tranny temp got to 250!! yikes,, troubling questions

i have F350 (details below in signature) been towing with it for 10 years approx. must be my year for problems. was coming back home and going up a very light grade i have gone up many times and as i got over it and drove for a few miles i looked over at my edge tunes 8 guage digital thing and the tft said almost 250 degrees!!,,i don't have it alarmed or warning light or anything and just keep my eye on it,, so not sure how long it was at 250. i have never had it that hot ever, it was running 145 ish the whole trip in these colder winter temps. anyway, i immeadiately slowed down,, made sure it was in 4th gear with tran lock symbol appearing ( i have learned that this is the best way to get my tranny temp down) went about 50-55mph for maybe 15-20 minutes and got it back down to 145-150 degrees. the only thing i can think of is that i am running gopowerhungry tunes, the hydrachip,, i have 4 tunes programmed in ( i used the edge consol only for a multiple guage setup) i have a 65 hp tow and a daily driver. i have forgotten to put it in the usual 65hp tow mode,,, i can't believe that would do it but something certainly did. i have had past history of minor probs with tranny,, when shifting down into 3rd gear, even with converter locked (according to lock symbol on guagae cluster) the tranny will slowly heat up. will also do it in 2nd gear with converter locked. the only place the tranny always runs nice and cool is in 4th, locked. it has never been a problem really, until now.

recommendations or advice? just got home and will check tranny fluid tomorrow but suspect it will read at normal levels,, will inspect fluid and probly have it drained and replaced,, (good by 200 bucks)

could it have been just due to the tune selection?

engine temp was ok at 220 ish. my truck does have habit of getting engine temp up to 240 ish at end of longer grades.

i usually watch my egt's and keep them 1200-1300 max, they normally run 8-900 i think ( i think this is pre turbo)

truck description approximately: 2001 f350 7.3L 4 door LB SRW 4WD 6.0L tranny cool, 6.0L intercooler, ballbearing turbo, fancy turbo connections, banks brake (doesn't work) john woods tranny, 185K on engine. towing a 11k 33ft toyhauler

rockwind1
Explorer II
Nov 29, 2020
topjimmy wrote:
Don't have a Ford but I had a Bully dog tuner when I bought a used 2007 Duramax so I said great and tried it on tow mode on my maiden Voyage with my 5er I found out REAL QUICK going up my first stepper grade this thing SUCKS for towing my EGT's went too high and so did the tranny temps so I turned it back to Stock mode and all good again now I do not even use the tuner except for info Canned tuners suck IMO for towing

I agree, but I think power-hungry Diesel has a pretty good set up, I really like the hydra chip, they have a lot of choices and they have many tunes for a modified valve body. I went with the lowest horsepower version and I’ve been running it for years and it has always worked good until now, I’m still not sure what happened but I will be investigating, hopefully like Some said maybe it’s just a sending unit problem, I recently redid all the wiring harness is under the valve covers and also the ECB, as well as changed out the ECB of course. The problem is where I live, I don’t think there are any reputable transmission people and going down to John Wood’s in California to me is like going deep into enemy territory
rockwind1
Explorer II
Nov 29, 2020
voodoo101 wrote:
I have a 2001 F-250 7.3 and I had to watch my tranny temps all of the time until I put the Ford V-10 tranny cooler on it. Now I never see 200 degrees. It is 40 percent bigger than the oem and comes standard with Ford tranny replacements. It should have been oem to start with since the 7.3 puts a bigger load on the tranny. Since it is an OEM for the V-10 it fits right on the bracket with no modifications.

Your Woods tranny may already have the larger cooler.

Good luck.

I put the 6.0L 31 row cooler on mine years ago. Worked amazing.
rockwind1
Explorer II
Nov 29, 2020
Lwiddis wrote:
“i have learned that this is the best way to get my tranny temp down) went about 50-55mph for maybe 15-20 minutes and got it back down to 145-150 degrees.”

Another reason to slow down.

I only do 65. The speed limit on that particular 2 lane is 70 mph. I call It the highway of death, because there’s so many Memorial crosses on it
topjimmy
Explorer
Nov 29, 2020
Don't have a Ford but I had a Bully dog tuner when I bought a used 2007 Duramax so I said great and tried it on tow mode on my maiden Voyage with my 5er I found out REAL QUICK going up my first stepper grade this thing SUCKS for towing my EGT's went too high and so did the tranny temps so I turned it back to Stock mode and all good again now I do not even use the tuner except for info Canned tuners suck IMO for towing
cummins2014
Explorer
Nov 29, 2020
voodoo101 wrote:
I have a 2001 F-250 7.3 and I had to watch my tranny temps all of the time until I put the Ford V-10 tranny cooler on it. Now I never see 200 degrees. It is 40 percent bigger than the oem and comes standard with Ford tranny replacements. It should have been oem to start with since the 7.3 puts a bigger load on the tranny. Since it is an OEM for the V-10 it fits right on the bracket with no modifications.

Your Woods tranny may already have the larger cooler.

Good luck.

If you read his original post, you will see he has the 6.0 cooler, and would suspect its the same one the V-10 had, if not the 6.0 is probably the bigger cooler. 6.0 is 31 row.
cummins2014
Explorer
Nov 29, 2020
rockwind1 wrote:
cummins2014 wrote:
Never saw those temperatures after installing the 6.0 tranny cooler on my 99 Superduty 7.3 towing a 38’ fifth wheel. That 4R100 transmission is certainly not one of fords better transmissions . Google the fluid change on that 4R100 its very easy , and save yourself some money , I did it a few times during the nearly 16 years I had it .

There is a great transmission builder in Arkansas that specializes in the 4R100 that will put your transmission problems to an end . Brian’s Truck Stop

yes i have heard of him,,, at the time i got the john woods,, supposedly john woods was the west coast expert and brian was the east coast expert,, sadlly i am on the west coast so arkansas is long drive. it soundslike you have done fluid change yourself? how do you get the fluid out of the converter and cooler? never mind, i will google it. thanks

Before I decided to trade in my 99 Superduty, I was going to go with the BTS , instead of the John Woods, from everything I read the BTS was the better tranny build. I actually talked to him about a shifting problem, that was intermittent , and he sent be a valve body, thinking that was my issue . Every rebuild he does he puts in a new valve body regardless, so the one he sent me was supposedly a used one ,but okay. All I paid was the shipping. Never got around to replacing it, seemed to start shifting okay, so I just let it go. As far as tuners again ,probably one of the better ones ,and the one I ran was the DP tuner. It had a tow tune ,as well as others, plus the stock tune as well . I also went with the AIS air intake ,4" exhaust turbo back. The truck ran very well, but short of changing turbos ,injectors etc ,it just didn't have the power in the mountains for a 38' fifth wheel that I would like.

As far as the fluid change ,yes just google it ,its easier then me having to explain it, but yes the old fluid gets pumped out of the converter, and as well as the cooler, its actually as said very easy.
shadows4
Explorer III
Nov 29, 2020
I agree with Bucky, it is probably a sending unit problem. How are you monitoring the temp? I use a Scan GuageII to monitor mine and it seems to run warmer than monitoring through the pan like my previous truck. I would go ahead and change the fluid and just keep an eye on it.
Just got my 2003 7.3L F350 back from getting new injectors installed yesterday. Ran great on the way home. Good luck, I think you will be fine.

As far as changing the fluid, I just changed mine a couple of months ago following:here

If you go to Guzzle's page and look around, he has a good how to on changing the transmission fluid.
voodoo101
Explorer
Nov 29, 2020
I have a 2001 F-250 7.3 and I had to watch my tranny temps all of the time until I put the Ford V-10 tranny cooler on it. Now I never see 200 degrees. It is 40 percent bigger than the oem and comes standard with Ford tranny replacements. It should have been oem to start with since the 7.3 puts a bigger load on the tranny. Since it is an OEM for the V-10 it fits right on the bracket with no modifications.

Your Woods tranny may already have the larger cooler.

Good luck.
ppine
Explorer II
Nov 29, 2020
I have the same setup. The old 4 speed 4R100 sometimes needs to be downshifted. What was the tachometer reading when you had the over heat? On steep mountain roads I do not hesitate to let the engine idle and cool off or let the brake rotors cool off either by the side of the road.

The old transmissions are dependable but only have 4 gears. The rebuilt ones now being offered by companies like BD, have a new style of torque converter and stronger parts. They cost about $5,000 but would greatly increase the performance of the 7.3. The price is high but not compared to buying even a used 6.7. I am thinking of making the move at 175 k miles.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Nov 29, 2020
“i have learned that this is the best way to get my tranny temp down) went about 50-55mph for maybe 15-20 minutes and got it back down to 145-150 degrees.”

Another reason to slow down.