Transmission Overheating

[Mark3101]

Has the transmission issue been resolved yet? Inquiring minds want to know....<g>!

[flloyd]

Sorry for the delay in getting the details back, it's been a busy season.

The transmission was replaced in Billings at Interstate Power Systems, an authorized Allison dealer. They used a reman from Weller which come painted red as a trademark. The exchange price was about $7500. I also needed a U-joint, which they also replaced, and refilled with TranSyn fluid.

The retarder accumulator bracket wasn't broken, but now that I look at the picture I can see that it has had some strain. We'll see.

After the change, we took it out for a test drive while attached to the Allison diagnostic computer and everything looked fine. The shifting
was a bit rough at first, but got better as the control computer learned the bus. Downshifts into 4th, when slowing down, continue to
be somewhat rough and the mechanic said that I might have to replace the control unit to fix that. Other than that, it runs smooth
as silk and the retarder works better than ever.

I constantly monitor the sump temperature now using the Silverleaf box and it stays around 210 most of the time. We've since put
over 1000 miles on it and all seems fine, again except for some rough downshifts when slowing from highway speeds.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Fred,

I assume you are using the arrow buttons to periodically check fluid levels?

When you pull into a level space after driving and things are up to temperature that is a good time to check. If the transmission is too warm or cool it will tell you, but if you have been driving a while it should be in range.

Last month I had to add one quart even though I have no signs of leaking. I surmise when last filled with Transynd and it read OK it was near the bottom of the range, and after about 3.5 years this last reading finally showed it down one quart. Trying to be that precise with the dip stick is almost impossible.

The shifting should smooth out because it takes a certain number of shift cycles before it has "learned" to match your driving habits.

[truk4u]

Glad you got fixed up Fred, the cost was less that what I had expected to hear from you. Hopefully the hard shift will get better as time goes on.