Quote:
Originally Posted by Garand1
I can absolutely tell you that on my MH...96 32foot Bounder 460/e4od on my last trip..........yeah..........the 4 ways definitely messed with my transmission. I had a story/response that took me 25 min. to type out, but,  i accidentally hit the back button on the computer and lost it all  , but I'll redo it and tell you what happened. |
Well, let me tell you a little story. My wife and I were coming home from our first camping trip of the year Memorial weekend. We were just south of Syracuse New York on i-81 between Nedrow & Lafayette in an area where there's some steep hills up & down. On one of the hills my speed had dropped to about 50 miles an hour and I pulled into the far right hand lane to climb the hill about halfway up the hill I turned on my flashers, I already had my overdrive button off. Once I started on the downward side of that hill I noticed that the transmission seem to shift kind of strange. When I got into flatter sections of roads I notice my RPM's were considerably different than they had been. Normally I travel at approximately 62 miles an hour, which is about 2400 rpm, the peak torque curve of the engine.
Now it was running at about 2800 rpms at about 60 miles an hour, & the torque converter would occasionally lock for a few sec and then unlock again(depending on throttle setting, it would lock when I pushed down hard on the pedal)I didn't have too much further to go, it was about 10 miles to my exit which is the Cortland exit. Once I got to Cortland I pulled over at my work, and looked at things to see if I could see anything wrong. It was then that my wife noticed that the 4 Way flashers we're still on from when I pulled the hill earlier. I got back in the motorhome shut off the flashers and continued home. It was about 10 miles to home & everything seemed good & it seemed to shift very well and as it should. On the way home on a flat section off road in which I was going about 55 miles an hour, I turned on the four way flashers to see what it would do and once again the torque converter unlocked and my RPM's increased up to about 2700 just under what it was at on the interstate going 60. When I got , I parked the MH & got out and checked underneath it and I did notice that the transmission was dripping red transmission fluid. I then looked all over and I noticed that they were drops of transmission fluid all over on the outside of the motorhome on the sides and in the back. I immediately washed the MH to get the trans oil off the exterior. The next day after work I checked the level of the transmission fluid, it was low, it was three quarts low.
I added the new fluid and cleaned the outside of the transmission with spray cleaner and wipe everything down so it was nice and clean and dry. I then started the engine and ran it for about 20 minutes until the transmission had warmed up. I kept an eye on the transmission to make sure it wasn't going to be dripping/leaking as it was sitting there running & everything looked good. Needless to say after that experience I won't be using the 4 Way flashers while in motion anymore......ever. In the two weeks following Memorial Day weekend I ended up adding a auxiliary transmission cooler to the very front of the the stock cooler. I used weather stripping as a cushion and seal between the two coolers. The stock is the hotter with the new cooler is cooler in the front and returns the cooler fluid back to the transmission. I also added an electric fan to the backside of the stock cooler so that when the fan runs it pulls air 1st through the auxiliary cooler and then through the stock cooler. I also added a B&M transmission temperature gauge with the fan switch mounted to the side of the gauge housing. I plumbed the sensor into the transmission test port. Hopefully it didn't do any damage to the transmission or torque converter, because running it with the four ways on definitely caused the torque converter to run unlocked which overheated the trans fluid. I guess I'll find out soon enough as we have a camping trip planed to Watkins Glen International Speedway in two weeks(they have awesome camping facilities there), there are some pretty good size hills there so I guess I'll find out, but...... I can tell you one thing, I won't be using the four ways!!!!!
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