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Allison Transmission Operating Temps.

86K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  Horsehaulin 
#1 ·
Vehicle: 2011 Chevy Silverado 3500HD
Hi Folks,
Hope you're all doing well. Just a couple questions regarding the Allison 6 Speed Transmission:

1) What will the fluid temperature be when it's in the "Hot" zone of the dipstick?

2) What should the normal around town (stop and go) driving fluid temperature be?

3) What fluid temperature is considered to be the beginning of Red Line?

Thanks in advance of your comments. I appreciate 'em. Have a great weekend, if you can get away with it.
- Dave
 
#2 ·
160 degrees to 200 is the opperating temp on these trannys. It depends on how accurate the factory gauge is(mines off 10 degrees to my old bully dog gauges I had and my new isspro gauge) If you get up to 160 or 170 on a 70 degree day, your right about normal temp. Thats when you wanna check the fluid on it. In stop and go traffic, on a 95 degree day I hit 200 once, but climbed no higher. 170 is probobally the highest your new trans will ever get in stop and go.
 
#3 ·
260 is the beginning of being way to hot, it will ding a few times, then you need to pull over put it in park and idle it to let the torque converter flow the fluid through the lines to cool. You basicallly never want your trans to be hotter than your engine coolent temp
 
#4 ·
Good luck on even getting it hot enough to even be able to get a hot read on the stick. The 2011 runs extrodinarily cool. I'm looking forward to our first camping trip pulling 15k hoping it will get hot enough for a hot read.

Vehicle: 2011 Chevy Silverad
3500HD
Hi Folks,
Hope you're all doing well. Just a couple questions regarding the Allison 6 Speed Transmission:

1) What will the fluid temperature be when it's in the "Hot" zone of the dipstick?

2) What should the normal around town (stop and go) driving fluid temperature be?

3) What fluid temperature is considered to be the beginning of Red Line?

Thanks in advance of your comments. I appreciate 'em. Have a great weekend, if you can get away with it.
- Dave
 
#6 ·
Them new LML's run crazy cool. Its unfair, I hit 170 almost every day its warm out. Wander if the LML's have the trans lines running through the radiator to pre heat the fluid then pass through the trans cooler like mine does...
 
#9 ·
Perhaps Crafty will lend his expertise here. But from my understanding, be sure that your fluid is set correctly, for too much fluid can increase the heat by getting kicked up into the moving parts. Set the fluid so that it is half way up the lower hash marks in the hot zone at 175 (if your truck has a transmission temperature gauge). It will be around 200 or so at the top of the hot hash marks. But you can run at 220 and more without an issue (depending on how long and how high) — especially if you are running one of Allison's TES-295 fluids (Transynd or Mobil Delvac ATF), which handle the heat and cold much better than the OEM DEX VI fluid. Around town, in heavy traffic, the converter does not lock up and you can actually see higher temperatures than out on the road — ambient air temperature makes a difference, too. Read your manual — IIRC, red line is about 265. In a hard, slow pull in hot weather, you may well go over 200 — though the 2011 trucks have larger coolers and internal provisions in the Allison to allow them to run cooler than earlier models. With that new truck, however, I seriously doubt that you will ever have to worry about transmission temperatures, regardless of what you are doing, no matter the weather or what you are towing. In general, the Allison is not prone to overheating issues if you are not running a tune. DMax5thWheel — your temperature was normal (be sure you are using T/H to prevent the busy shifting). But if you slow to below 25-30 on a steep pull in hot weather, you will push the transmission heat up — since the converter is not locked. Better to get your speed up a bit if you can. BTW, that's not a heavy load and your truck should handle it easily.
 
#10 ·
Never said that load was heavy, + it did handle it. Just had bad fuel. After getting better fuel from Gallup NM to Alamosa CO with all the diff grades I went on, it did its job no problem. @ times I forgot I had a trailer.
 
#13 ·
No problem, I didnt mean to come on strong like that.
 
#14 ·
ohhhhhh miiiikkeeeee.........
this trans doesent need - deepsump or anything. They have made some nifty changes this year. From what i have heard they have pretty much done what transgo does directly. the only thing that the guros are not liking is some of the pressure readings during different wot scenarios.
 
#15 ·
This is interesting - I have the 2011 and when checking trans fluid I was getting below cold check range when cold. So of course I added a qt. Now at around 145 I am at the very bottom of the hot range. If normal operating temps starts at 160 I wonder if I have over filled it???

If so would the 1 extra QT hurt anything
 
#17 ·
Not likely, it will expand but not that much.Your Allison should be good.



Sent from my Evo Shift using AutoGuide App.
 
#16 ·
It looks as though you are too full. Check at 175 (about half way up the lower half of the hot hash mark). What over-full will do is cause additional heat to be transferred to the fluid under maximum working conditions — with the fluid aerating in the working parts of the transmission.
 
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