Ive been noticeing my trans is running hot i think, 200 degrees driving a around town is 70-80 degree weather seems a little hot me.
Help please!

Thats normal, the allison runs hot. Just the nature of the beast.

I disagree. I haven't seen 200* since I cleaned my stacks and fins. I run 180ish in 95*-99* oat and that includes towing.

sounds like normal to me, I see that in city traffic, just keep an eye on your fluid, if its too full, it will run hotter, keep it in the mid range of the hot side.

I disagree. I haven't seen 200* since I cleaned my stacks and fins. I run 180ish in 95*-99* oat and that includes towing.


You run 180ish in 95-99* towing? What are you towing? Mine will see 200* in city at those temps. My 03 did too. Mine will hit 230 towin in that temp pulling my 24ft toy hauler.

You run 180ish in 95-99* towing? What are you towing? Mine will see 200* in city at those temps. My 03 did too. Mine will hit 230 towin in that temp pulling my 24ft toy hauler.

I spent all this past Memorial Day weekend towing trailers through the country and through Dallas. One was an enclosed trailer full of Trykes and parts for Special Needs kids and the other was a car I trailered from Dallas to Kaufman and then back, probably 45-50 miles each time and my wife towed the second time. I only saw about 60% highway. The rest was stop and go traffic and city traffic. I tow with T/H and manually set on 5. I also roll into the skinny pedal and take it easy but I do run highway speeds. I never climbed above about 180* on the temp gauge. Now according to my EVO my tranny temp gauge reads a few degrees low but not significantly lower. It was over 95* oat on Saturday according to my onboard temp gauge.
I run Valvoline Max Life transmission fluid and I'm religions about cleaning my stacks and fins.
Actually I'm running a little hotter this year than I did last year but I think it is because I have increased my transmission fluid level up to the 1/2 way point on the cross hatch's. I used to run the level right at the bottom of the cross hatch's.
Once again as I have said before, I will not pull in 6th. I won't go to 5th until I'm on the highway. I maintain about 2000-2500 rpm's the majority of the time. And before anyone says I'm just wasting fuel, I pulled all these trailers on the same tank of fuel and still averaged ~15.5 mpg.
Granted, I do not tow a 24' toy hauler in the mountains but if I did, I feel confident my temps would not hit 230. If they did I would be upgrading my cooler muy pronto.
Also understand my 2006 has only about 67k miles on it and has had an easy life so that may be a beneficial factor as well.

Thanks everybody, It'll have a stage 5 in it before long anyways;)

How do you clean the stacks and fins?

I've never yet seen 200. I've been carrying GVW's of over 12,000 lbs. while towing 3500 lbs. on 90+ days and only saw 175. Of course that's in T/H and 60-65 MPH's. I've been using Transynd and the Ally deep pan since new.

How do you clean the stacks and fins?

I liberally apply a mixture of dawn and simple green to the coolers after the truck has reached running temps.. I soak them down really well and then let them sit for a few minutes.
I then rinse with a pressure nozzle and then use just straight hose pressure with no nozzle on the end. I especially work the transmission cooler as it seems to catch a lot of crap for some reason. There should be a crazy amount of foam. I do this to all my cars after winter and then after the spring rains.

Try to rinse from back to front (fan to grill) as much as possible.

I also clean all my house AC's like this.

What are the "Stacks"

What are the "Stacks"

Each plate that runs horizontal on the trans cooler.

I spent all this past Memorial Day weekend towing trailers through the country and through Dallas. One was an enclosed trailer full of Trykes and parts for Special Needs kids and the other was a car I trailered from Dallas to Kaufman and then back, probably 45-50 miles each time and my wife towed the second time. I only saw about 60% highway. The rest was stop and go traffic and city traffic. I tow with T/H and manually set on 5. I also roll into the skinny pedal and take it easy but I do run highway speeds. I never climbed above about 180* on the temp gauge. Now according to my EVO my tranny temp gauge reads a few degrees low but not significantly lower. It was over 95* oat on Saturday according to my onboard temp gauge.
I run Valvoline Max Life transmission fluid and I'm religions about cleaning my stacks and fins.
Actually I'm running a little hotter this year than I did last year but I think it is because I have increased my transmission fluid level up to the 1/2 way point on the cross hatch's. I used to run the level right at the bottom of the cross hatch's.
Once again as I have said before, I will not pull in 6th. I won't go to 5th until I'm on the highway. I maintain about 2000-2500 rpm's the majority of the time. And before anyone says I'm just wasting fuel, I pulled all these trailers on the same tank of fuel and still averaged ~15.5 mpg.
Granted, I do not tow a 24' toy hauler in the mountains but if I did, I feel confident my temps would not hit 230. If they did I would be upgrading my cooler muy pronto.
Also understand my 2006 has only about 67k miles on it and has had an easy life so that may be a beneficial factor as well.

Dam. I forgot. I did run my trans fluid low, and it made a difference in temp. Then gm filled it back up. Gonna have 2 drain sum.

How does overfilling the trans or running it right at the top of the crosshatch make it run hotter? That doesnt make any sense to me.

How does overfilling the trans or running it right at the top of the crosshatch make it run hotter? That doesnt make any sense to me.
The hypothesis is that the dipstick on the Allison is not entirely accurate and if you fill to more than the bottom of the cross hatch the oil gets into the moving parts of the transmission and causes a little more heat in the fluid, or so I have read. I can neither confirm or deny nor present any facts other than taking a little fluid out of my truck to where it rides on the bottom of the dipstick does seem to make the temps about 10* or so cooler.

What are the "Stacks"

I thought they were all of the coolers=stacked

intercooler
tranny cooler
radiator
a/c condenser

When I say stacks I am referring to the stacked coolers. I guess it could be taken as both.

The hypothesis is that the dipstick on the Allison is not entirely accurate and if you fill to more than the bottom of the cross hatch the oil gets into the moving parts of the transmission and causes a little more heat in the fluid, or so I have read. I can neither confirm or deny nor present any facts other than taking a little fluid out of my truck to where it rides on the bottom of the dipstick does seem to make the temps about 10* or so cooler.

Your hypothesis about the dipstick is wrong. Its accurate allright, but you can't ignore physics...

I can present some FACTS:
Fluid expands with temperature due to decrease in density.
When the fluid expands the fluid level will rise.
If it rises enough in the transmission, it will get into the rotating parts.
If it gets into the rotating parts, they will throw it around like its in a blender.
If you do work on a fluid, it raises the level of average random molecular kinetic energy commonly known as "heat".
This work you're doing on the fluid making heat eats up your precious HP.

Now as far as the dipstick fluid level accuracy goes...
1) The dipstick HOT full band is marked from 100 to 120 mm up from the bottom of the stick for a 20mm wide band.
2) The owners manual says to check the level when the transmission temp is from 160F to 200F.
3) Due to the fluid expansion the level will rise approximately 1 mm for every 3 deg F of sump temperature. So over the 40F temperature band (160 to 200F) the level will rise 13-14mm, or almost 3/4 of the entire width of the HOT band.
4) The level will continue to rise with temperature and the max operating temp of the trans is 250F.

The INaccuracy comes from a common interpretation. Most people think that more is better, but as you can see from the illustration being at the TOP of FULL at 160F is overfilled. Think of the band as temperature. At 160F you should be at the bottom, at 200F be at the top.

Your hypothesis about the dipstick is wrong.

Two things -
1. Not *my* hypothesis.
2. Sounds good...

Your hypothesis about the dipstick is wrong. Its accurate allright, but you can't ignore physics...

I can present some FACTS:
Fluid expands with temperature due to decrease in density.
When the fluid expands the fluid level will rise.
If it rises enough in the transmission, it will get into the rotating parts.
If it gets into the rotating parts, they will throw it around like its in a blender.
If you do work on a fluid, it raises the level of average random molecular kinetic energy commonly known as "heat".
This work you're doing on the fluid making heat eats up your precious HP.

Now as far as the dipstick fluid level accuracy goes...
1) The dipstick HOT full band is marked from 100 to 120 mm up from the bottom of the stick for a 20mm wide band.
2) The owners manual says to check the level when the transmission temp is from 160F to 200F.
3) Due to the fluid expansion the level will rise approximately 1 mm for every 3 deg F of sump temperature. So over the 40F temperature band (160 to 200F) the level will rise 13-14mm, or almost 3/4 of the entire width of the HOT band.
4) The level will continue to rise with temperature and the max operating temp of the trans is 250F.

The INaccuracy comes from a common interpretation. Most people think that more is better, but as you can see from the illustration being at the TOP of FULL at 160F is overfilled. Think of the band as temperature. At 160F you should be at the bottom, at 200F be at the top.

What do you mean by "rotating parts" ?

What do you mean by "rotating parts" ?

Park gear on the rear carrier and the PTO gear or tone wheel on the rotating clutch housing are the first to hit. They're a little more than 1/2" above the top of the HOT band (Hot full level). So if you're Hot full at 200F there's some room left to still expand, because the overtemp doesnt set until 250F there's another 1/2" of fluid expansion to be expected.

However, if its set to be full at 160F (or colder) then it could whip up the fluid and overheat starting at a little over 200F.