ask them if the OBDC will show trans temp.

 

[chuck s]

ODBC? The data is on the ODB2 buss. That's how a scan gauge can display it. And it's "TransTemp2" as I recall. Not sure what "Trans Temp 1" is or if it can be read.

-- Chuck

 

[ExplorerTom]

OBDC? On board diagnostic computer?

The ScanGauge/UltraGauge are just reading parameters from the OBD. All they are is a display.

 

[Fasttimes]

I ended up ordering the OBDLink MX+ off of Amazon. Setup was straight forward so far. Downloaded the app, updated the firmware and Ford info and on my 2010 I was easily able to get the info on Tranny Oil Temps to display. Haven't dived too deep into it yet, but that's what I needed most to monitor while I tow my TT.

So what is the heat range you should see and what should worry you? Mid-summer driving in the south pulling a trailer, what is acceptable?

 

[chuck s]

I've seen 175°-225°F as the "ideal" temperature and I've seen variations of this chart for decades and it still makes little sense to me. No way a brief excursion into high temps will shorten the transmission life by 50%. Thousands of mines at over-temperature and hundreds at exceedingly high temps I can understand.



Hopefully there's a rational explanation.

-- Chuck