Thread: Turbo 400 Trans Experts

Tweet

I need someone that knows a 400 trans. I want to install a trans temp gage and don't want to put it in the pan. I would like to get a faster reading of temps going up or down. There is a plug on the drivers side that is a test port. Can this be used for my probe? Is it hot fluid or cold fluid (like from a return cooler line) that flows past it? If this port isn't able to be used, then I'll just place the probe in the hot out line going to the coolers. This 1/8 npt hole just looked perfect. Any help will be appreciated.

Originally posted by fmj
I need someone that knows a 400 trans. I want to install a trans temp gage and don't want to put it in the pan. I would like to get a faster reading of temps going up or down. There is a plug on the drivers side that is a test port. Can this be used for my probe? Is it hot fluid or cold fluid (like from a return cooler line) that flows past it? If this port isn't able to be used, then I'll just place the probe in the hot out line going to the coolers. This 1/8 npt hole just looked perfect. Any help will be appreciated.

think you are missing the point. you don't need to know how hot the hottest spot it, that wont tell you nothing. you wont to know if you cooler is cooling it down and that's the temp of the oil in the pan after its been through the cooler. if your trans is good and the temp stays at 275 degrees that's fine, but if something happened to the trans then the pan temp wouldn't stay at 275, the temp would go up in the pan to warn you that there was a problem. you put it at the hottest spot it probably wouldn't go up enough so you would know something was wrong. you wont to check the coldest point. you also wont it in standing oil not moving oil. JMO

Its1s10, I already know what it is in the pan, as thats where I had the probe. I just want to see the what it is on the hot side, how fast it climbs, how high it goes, etc. Just a baseline for me. Thats why I'm loolink at an easy, hopefully the test port, way to install the probe.

Originally posted by fmj
Its1s10, I already know what it is in the pan, as thats where I had the probe. I just want to see the what it is on the hot side, how fast it climbs, how high it goes, etc. Just a baseline for me. Thats why I'm loolink at an easy, hopefully the test port, way to install the probe.

the test plug can have up to 300 lb. of pressure on it so i dought if you can put it there. if you tee into the cooler line, thats not gonna tell you nothing, the pan will tell you that everything is right or you have a problem so i really dont know what else there is to know. the hottest spot would be where the cooler line comes out of the trans and go to the cooler, so if you can find a way to hook it up there then go for it .

Thanks Richard, thats where I'm headed but then I noticed the test port and had to ask question. I know on a 727 you can install in the rear test port on pass side and it will give hottest temp, but cannot find any fluid flow diagrams to tell me on 400. I know with test ports you have to be careful not to inhibit fluid flow by installing a probe, so thats the info I was looking into. I'll be looking into my fittings box tomorrow, since I seem to have more selection than my local Earls dealer .

Originally posted by DennyW
That will be less accurate to check the true temp of the trans.

hey denny, the guy has just been told how to take away any protection that a temp senser might give him against running his trans to hot. if you screw the sensor into the case then all you are getting is the temp of the trans case. that dont tell you nothing. he asked for a qualified answer and it wont what he wonted to here so he went with what he wonted to hear.why do i waste my time.

ps fmj you might ask yourself why not screw the motor oil temp senser into the block instead the pan. same thing.

Originally posted by techinspector1
This is a little off the subject, but it just popped into my head and I thought I would share the info. I was talking to Jim Hughes at the drag strip a few years back and learned that when you have the motor stalled up against the converter, you're building heat at the rate of 50 degrees per second. If the fluid is already at 200 degrees, it won't take long to cook it at that rate. Pretty interesting, huh??

thats fine, but the place to check what you have is after it goes through the cooler. when the conv temp goes up the pan temp goes up also, so you work with the cooler to get the temp in the pan to what it should be and that will take care of the conv. when some body ask you the temp of your trans oil thats in the pan not at the conv. you give someone the conv. temp he wouldnt know what to do with it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by techinspector1
Mike, you sure are gettin' cranky in your old age [/QUOTE

dont ? you when you tell somebody about which cams i think you know cams, i know trans. i have about 100 hrs of training on 350 and 400 trans. in GM school and rebuilt a lot of them over the yrs. if i cant be taken serious on those i might as will close up shop.

Damn, I didn't want to start a pissin contest here . I know what the temps are in the pan and they maintain and the coolers do what they are suppose to do. I want to see what the rise in trans fluid is on the hot side, thats all. The trans temp taken in the pan will show any rise in temp slower than on the hot side. The temp probe will go back into the pan when I get the info that I want. Thats why I was looking for an easy way to tap into the trans.

It always amazes me when you ask a question, how you get an answer that doesn't really answer it. And to get in an uproar and start blasting me is a waste of my time. I never questioned anyones technical knowledge here and still don't know what started your ragging. Your attitude, not your knowledge, is what would make you close up shop.

you ask for a professional opinion and i gave you one and that's not what you wanted to hear so you sided with tech. you are not getting a accrete reading screwing the sensor into the chase at any point. the case temp is dif from oil temp. its got 300 lbs. of pressure in the test plug and the sensor is not made for pressure, teeing the sensor into the cooler line is a waste of time it wont give you any useful info. at all and if you don't believe me call GM and ask them and if you are just experimenting with it you should have gone and did it without ask for an opinion. you didn't wont an opinion you wonted somebody to tell you what you was gonna to do was a good idea and when you ask a ? with no intention of listen to the most qualified answer then that's wasting my time. all tech told you was how to hook up the sensor in the cooler line he didnt say whether it would work or not. i took the time to post a answer and it was totaly ignored, you could have said thanks lt1 or kiss my a*s lt1, but i would rather do this or thats not what i wonted. i try to pick the threads that really need some help, but i miss one every now and then.

Denny, I thought that I had stated what I wanted in the first post and then clarified it in my second reply. It was clear to me an not so to you guys. Thats usually the case in writing vs a face to face conversation. You asked for some clarifications but before I could answer, I got hit with three posts saying that I wouldn't know what to do with info, only looking for answer I wanted, etc.

its1s10, it amazed me that you assumed that I wouldn't know what to do with information since you don't know me. I asked a question of which you answered part of. You seemed to be
ticked that I "sided" with tech. I didn't side with anyone, I only said that I had considered doing that. Then you posted twice more without an answer from me and are pissed that I didn't thank you? Then you also state that if I'm doing an experiment don't ask for an opinion. I thought this site was to ask questions? According to you I guess not. As for asking for a professional opinion, I was asking for any information that I could use. Your answer was in no way "professional".

Thanks guys for trying to help. I got hold of diagrams for the fluid flow and it answered my question.

Originally posted by fmj
Denny, I thought that I had stated what I wanted in the first post and then clarified it in my second reply. It was clear to me an not so to you guys. Thats usually the case in writing vs a face to face conversation. You asked for some clarifications but before I could answer, I got hit with three posts saying that I wouldn't know what to do with info, only looking for answer I wanted, etc.

its1s10, it amazed me that you assumed that I wouldn't know what to do with information since you don't know me. I asked a question of which you answered part of. You seemed to be
ticked that I "sided" with tech. I didn't side with anyone, I only said that I had considered doing that. Then you posted twice more without an answer from me and are pissed that I didn't thank you? Then you also state that if I'm doing an experiment don't ask for an opinion. I thought this site was to ask questions? According to you I guess not. As for asking for a professional opinion, I was asking for any information that I could use. Your answer was in no way "professional".


Turbo 400 Trans Experts,
Thanks guys for trying to help. I got hold of diagrams for the fluid flow and it answered my question.

quote- Turbo 400 Trans Experts, I need someone that knows a 400 trans. I want to install a trans temp gage and don't want to put it in the pan

these are you words, if that the way to ask a ? to the general public the im as dumb as you think i am . three people answered the post. i don't claim to be a Experts at nothing but im the closet one you got to on this thread. ask the others what there qualifications are and if either one come anywhere close to mine ill just go away, and yes it makes me mad when i am qualified to answer the ? and you just ignore it.(after you ask for it) but i agree that its my dumb ass ness for trying to help. you didn't say anything about testing and i though you was gonna put it there for good. youer thinking one thing and writing another.