Towing problem

I towed a 16' boat on a 800 mile round trip fishing and noticed on the long runs that after some hilly terrain that I was getting ATF coming out of the filler tube. The fluid was not burned and I refilled and continued with no problems. what just happened? Worked it too hard? Too hot? I plan to drain and refil end of the week.

As it gets hot it expands, if you are going to do this often you might want to put in a bigger tranny cooler. I've not owned an auto in over 20 years so I don't know whats out there but some options I remember are deeper pans or pans with cooling fins on them. Also seen deeper pans with tubes running thru them that are open on the ends.
Thinking about it I wonder if you could weld up a removable set of fins on a bracket that would attach with magnets just for trips like that, might help with heat transfer some, kinda like a pan with fins held on with a few magnet strips not sure..

Sounds like time for a bigger tranny cooler, and a reminder to run in third gear more often when you're towing. You should also make sure you're not overfilling accidentally. I never liked the dipsticks on these things. They're easy to read when it's too late and the fluid turns all brown and gooey, but when it's clean it's pretty hard to get a good reading.

Matthew Currie said:

Sounds like time for a bigger tranny cooler, and a reminder to run in third gear more often when you're towing..

Click to expand...

X2..

no over-drive when you are towing. the additional RPM will have little effect on fuel economy and it might make you drive a lil slower as well, as should be done with a trailer anyways..

It's probably just heat and expansion of the fluid. But find the tranny vent (on top) check the little plastic cap for mud and blow through there just to make sure it isn't plugged up. One of those things nobody ever thinks about much.
After a fluid change and addition of a cooler, I finally stumbled on some mud plugging the cap on my tranny vent tube.

this sounds like cavitation the vent is one cause over full trans will definatly do this. when you check your fluid does it look like it's foamy

I also concur, check the vent-could have oil, dirt or any crud buildup making it difficult to vent. Keep us posted

Jeff

I didn't check the vent(It's right by the filler tube IIRC, just lower. I will. I also have a OE cooler but haven't installed it yet. I will do that when I change the bumper. I have to get some of those "quick connect" things as the ones on my 99 look different. Are they stealership only?
The fluid wasn't foamy at all just low but within the safe range. I didn't know that you should tow in 3rd and not OD. I will do that henceforth. Aslo I'm going to change the fluid next weekend (payday) as it's not going very far in the next few days. Incidentally it's shifting fine now.