Hot Oil Indicator

TwistedJK

TwistedJK

New member
So last night we decided to take the kids out to the Ocala National Forest to check out the night sky. Before it was dark we started driving down some of the trails that started to turn into some really soft sugar sand. I had the jeep in 4Hi and was keeping a constant throttle to push our way through. While going up a hill, the jeep started to big and the tranny shifted into a lower gear ( I now know I should've kept it in 1st or 2nd). At that point the jeep started beeping and a warning indicator stayed "hot oil." Once I was through the sand I turned off the jeep to let it cool down for about 15-20 minutes. My oil level was fine and my temp gauge stayed dead center. Luckily I had some cell service out in b.f.e. And after a quick google search found out it has to do with my tranny overheating. My '07 does not have a tranny cooler, which from what I read is a necessity. This is my first automatic jeep FYI. Apparently this is Chryslers way of letting us know our transmissions are overheating by giving us a warning light.

Anyway, I ordered a B&M transmission cooler from Amazon prime last night. Fortunately it will be here tomorrow, because we leave for Georgia Thursday. I'll also be changing out the transmission and transfer case fluid, and while I'm at it the diff fluid too, using Eddie's write ups :thumb:

Just thought I'd put this out there in case anyone else runs across this problem. If you guys would like, I'll try and do a quick write up of installing the transmission cooler.
 
seanb123

seanb123

New member
If you had it in 4 low you wouldn't have had this problem. Common occurrence when in 4hi. I usually only use 4hi for snow driving anything serious usually in 4low.
 
TwistedJK

TwistedJK

New member
seanb123 said:
If you had it in 4 low you wouldn't have had this problem. Common occurrence when in 4hi. I usually only use 4hi for snow driving anything serious usually in 4low.
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Yeah, it was mostly hard packed except for the 200ft section that this occurred. There's a first time for everything I guess. Hopefully my error will help someone else that might do the same.
 
Moochie

Moochie

Active Member
If you have AC your OEM cooler is located at the bottom of your AC condenser. Adding more cooling is good to do.
 
Peak

Peak

New member
Very common problem with the JK's that have the 3.8. Last trail I went on 3 JK's had to stop due to their transmission light coming on. We were all in 4LO
 
jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
Peak said:
Very common problem with the JK's that have the 3.8. Last trail I went on 3 JK's had to stop due to their transmission light coming on. We were all in 4LO
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Even in 4LO this will happen if the tranny is left in Drive. Downshifting to 1st and keeping the RPM's up circulates more fluid and keeps it cooler. At certain times this still may not be enough though.
 
TwistedJK

TwistedJK

New member
The install for the cooler seems very easy to do. It should go smoothly, and a lot cleaner once I drain all the fluid.
 
ECHO53

ECHO53

New member
The install is straight forward and easy. Like everyone says it's a must for our 3.8 liters. Give some of the bare metal in the kit some love too.
 
TwistedJK

TwistedJK

New member
ECHO53 said:
The install is straight forward and easy. Like everyone says it's a must for our 3.8 liters. Give some of the bare metal in the kit some love too.
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Yeah, I've got some high temp black left over somewhere to hit the brackets in the kit.
 
TwistedJK

TwistedJK

New member
Jitzoo said:
View attachment 146521

Mopar cooler ...more expensive but fit like it was from the factory as it
should've been
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I know man be won't look as nice as the molar kit (which you can barely tell it's there), but I'm going to have to go with functionality for now. I just dropped $1k on a new lift, for which I'm still awaiting some of the parts. This always happens after I drop some serious coin lol.
 
Jitzoo

Jitzoo

New member
TwistedJK said:
I know man be won't look as nice as the molar kit (which you can barely tell it's there), but I'm going to have to go with functionality for now. I just dropped $1k on a new lift, for which I'm still awaiting some of the parts. This always happens after I drop some serious coin lol.
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I hear you. I'm sure your kit will be fine. I got mine as a gift or else I would've went with the cheaper, functional route as well.
 
TwistedJK

TwistedJK

New member
Finished the install a little while ago. It was very simple and took only about 20 minutes. I was running out of time, so I didn't paint the brackets black. If I get a chance before our trip I'll do it. The biggest pane in the ass today was removing the transmission sump pan. I couldn't get the u-joint in between the exhaust pipe and the back for bolts without having to use a second set of arms to pry the exhaust enough to get in there. I took my time and was able to change the tranny fluid, which smelled awesome and burnt, the diff fluid front and rear as well. image.jpg
image.jpg
 
JK LYF

JK LYF

New member
TwistedJK said:
Finished the install a little while ago. It was very simple and took only about 20 minutes. I was running out of time, so I didn't paint the brackets black. If I get a chance before our trip I'll do it. The biggest pane in the ass today was removing the transmission sump pan. I couldn't get the u-joint in between the exhaust pipe and the back for bolts without having to use a second set of arms to pry the exhaust enough to get in there. I took my time and was able to change the tranny fluid, which smelled awesome and burnt, the diff fluid front and rear as well. View attachment 146794
View attachment 146795
Click to expand...

Looks great. You will have some piece of mind knowing that you're running a tranny cooler!
 
TwistedJK

TwistedJK

New member
Thanks man. Once I get over the "did I install everything correctly" worries it'll hopefully do its job.
 
1

1stbaserobo

New member
I had the same thing happen to my '08. My fluid was burnt pretty bad. I bought the jeep used in 2010 and it never had the temperature warning light installed. Instead my check engine light would come on. After I chipped it I had access to read the error codes, that's when I found out about the wonderful, poor engineering that went into the transmission cooling system. I too added an aftermarket cooler and flushed the transmission myself to clear all of the rest of the burnt fluid that stays in the torque converter (4 quarts) and doesn't come out when changing the fluid. Plus you've got to love getting to the back 3 bolts on the pan.
 
MurderedJK

MurderedJK

Member
You'll be so much happier with the cooler. I had the same issue as you but my transmission died due to the fluid getting so hot, it started to cause the aluminum case to pit and corrode (not a result of wheeling in 4Hi). With a lift, 3.73 gears, 35in tires and all the extra added weight is what killed mine too hard on the tranny. Luckily Chrysler gave me a new tranny under warranty. Since that I re-geared to 5.13, added a cooler and got an Aero-force Interceptor gauge to monitor my rig at multiple different areas. My tranny fluid is always at a 120degrees which is nice, keep in mind Chrysler states the operating temp for the tranny are 180. I never got my fluid that high (180) since getting a cooler.
 
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