trans ?

[ohioDemon]

hi, what are the symptoms of an overheating transmission? i have a 727/3200 stall behind a built 360.
i am curious to whether it would cause a car to slow down at the dragtrack.
whats an easy way to check trans fluid temp and what temperature should i be shooting for ?

thanx in advance,ohiodemon

[b-1ken]

You can put a temperature sending unit in the pan with a temperature gauge, but this might not seem too "easy" for you. I have to "hot lap" my car during late rounds sometimes and I'm sure that the transmission is cookin'. I used to have a gauge on my '67 Cuda but not any more. It got up near 300 during hot lapping on occasion. The reason that I don't use a gauge any more is that it would give me something to worry about while I'm staging the car. There's really nothing I can do about the temperature and I don't need any distractions. My race cars all have Powerglides and I've never had one not work correctly due to overheating. I know of plenty of dragster guys who just reroute the cooling lines right back into the trans without any cooler. I, personally, wouldn't do that, but it's done quite frequently. The guy who built my torque converter said that it showed a slight coloration upon internal inspection. He said the color indicates it's getting pretty hot, but there was no damage. That converter is used behind a 511 B-1 (850+ HP). I run the car almost completely down the track in high gear (shift on the throttle stop at .4 seconds) and I have a pretty small trans cooler.

[mtrv8n]

Generally, the symptoms are that you put your foot down and nothing happens...

[LA360Dart]

Hi ohiodemon;

The fluid may pick up a burned smell. Secondly a change in color from red (ATF) to a slight brownish tint, would indicate too hot. In a drag car the transmission life is difficult in that life drops as temperature increases. Most of the charts for that temperature verses life are for a normal street car not a drag application. Even in a drag application I would try to keep the temperature under 240 deg fahrenheit just to be safe. The money spent on a cooler verses $$$$ to remove and replace your torqueflight and converter, would be money saved. A second thought welding shops sell a type of crayon that melts at a specific temperature( used to see when a certain temperature is obtained for welding ) might be able to use this to gauge the approxamate temperature of the transmission


Denny

[b-1ken]

Originally posted by LA360Dart
Hi ohiodemon;

The fluid may pick up a burned smell. Secondly a change in color from red (ATF) to a slight brownish tint, would indicate too hot. In a drag car the transmission life is difficult in that life drops as temperature increases.

If the fluid has a "burned" smell, it's due to clutch or band material burning from slipping. As I mentioned earlier, my transmissions get pretty hot during late rounds and the fluid never smells burnt. I use Quaker State fluid (not synthetic) and it comes out looking slightly darker than new. I don't have much of a cooler and I "high gear" the car vitually all the way down the track with an 850 HP engine and an 8 3/4" torque converter.