How to check transmission fluid temperature

Few old cars use to have transmission fluid temperature guage but as obd2 communication became popular, there was no need to have too many guages on the dash that may confuse the driver.

A high temperature of transmission fluid indicates a problem with the transmission ranging from wrong or worn fluid, bad clutches, cooling problem, underfilled or an overfilled transmission.

Reasons for checking transmission oil temperature

1. It's good to check transmission fluid temperature as a way of checking the state of the transmission.

2. Transmission fluid temperature is checked during fluid level check. See guide on checking transmission oil level.

3. Transmission fluid level is checked during filling of the transmission with oil.

Ways of checking transmission fluid temperature

1. Using the dash temperature guage.

This is for few cars that are equiped with dash temperature guage. All that is needed is to view the temperature reading from the guage.

2. Using a diagnostic scan tool.

A diagnostic scan tool plugged into an obd2 port can be used to check the fluid temperature by going into the live parameters of the transmission and checking the transmission fluid temperature.

3. By using a hand held infrared thermometer.

This tool measures temperature through infrared sensor. What needs to be done is to directly point the infrared thermometer to the transmission oil pan and take the temperature reading.