Car auto boxes

[SipMerlin150]

I have an 1998 ford falcon (4 liter inline 6) and driving it 80 miles per round trip each day for commuting, I find that only halfway through that journey of 70mph motorway driving, that the autobox begins to reach its 'normal' operating temperature. You sometimes feel the shifts are a little different from cold. Not in a bad way, but you do feel the difference. So school runs and short shopping trips and city driving are going to be terrible on auto boxes..

 

[Robotstar5]

So school runs and short shopping trips and city driving are going to be terrible on auto boxes..

So my 7 mile commute <40mph is going to cause problems for my autobox?

 

[Shox Dr]

If I had to drive in traffic everyday it would be an Auto, [as others have said]. But for fun I'd always have a Manual.

I have found the best of both worlds to a degree. My Pickup has a 3.7 Straight 6. Pulls like a train, so once rolling I rarely take it out of 4th. But then I trundle round at 45/50 in it

 

[MattF]

So my 7 mile commute <40mph is going to cause problems for my autobox?

Nope. It'll get upto temp in no time with stop/start type driving. Cruising, as in motorway driving, is when auto boxes run cool.

 

[dannyp]

So my 7 mile commute <40mph is going to cause problems for my autobox?

it'll be fine. really i wouldnt worry about it and just drive it, if it's a small car it'll be desinged to do small car things. but a big yank type ford is going to take a lot more warming up.

ALL cars like a good drive every now and again. if it;s a torque converter auto the slip on the torque converter when in drive but stationary will help warm it's oil up optimal temp soner than if it was put in netural. tho as you have a relativly short low speed commute i hope it's attached to a petrol engine and not a small high output turbo diesel thats got a DPF straped to it. if it has it'll deantly want a longer run finding for every now and again

 

[Robotstar5]

...tho as you have a relativly short low speed commute i hope it's attached to a petrol engine and not a small high output turbo diesel thats got a DPF straped to it. if it has it'll deantly want a longer run finding for every now and again

Been driving diesels for last 25 years so was looking for another until I started researching the horror stories of DPF's so this one's a petrol with an auto box, which is handy because I tend to stall manual petrol engines as I'm used to the low speed torque from a diesel

 

[hotrodder]

Many (most, nearly all?) autos have a transmission cooler heat exchanger built into the radiator. While it will actually cool the ATF under some circumstances it also heats it a lot of the time i.e. coolant being 50% water has much better thermal conductivity than oils (and most liquids) so the coolant heats up faster than oil and then helps get the oil up to temp/keep it there

It's not gonna kill an autobox or anything but a 7 mile trip at under 40mph ain't gonna get ANY car 'properly' upto temp i.e. get everything hot enough, for long enough, to evaporate condensation and 'boil off' the nasty by products of combustion.

I like to knock it into N whilst stationary, purely because you can feel the transmission wanting to push the car forward, so something must be slipping to allow the power to waste away when just stationary. First gear are normally the clutch packs as well as second gear, and whilst 3rd and 4th are band clutches.

It's not wasting power. The engine is producing power when idling, more than needed to keep the thing running and deal with parastitic losses (say from the auxillary belt(s) to drive the alternator etc). In gear or out of gear the throttle is closed, this is why putting an auto drive causes the idle rpm to drop a little. Every auto i've owned has had a similar idle speed in neutral to a manual engine of similar size/number of cylinders and idles at lower rpm than the manual when you drop it into drive



All we're missing is an argument about whether it's acceptable to use your left foot to brake with

 

[Robotstar5]

All we're missing is an argument about whether it's acceptable to use your left foot to brake with

I have used left foot braking to dry the brakes after going through water (flood, ford etc.) the only car I had trouble with was a Nissan that decided if I was operating the brakes it would cut the engine power!

 

[Shox Dr]

It's not gonna kill an autobox or anything but a 7 mile trip at under 40mph ain't gonna get ANY car 'properly' upto temp i.e. get everything hot enough, for long enough, to evaporate condensation and 'boil off' the nasty by products of combustion.

Ain't that the truth, Fitted a coolant preheater to the truck last yr, what a difference, even now the weather has got warmer, you can definitely feel the engine is freer, first thing. Uses sod all leccy as well

 

[Robotstar5]

Ain't that the truth, Fitted a coolant preheater to the truck last yr, what a difference, even now the weather has got warmer, you can definitely feel the engine is freer, first thing. Uses sod all leccy as well

Did you fit one of the Kenlowe heaters or something else?.

 

[Shox Dr]

One of these

 

[Robotstar5]

One of these

Thanks for the link - Currently out of stock

Did you fit a weatherproof electrical connection?

 

[Shox Dr]

No just a 3way flat plug It gets stuffed through rad grill. In a new car I'd fit a waterproof panel mounted, in the bumper

 

[dannyp]

one of my old trucks had a diesel burner fitted with a funky littel controll pannel to set it with. for tempritures ties and all sorts of funky littel tricks it would do.

used to have it set to fire up and turn the blower fan on low about 1/2 hour before would leave for work and about 1/2 hour before leaveing work. chould also just set it to run and keep truck warm. it was awsomeness no matter what weather was doing jump into a nice warm truck no faffing about waitig for it to defrost, or being bloody cold for the 1st 3 miles or so. even better on site when cold and wet

i honestly recon it also saved me quite a lot of diesel. not running engine for heat and also i think that it used to drink somethign spectial when it was cold as it'd blow quite a lot of smoke and not go very well untill it had warmed up a bit

 

[SipMerlin150]

It's not wasting power. The engine is producing power when idling, more than needed to keep the thing running and deal with parastitic losses (say from the auxillary belt(s) to drive the alternator etc). In gear or out of gear the throttle is closed, this is why putting an auto drive causes the idle rpm to drop a little. Every auto i've owned has had a similar idle speed in neutral to a manual engine of similar size/number of cylinders and idles at lower rpm than the manual when you drop it into drive



All we're missing is an argument about whether it's acceptable to use your left foot to brake with [/quote]

With the type of motor I have you really have to hold down on the brake pedal quite firmly or it will still creep, even at idle RPM's (650rpm) It has a large amount of torque. I often find it more easier to throw it into N and handbrake it. You can left foot brake... the first few times of trying it out were a hoot..