4G automatic transmission temps

[SonoranSurvivalist]

Hey all,
First let me say I'm having a blast with my new Tacoma. Drove it cross country from the west coast to the east coast where I'm spending my time traversing the Appalachian Mountains. Got a family cabin up in the mountains up an old switchback logging road. I've seen over 20° angle on the road in some sections. I've noticed if I go up in 4H, my transmission temps will start to climb. I've never tried to see the upper limit and instead switch to 4L most times to avoid ever reaching that point. When I point this out to some of my passengers who also drive up and down these roads with their own trucks, they say they hardly ever use 4L, but that they don't have transmission temp readings so for all they know they could be burning up their transmission.

This is my first truck, so I'm not sure what the norm is. I know I watched the temps the entire drive across the country and saw no issues or spikes in temps at all but on the mountain, which is about 3/4 miles long and 800 feet up, anything but 4L and the transmission exceeds normal operating temps (not overheating, just a steady rise in temps).

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[Sandeep1994]

Yesterday i drove my truck 600 miles straight . All through mountains . Coquihalla highway , through rocky mountains from Calgary to vancouver ( canada ) at one point I had a stretch of at least 20 miles straight 8 percent grade uphill . Truck had to use turbo full all the way up to hill . I have trd 6 speed manual . So no transmission cooler for manual . Once i reached the top of the hill stopped and opened the hood to see everything thing is running fine. . Surprised everything thing was working good . It was a hard steep hill for the truck .
One thing i noticed While i was in 6th gear going up . Oil pressure gauge was in middle . But when i shifted to 5th it went to 3/4 . Which i dont understand why would that be . If truck is working hard , turbo fully spooled up . Oil pressure should be high to lubricate everything . In 5th gear oil pressure remained good . May something i don’t know
But rest i can say is transmissions , engine and turbo felt solid . Everything stayed cool throughout whole trip ..

 

[Madmez]

my transmission slightly overheated on 2 wheel drive by another qarter or so on a rocky steep hill that was about a quarter of a mile. It was doing good and not struggling but as soon as I noticed, I switched to 4 wheel drive and the trans went back to normal after 10 minutes or so.

 

[APKurt]

I think this is just a common thing that people experience. My last vehicle was a 2012 Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4 and I used to get high temps in the transmission when driving steep trails. Occasionally I would even get a horrible burning smell. I learned to go to 4 low for the steeper, slower roads and that ended the transmission overheating.

Based on that experience, I just use 4 low any time I am taking slow steep trails. Just yesterday, I was watching Counterfeit Cowboy's Youtube video wherein his '24 Tacoma transmission was overheating. I immediately thought "I bet he's not in 4 low" and later he admitted that when he switched to 4 low the transmission stopped overheating.

 

[SonoranSurvivalist]

Just yesterday, I was watching Counterfeit Cowboy's Youtube video wherein his '24 Tacoma transmission was overheating. I immediately thought "I bet he's not in 4 low" and later he admitted that when he switched to 4 low the transmission stopped overheating.

I saw this too, he was straight up rock crawling.

 

[tacorancher]

I think this is just a common thing that people experience. My last vehicle was a 2012 Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4 and I used to get high temps in the transmission when driving steep trails. Occasionally I would even get a horrible burning smell. I learned to go to 4 low for the steeper, slower roads and that ended the transmission overheating.

Based on that experience, I just use 4 low any time I am taking slow steep trails. Just yesterday, I was watching Counterfeit Cowboy's Youtube video wherein his '24 Tacoma transmission was overheating. I immediately thought "I bet he's not in 4 low" and later he admitted that when he switched to 4 low the transmission stopped overheating.

Sure but the 3G pro he was with never overheated or had to go into 4L..

 

[SonoranSurvivalist]

@tacorancher pretty sure others called out that the 3G did have to go into 4L. Anyways, I'm pretty sure this was an early symptom of transmission failure as I ultimately had my trans and torque converter replaced.

 

[dunder]

How hot is too hot?

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