Transmission Drain Plug for Stock Pan

[RedDakooter05]

For towing it can definitely help especially if towing close to max capacity. If only towing 1,000 lbs then probably not really.

For sure, hence "basic" towing. (I'm drinking and tired so vocabulary is limited atm).


I'm just gonna back down, at this point I don't have any scientific evidence to back up any of these claims. My experience stems from touching hot ass things that I should've known better not to.

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[daczone]

Cooling fins do very little to drop temps. They vent temps quicker but if there's constant heat(ie the transmission itself) being applied, the oil will just be the same temperature.

Like the CPU on my PC. The heatsink won't don't much if I didn't have a cooling fan constantly drawing heat away.

Most Ford F-150 folks (same transmission) which have a transmission temp, I've seen report 10-15 degree cooler temps. Not sure if it's the aluminum or the added capacity... or maybe even wishful thinking. Our Rangers will have no way to verify the effectiveness, but it may be a nice feel good.

 

[Trigganometry]

The more surface area you have (fins) the faster you can dissipate heat. The material (aluminum) is on the high end of heat transfer compared to plastic. In reality they’re worlds apart in their efficiency to dump unwanted heat.

 

[RedDakooter05]

Most Ford F-150 folks (same transmission) which have a transmission temp, I've seen report 10-15 degree cooler temps. Not sure if it's the aluminum or the added capacity... or maybe even wishful thinking. Our Rangers will have no way to verify the effectiveness, but it may be a nice feel good.

I think the extra ATF played more of a role, and the pan being aluminum added to it.



If my ranger was high milage and I had money to blow, I'd consider plugging in sensors and testing this. But atlas, It only has 8500 miles.

 

[Jason B]

TIL we have plastic trans pans. Please don't tell me we have plastic oil pans, too.
BTW, I never crawled under the truck. Do we not have a cooling/warming line to the radiator as was done for the last 50 years?
IMO, Ford could have done as was done on some vehicles. My son in laws Continental had two plugs on the pan. You removed both plugs then pumped fluid in one until it came out the other hole. Then your trans was full. Don't know if there was another for draining. Not as easy as a dip stick, but that method would be a lot easier on the Ranger than on a Continental.

 

[Frenchy]

TIL we have plastic trans pans. Please don't tell me we have plastic oil pans, too.
BTW, I never crawled under the truck. Do we not have a cooling/warming line to the radiator as was done for the last 50 years?
IMO, Ford could have done as was done on some vehicles. My son in laws Continental had two plugs on the pan. You removed both plugs then pumped fluid in one until it came out the other hole. Then your trans was full. Don't know if there was another for draining. Not as easy as a dip stick, but that method would be a lot easier on the Ranger than on a Continental.

The transmission cooler/warmer sits on the side of the transmission and coolant runs strait to it. As for the transmission pan yes it is plastic. As for a.plastic oil pan for the engine? Can't say I have seen one but I would not be surprised

 

[pwrplay]

Cooling fins do very little to drop temps. They vent temps quicker but if there's constant heat(ie the transmission itself) being applied, the oil will just be the same temperature.

Like the CPU on my PC. The heatsink won't don't much if I didn't have a cooling fan constantly drawing heat away.

Wouldn't the trucks forward movement at speed provide the removal of heat similar to what
a fan would do on a CPU heatsink?

 

[Dgc333]

Cooling fins do very little to drop temps. They vent temps quicker but if there's constant heat(ie the transmission itself) being applied, the oil will just be the same temperature.

Like the CPU on my PC. The heatsink won't don't much if I didn't have a cooling fan constantly drawing heat away.

Cooling fins absolutely drop temps, just look at the radiator in your truck or the cooling fins of an air cooled motor cycle. How much they help on a transmission pan is another question.

FWIW, Motortrend did a test a number of years ago to see. They installed a temp gauge in the pan and ran a test loop and saw a max temp of 200F. They repeated the test with a finned aluminum pan and saw a max temp of 190F. I would expect you would do better with the Ranger because the plastic pan does not conduct heat as well as steel does in the Motortrend base line test.

Is it worth it? You need to make your own decision on that.

 

[MikeyB]

The transmission cooler/warmer sits on the side of the transmission and coolant runs strait to it. As for the transmission pan yes it is plastic. As for a.plastic oil pan for the engine? Can't say I have seen one but I would not be surprised

Interesting topic and discussion guys.
As for the oil pan it is aluminum. I’ve done 2 oil changes already on mine. ‘21 Lariat

 

[Frenchy]

Interesting topic and discussion guys.
As for the oil pan it is aluminum. I’ve done 2 oil changes already on mine. ‘21 Lariat

We are aware that it's an aluminum oil pan on the Ranger. My statement about the plastic oil pan is more towards other vehicles. As mentioned above I'm not aware of any that haven't plastic engine oil pan but I wouldn't be surprised if there is one

 

[Frenchy]

Wouldn't the trucks forward movement at speed provide the removal of heat similar to what
a fan would do on a CPU heatsink?

With a movement alone it would definitely make a difference. When sitting still the best it's going to do is radiate. Even with sitting still it'll still make a difference

 

[RedDakooter05]

Wouldn't the trucks forward movement at speed provide the removal of heat similar to what
a fan would do on a CPU heatsink?

Well, thats definitely a good point.

 

[Canadian Ranger]

Bolt or no bolt, I think the bigger issue is the plastic pan, which is HUGE btw, and has no protection over it, unless you could the tin fold heat covers on the sides

I am waiting to hit the mileage to change mine out and am sold on the cast aluminum pan.

Don't wait on mileage, do it asap.

 

[D Fresh]

TIL we have plastic trans pans. Please don't tell me we have plastic oil pans, too.
BTW, I never crawled under the truck. Do we not have a cooling/warming line to the radiator as was done for the last 50 years?
IMO, Ford could have done as was done on some vehicles. My son in laws Continental had two plugs on the pan. You removed both plugs then pumped fluid in one until it came out the other hole. Then your trans was full. Don't know if there was another for draining. Not as easy as a dip stick, but that method would be a lot easier on the Ranger than on a Continental.

Our trannys use a heat exchanger but not in the radiator as was once done.

Also it's more for warming the Bud Light than cooling it

 

[dtech]

The transmission cooler/warmer sits on the side of the transmission and coolant runs strait to it. As for the transmission pan yes it is plastic. As for a.plastic oil pan for the engine? Can't say I have seen one but I would not be surprised

according to this article Ford uses one on the 2.7 and it does leak sometimes. I would think a plastic oil pan can be as robust as metal but it likely becomes a matter of cost. Not sure if plastic holds up over time as well metal though.

https://www.ecogard.com/service-professionals-should-be-wary-fords-plastic-oil-pans-drain-plugs/

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