A/T oil temp light

[Drobrunning]

After about an hour of driving, started going up hill en route to go snowboarding, was going about 25 mph up hill, AT oil temp light came on... could smell something hot, let it sit for a bit, finished the trip and got home without a hitch, but drove almost the whole way home in 4high(snowing pretty good in spokane today), i know i need an at fluid change, but any ideas why? thanks guys!

 

[afg10000]

That's usually not a good thing. For that light to activate, it's gotta get pretty hot in there (I believe it's somewhere around 250-275). If it's still shifting all right, that's good. I'd get it checked, flushed and refilled asap. Hopefully it's no big deal. Might wanna think about an external cooler -

 

[Drobrunning]

yeah.... gonna have it looked at soon, and yeah, its been shifting fine, even when engine is under operaring temp in the below freezing temps weve been having. nothing other than the incident today... but Im pretty concerned. have had AT issues with rigs before i bought my t4r, not fun.

 

[Gerdo]

Before driving again, check for a strawberry milkshake.

 

[afg10000]

I agree. Frying trannys is no fun. In my experience, I got it too hot and it worked for awhile until I got it back up to normal operating temp a few times. Hope yours is good. If you gots a '99 or newer, maybe invest a few bucks in a Scanguage so you have a ATF temp readout.

 

[Drobrunning]

Before driving again, check for a strawberry milkshake.

stopped 3 times to check for the milkshake.... have heard some bad stories, if it didnt need to have a fluid change before, it definetely does now, looks pretty burnt for ATF. and afg.... yeah, the fact that it made it about 60 miles shifting fine has left me feeling optimistic.... we'll find out what the professional says monday or tuesday.

 

[rideexileex]

Were you driving with the OD on? If the torque converter wasnt locked up, it can heat up the trans fluid quickly, but I would hope that just regular driving wouldnt actually cause the light to come on...

 

[snivilous]

stopped 3 times to check for the milkshake.... have heard some bad stories, if it didnt need to have a fluid change before, it definetely does now, looks pretty burnt for ATF. and afg.... yeah, the fact that it made it about 60 miles shifting fine has left me feeling optimistic.... we'll find out what the professional says monday or tuesday.

Like afg1000 said, I'd swap the fluid as soon as you can. Last year I had my ATF light come on and didn't think anything about it since I just let it cool down like you did, but then I changed it over the summer and it was super burnt. All I did was drain as much as I could from the ATF pan and then drove it for a few days, then drained it again, etc. so new fluid would cycle through but it wasn't a full flush.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Under normal driving and not towing it shouldn't overheat the trans. Especially in winter.

 

[KidVermicious]

Under normal driving and not towing it shouldn't overheat the trans. Especially in winter.

This. Something is wrong. It could just be nasty old fluid, or there might another issue lurking.

 

[Dubk_trd]

flush the fluid and add a B&M 70264 tranny cooler