Escapees March/April 2016

“The tuner’s display gives the driver information about the engine’s performance that isn’t otherwise available on the truck’s dashboard.”

À uid as we crossed these passes. The engine coolant temperature (ECT) is a measure of the antifreeze tempera- ture in the radiator. The value is given on an analog gauge on the truck’s dashboard. When the value gets too high, a red light comes on to indicate that the engine is overheating. This is the standard “overheating” light we are all accustomed to seeing in every car and truck. The Edge Tuner goes a little further by displaying a speci ¿ c temperature value in degrees as well as showing the engine coolant tem- perature on an analog gauge. The second temperature value is the transmission À uid temperature (TFT). Some newer model trucks display the transmission temperature on the dashbaord. This important piece of data wasn’t on our truck’s dashboard, so the only way of know- ing the temperature of the engine’s transmission was by installing a tuner like the Edge Tuner. As we drove over these three mountain passes, we were shocked to see the ECT stay within the normal range while the TFT went into the red zone. Since the ECT is what is reported as the “engine temperature” on the dashboard, the gauges on the dashboard made it look like the engine was operating in its normal tempera- ture range as we crept up and over the mountain passes. However, the TFT reported by the Edge Tuner told a different story. It showed that our transmission was overheating. When the transmission À uid gets too hot, it breaks down and stops lu- bricating the transmission ef ¿ ciently. This can seriously damage the trans- mission. So, it is critically important to know how hot the tranny is running and to slow down or stop if it persists for longer than a minute or two. Part of what caused the transmis- sion À uid temp to go into the red zone is that we were changing gears fairly frequently (with the manual override) to keep the engine’s tachometer in the power band on the roller coaster of climbs as we faced one false summit

after another. Another reason is that the air À ow through the engine was low since we could only travel be- tween 10 to 30 mph around the many switchbacks. We have not seen the TFT go into the red zone since that 40-mile drive through the Rockies. This past sum- mer, we traveled in the Eastern states,

and though we tackled many mountain ranges in North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire and Vermont, despite climbing grades well over seven percent in many places, the distances were short enough that the transmis- sion temperature did not get too high.

Continued ›››

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