cycho
Member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2019
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Ok it's been a few months, 2500 miles and a few trips to the Northland...
I have a GMC Sierra extended cab 4.8 (purchased new, now at ~168k miles) and this 2013 Tahoe 4X4 LTZ 5.3 with 73K on the clock.This thing is a beast! It's takes a bit to get used to but overall I should have bought a Tahoe a long time ago. In fact I still kick myself for not buying a Blazer when I bought my first new vehicle in 1978. That's when I bought a 4X4 short bed Chevy. Really enjoyed that truck but with three kids at the time, a Blazer would have been a better choice.
I don't drive the Tahoe much because we trying to keep the mileage low. We are retiring next year and it's intended to be our last vehicle. We make bimonthly trips to our retirement home which is 150 miles up into the Ponderosa Pines (on the rim as they say in AZ). There are two stretches of highway with several 6% & 7% grades to climb both ways. The longest 6% being 5 miles, the longest 7% being 3 miles. These give the Tahoe problems when towing my 20 foot enclosed trailer.
The trailer weighs about 2800 lbs dry. I figure we were pushing 4000lbs on the way up and empty coming come. Going up was at night so still about 100° in the beginning down to 65° for the last hill. Coming home was late afternoon. Most of the hilly terrain was run in the low 100° temperature. Coming into Phoenix it was 109°.
On the way up the Tahoe coolant temperature reached 235° while the trans temp reached 225° on the steepest portion of the highway. On the way home the coolant once again reached 235° but the trans temp got to 235° on the long 7% grade. This was running about 3K rpm in 2nd gear (i had more pedal but was afraid it would over heat more) . The Tahoe doesn't have an external trans cooler but this is very disappointing just the same. My old GMC pick up out pulls the Tahoe and never overheats! Both have high gear ratios.
Once in Phoenix at 60 - 65 mph on the freeway the trans temp ran 215° to 220° the rest of the way home. Out side temp was a steady 109°. Is this just too much trailer for a high geared 5.3 Tahoe in this AZ heat? By itself or pulling an 8 enclosed trailer the Hoe is awesome!
I just bought a TRU COOL MAX trans cooler but at 108 to 113 everyday it will be a while until I tackle the install. At this point I'm not sure if the transmission itself is over heating or if it's the engine coolant/radiator heating up the trans oil?
Edited Trans temps + 100°
I have a GMC Sierra extended cab 4.8 (purchased new, now at ~168k miles) and this 2013 Tahoe 4X4 LTZ 5.3 with 73K on the clock.This thing is a beast! It's takes a bit to get used to but overall I should have bought a Tahoe a long time ago. In fact I still kick myself for not buying a Blazer when I bought my first new vehicle in 1978. That's when I bought a 4X4 short bed Chevy. Really enjoyed that truck but with three kids at the time, a Blazer would have been a better choice.
I don't drive the Tahoe much because we trying to keep the mileage low. We are retiring next year and it's intended to be our last vehicle. We make bimonthly trips to our retirement home which is 150 miles up into the Ponderosa Pines (on the rim as they say in AZ). There are two stretches of highway with several 6% & 7% grades to climb both ways. The longest 6% being 5 miles, the longest 7% being 3 miles. These give the Tahoe problems when towing my 20 foot enclosed trailer.
The trailer weighs about 2800 lbs dry. I figure we were pushing 4000lbs on the way up and empty coming come. Going up was at night so still about 100° in the beginning down to 65° for the last hill. Coming home was late afternoon. Most of the hilly terrain was run in the low 100° temperature. Coming into Phoenix it was 109°.
On the way up the Tahoe coolant temperature reached 235° while the trans temp reached 225° on the steepest portion of the highway. On the way home the coolant once again reached 235° but the trans temp got to 235° on the long 7% grade. This was running about 3K rpm in 2nd gear (i had more pedal but was afraid it would over heat more) . The Tahoe doesn't have an external trans cooler but this is very disappointing just the same. My old GMC pick up out pulls the Tahoe and never overheats! Both have high gear ratios.
Once in Phoenix at 60 - 65 mph on the freeway the trans temp ran 215° to 220° the rest of the way home. Out side temp was a steady 109°. Is this just too much trailer for a high geared 5.3 Tahoe in this AZ heat? By itself or pulling an 8 enclosed trailer the Hoe is awesome!
I just bought a TRU COOL MAX trans cooler but at 108 to 113 everyday it will be a while until I tackle the install. At this point I'm not sure if the transmission itself is over heating or if it's the engine coolant/radiator heating up the trans oil?
Edited Trans temps + 100°
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