Secondary Transmission Filter Installed (Feedback)

[aldive]

Re: I just sent aldive my pics to post.....

Originally posted by William Schumacher
hopefully.....Al will post them soon !!

/B]

Here they are....

 

[aldive]

and number 2.....

 

[aldive]

and.....

 

[aldive]

and Bill's last pic in this group.....

 

[aldive]

Whats involved in attaching the pod to the windshield piller?

Thanks....

 

[Hank]

Looks outstanding
hg

 

[SteveVB]

Gauge looks super

That gauge pod looks great.

About the filter- I mounted mine perpendicular to the frame so Im not having any clearance problems and can use the FL1 full sized filter. Not sure the shorty or full sized is that big of a deal though.
Ill post a pic of my filter and my under dash temp gauge. My gauge is no where near as nice as above- may have to move it- that looks great.

 

[William Schumacher]

I drilled it.

the pod comes with plastic push-anchors,I painted the head of the anchors with the same interior paint,and used those.

I really didn't want to drill it,but double sided tape was not working.

the paint match was dead on perfect,I ordered from
www.paintscratch.com I told them I was painting plastic and they gave me a primer and paint that would flex.

 

[aldive]

Re: I drilled it.

Originally posted by William Schumacher
I really the paint match was dead on perfect,I ordered from
www.paintscratch.com I told them I was painting plastic and they gave me a primer and paint that would flex.

Where did you get your intterior color code?

Thanks....

 

[William Schumacher]

somewhere on the paintscratch website...

there's an 800# for Ford,I gave them my vin #,and they looked searched for me.the #'s were off a bit but the person at paintscratch was sure this would be it.
not too many interior m graphite colors on the '99.

wiring :,
although I had help......the directions could not be easier!

I used 18 gauge wire

my fuse box was right below the pod on the drivers side dash.

I used an accessory terminal in the fuse box for the power

connected Dim to the tail light circuit

grounded the case with a wire to a place under the dash

crimped the sender terminal to the proper length of wire,and ran it up,then under the intake,under the overflow/washer fluid,over the computer up through the wiring harness FOR the computer, over the wiper motor,
and then snaked it through the firewall grommet near the pedals,anchored it under the dash,and sent it up to the pod.

when I 1st hooked everything up,it was reading low,too low in fact, it never went above 81 and stayed in the low-mid 70's.

after speaking with one of the tech's from Dakota Digital,
I needed to check what the sender was set to.
it needs to be at the 40F range {400F},sure enough that was the problem,it had come set in the 30 F range .

to change/check the range : if you have everything hooked up like I did.

I simply pulled up on the gauge....leaving the pod in place,I unscrewed the send wire that was still connected to the sender,I used another short length of wire {stripped at both ends} and screwed that into the send terminal on the back of gauge.
then turn the key forward to the accessory position.
the gauge will display "set",ground the wire to a piece of metal under the dash,the gauge will read "snd",release the ground and the gauge will show the current setting. if it's anything but 40F touch the ground wire again till it reads 40F,when you reached the 40F range KEEP THE GROUND WIRE GROUNDED FOR AT LEAST 2 SECONDS,the gauge will now read HI,the gauge will now display the current warning temp,keep the ground wire grounded for at least 2 seconds ,the gauge will display ---,turn the key off.
you may have to go through the setup,{turn off key turn on key} if you wait too long inbetween steps,it will only give you a few seconds per step.
I left the hi warning set to the default 225 setting.if
I feel that's too high,I may lower it.

does anyone know what the normal opp temp of the tranny should be ?

 

[aldive]

Bill, what did you set the warning for?

How has the tranny temp been running?

Thanks.....

 

[espnfreak]

Wow thats sweet. Good setup man i really like it! I really would like to monitor something like that. I have a secondary cooler but would still like to monitor tranny temperatures.

 

[William Schumacher]

Aldive :, I had it set to the default warning ? it was
2 -something ? 225 maybe,

but,I just realized that I have the fluid,going through the cooler before getting to the filter,I think I would get a better {higher more accurite} reading with it going to the filter first.

I have had major problems with my truck as of late though.....at least major for me.

I blew the intake manifold gaskets,and after I finally got them to fix it under the 00m12 program{cam tensioner problem},I noticed that when I got my truck back...my piaa lights were no longer working ?,and the overdrive button no longer works {light does not com on panel when disengaged}button does nothing when pushed.
and it stalled 3 times that same night,they did something wrong with the work,and the service guy is starting to blame my jacobs ignition and other things ?

I'll know more monday when the service manager gets involved. I'm really P'd off right now.
{someone loned me an escort to drive,and it feels like a kiddy car go cart}...but it's getting me to work !

 

[aldive]

Gauge Installation

I decided that I wanted a transmission temperature gauge. After looking at what was out there, I decided on Dakota Digital ( http://dakotadigital.com/ ) as my gauge of choice. This was based on its looks and its ease of reading this digital display.

I also wanted to “pod” mount on the driver’s side A frame trim moulding..

Dakota Digital was backordered ( a month, they reported to me ) on the single instrument pod, therefore I choose a dual instrument pod. I selected a voltmeter as my second gauge. When the pod came, it was in a box from Auto Meter ( part number 15308 - http://www.autometer.com/ ).

The pod came black. I wanted to match it to my interior color ( tan ). Therefore, I took off the A pillar trim and had the color computer matched at a local paint store. Next, I painted the trim with two coats and allowed it to dry.

I pre wired the gauges and then installed them into the pod. Getting the gauges into the pod is a *****; they are a press in fit. I had to trim a smidgen on the pod to get them in. On the tranny temperature gauge, there are 4 wires to run – one to the sender, one to switched 12 v power, one to the tail light wire ( to facilitate the dimmer circuit ), and a ground. The voltmeter is wired similar except there is no sender; I simply tapped into switched 12 v power at the fuse block to get a signal for the gauge.

The remainder of the installation was straightforward. After mounting the pod ( by screwing it into the trim., I ran the appropriate wires to the fuse block and to the temperature sender. The 12 v power is from the fuse block, the ground is made near the fuse block. The sender wire for the tranny temp gauge is run through the firewall and carefully routed to the sender which is mounted on my tranny filter housing mounted near the frame in the right front wheel well. I changed the transmission aux filter while I was working there ( and added 1 quart of Mobil 1 ATF ). By the way, the fluid was clean as could be and was nice and red, further, after cutting open the filter, there was NO particulate matter whatsoever ).

At this time, I did not wire the dimmer circuit.

The trim was now reinstalled.

The transmission temperature gauge had to be recalibrated for the sender. It is done just like Bill reported earlier in this thread. . This procedure is completed before installing the gauge into the pod. You would think on instruments this expensive; the factory would set the gauge and sender to match, oh well, it’s a simple task.

After the installation was concluded, I fired up the truck to check for a leak at the sender; there was no leak. However, there was a problem with the transmission temp gauge; it read a flashing EEE, indicating a ground problem. After checking all wiring and the complete installation, I discovered that the filter housing was mounted to plastic parts and there was NO ground. After installing a ground wire to the housing, all was fine.

The gauges are unbelievably easy to read when mounted in this manner, except in direct sunlight.

Time for a road test….

 

[SteveVB]

Volts?

Al,

Does the 99 have a volt gauge in the dash? I thought all Ex's had a volt gauge in the cluster. Did you just add the volt to fill the dual pod?

 

[William Schumacher]

so .....you out-did me and got a dual pod

lets see some pics buddy,I want to see the dual pod setup !!

and what is the tranny temp gauge reading after say 20 minutes,the highest mine got to was 140,

 

[aldive]

Pictures will be up sometime tomorrow.

Results of a 15 min drive around town .... max in traffic ( 94 F ambient ) - 172 F, While driving it was arround 155-160 F.

 

[aldive]

Re: Volts?

Originally posted by SteveVB
Al,

Does the 99 have a volt gauge in the dash? I thought all Ex's had a volt gauge in the cluster. Did you just add the volt to fill the dual pod?

The dash gauges are simply glorified "idiot lights". Mine never moves after turning the key.

I wanted a real volt meter and since I needed to "fill a hole", I installed one.

 

[SteveVB]

SO how much does the voltage vary?

What are the gauge readings on the Volt meter. 14-15 volts how much does it vary?

 

[William Schumacher]

Al :, did you come out of the tranny,and then into the filter,then into the coolerbefore going back into the tranny ?

or did you come out of the tranny,then into the cooler,then on to the filter,brfore going back into the tranny ?