This is one of those stories where toooooo much knowledge can be dangerous! Fifth wheeler enthusiast John Dadd from Victoria's CMCA Bushwackers chapter, decided it would be a great idea to know the transmission oil temperature in his Chevvy tow vehicle. What he found scared the socks off him. First up he put cooling tubes through the sump area which helped a little. He then found if you sprayed water on a hot oil cooler the temperature rapidly dropped to acceptable levels. So John fitted two extra oil coolers and fitted a spray bar across the top. You simply press a switch on the dash and water is delivered from a 40 litre tank. This solution can of course be adapted with those with normal radiator over heating problems. We felt it was a rather unique solution and a great example of thinking "outside the square". You can get more info from John by email.

There is lots of info on overheating on the Internet. A great site with loads of info is TCI Automotive. They have some excellent colour graphs that show what to expect as your oil gets progressively hotter. The ideal operating range for automatic transmissions is between 80 and 110 degrees centigrade. They point out that you transmission will only last a thousand kilometres once your oil reaches 150 degrees and it will be damaged beyond economic repair. Well worth a read and it certainly makes one wonder why temperature gauges aren't installed as standard by vehicle manufacturers.