2013 Silverado Tranny Overheat in Park !

wxfield · 02-08-2014, 12:34 PM

Hi All,

I have less than 7k miles on my new Silverado W/T. I haven't hauled anything heavy in it since I bought it, and have been using it just back and forth to work. Pretty light duty. I was parked the other night in a parking lot idling and listening to the radio when I noticed the transmission temp jumped up to 189 degrees! I also noticed the water gauge was a bit past it's mid-range temp. I immediately cranked up the heater core to try to cool things down and it helped for the main radiator water temp..but the tranny sender quickly went to 200 degrees so I shut the whole mess down. Just before I did that, the transmission idiot light popped on. I left it there for several hours in 20 degree weather and came back to start the truck and head home..the tranny on start-up was still @ 70 degrees. I got up on the hiway and things came down to about 100 degrees at a legal speed on the hiway. Engine water temp was normal too. Drove for about 45 minutes that way. I tried sitting in my driveway a day or so later in park, and the tranny temp went from 120 degrees to 145 degrees in 35 degree weather fairly quickly.

Anyone have any experience with transmission overheating? And remember what they did about it? If I have to go to the dealer, I want to go armed with some knowledge. Plenty of transmission fluid. I do have the heavy-duty tranny cooler..saw no leaks around it. I'm stumped.

j cAT · 02-08-2014, 02:02 PM

the transmission temp and the engine temp are being tempered by the radiator coolant. with an external tranny cooler this with cold temps is shut down. when you say the temp went beyond mid range my guess is this is over 210 deg f. If so then you may have had a stuck thermostat. this may be due to incorrect coolant in the system. I would bring back to dealership you purchased this from since it is new and under warranty and have this checked out and documented.

most external tranny coolers have a thermostat valve to prevent the transmission from operating with fluid too cold.

I would expect the temp to be 140-160 deg f......at 190 deg f the fluid gets damaged anything above 210 deg f is not good at all...

Tech II · 02-08-2014, 02:52 PM

I agree.....chances are a code is set in the transmission module....

wxfield · 03-06-2014, 07:28 PM

UPDATE:

Took the truck to the dealership and was told that they couldn't find the problem. The next day I made a video of the problem with narration and posted it to youtube HERE. I have contacted the sales manager and plan on bringing the truck back a second time (armed with this video) to see if I can get this problem dealt with. I noted some service bulletins I found by google, I don't have a subscription to alldata, so if someone is aware of this problem or can find any related TSB's easily I'd be much obliged !

-Warren

Tech II · 03-06-2014, 09:36 PM

So this was just idling, and after 26 minutes, it was almost to 180F......What I would like to know is, would the temp drop if you then took it out on the road or continue to rise.....

Sometimes, when a partial quart is used, a whole quart is charged to warranty....even if only a few ounces were used....

Ask for documentation from the online service manual, what normal operating temps should be for this vehicle, under various conditions.....your owner's manual says nothing.....

wxfield · 03-07-2014, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tech II

So this was just idling, and after 26 minutes, it was almost to 180F......What I would like to know is, would the temp drop if you then took it out on the road or continue to rise.....

Sometimes, when a partial quart is used, a whole quart is charged to warranty....even if only a few ounces were used....

Ask for documentation from the online service manual, what normal operating temps should be for this vehicle, under various conditions.....your owner's manual says nothing.....

It does. Once air is flowing over the HD core it seems to come down. I can't imagine that this behavior is what the engineers intended the truck to do however. I will ask for that documentation, that's a good idea..Thanks!

j cAT · 03-07-2014, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wxfield

It does. Once air is flowing over the HD core it seems to come down. I can't imagine that this behavior is what the engineers intended the truck to do however. I will ask for that documentation, that's a good idea..Thanks!

do you have mechanical or electric fans for engine / radiator cooling ?

edit : I just saw your video with this issue. the transmission being low on fluid is what occurred with my vehicle .when I brought the vehicle home I checked all the fluids 7miles on it. all the fluids check good except the transmission fluid was down 1/2 QT. purchased the vehicle across the street at woodworth chev....

if the fluid was that low this would effect the temp. 1 qt low is to much..also the tranny temp coming on at 180 deg f is not correct...I would go back and make sure it is documented correctly that the transmission over temp light come on not the check engine light !

I believe according to my data this tranny temp light comes on @260 deg F..........

gmtech1 · 03-07-2014, 08:08 AM

Check your transmission oil cooler lines. Some of those came out with the rubber section twisted/kinked, causing restriction to the cooler. Will be near the front of the engine, down by the crank pully.

wxfield · 03-07-2014, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmtech1

Check your transmission oil cooler lines. Some of those came out with the rubber section twisted/kinked, causing restriction to the cooler. Will be near the front of the engine, down by the crank pully.

Good to know! ..I will check that at first light and report back. Are you a GM tech?

wxfield · 03-07-2014, 07:56 PM

Here's an update on the interaction with the dealership today..

I went down there today on my lunch break and asked them for documentation from the service manual showing what the normal operating temperatures were for the vehicle. They told me that normal "hot" temps are 160 degrees to 200 degrees.

I asked the service manager if he could explain why so much heat was being generated by the transmission while in park, and if that too was considered "normal" behavior. They never said yes, but kept referring to the following page from the GM online service guide. (attached image).

Although this page describes the "hot procedure" for checking transmission fluid. It just implies that hot operating temperatures are 160-200 degrees.

The service manager kept saying that if the transmission was really overheating that the computer would say so.

Still...

The video doesn't lie as far as I'm concerned. How does the tranny heat up like that in park?

Thinking about going to my normal mechanic (who I trust) and asking for help from him on figuring this out. Don't want him to do anything that'll void the warranty..just want help researching it.

If this really is how a new Chevy transmission is designed to operate, I'll suck it up and shut up. But this sure does seem weird to me.

-Warren

j cAT · 03-08-2014, 08:35 AM

do you have electric fans or mechanical fan ?

Tech II · 03-08-2014, 09:21 AM

One more thing you can do.....go back to the dealership, and ask them to start another 2013, and see what the temp is at idle after 26 minutes.....it could be normal for the vehicle to act this way, just sitting at idle for a long time.....it was getting up to 180F, but maybe it never reached 190-200.....and you said the temp dropped when you moved the vehicle......

So if this "concern"(love that word) only happens during a half hour idle, DON'T LET IT IDLE FOR HALF AN HOUR!!!!!! You are just wasting gas anyway....

wxfield · 03-08-2014, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wxfield

Good to know! ..I will check that at first light and report back. Are you a GM tech?

I checked this morning. And the lines where they transition to rubber hose aren't kinked.

wxfield · 03-08-2014, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j cAT

do you have electric fans or mechanical fan ?

Electric.

wxfield · 03-08-2014, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tech II

One more thing you can do.....go back to the dealership, and ask them to start another 2013, and see what the temp is at idle after 26 minutes.....it could be normal for the vehicle to act this way, just sitting at idle for a long time.....it was getting up to 180F, but maybe it never reached 190-200.....and you said the temp dropped when you moved the vehicle......

So if this "concern"(love that word) only happens during a half hour idle, DON'T LET IT IDLE FOR HALF AN HOUR!!!!!! You are just wasting gas anyway....

Good point. But I bought this for my business. And I will often (especially in winter) let the truck idle while I load it. 15-30 minutes idle time is a regular occurrence when either I or my employees use the truck.

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