Overdrive in automatic in cold weather?
 

Curious if anyone has come up with a bypass to the transmission temp sensor or a way to trick it into thinking it's always warm. Not a fan of automatics but going to be my winter vehicle. And time to time driver in the summer. 02 explorer v6 with 260k miles on it. Looking to squeeze out a few extra mpg during summer. I have a short commute so waiting for trans temp to reach 110° is 1/4 of the way there. I still manage 22 mpg but would easily reach 24 with some earlier jumps to OD. Going to get an upper grille block going as well shortly.
Hate filling this beast up since I drive a 14 Cruze eco normally and break 50 mpg regularly in warm weather.

Either do a manual TCC lockup or do a pan mounted heater to warm the fluid up.

Pic coming soon for TCC Lockup wire info!!

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...psqy1ndxtk.jpg

As you can see, Pin 14 is where to start

Wiring is Violet with a yellow tracer

How would you go about bypassing it. I've seen some shady looking creations. Would like to do something easily removable. Would be in just for summer driving.

I finally got to double check the diagrams, looks like all you have to do is ground the wire I told you about and it will lock up the converter, it may be easier to find the wire at the computer and then run it to a switch and ground it, I would also suggest an indicator to let you know that it is engaged

I'm just trying to.figure out where to do.this exactly. Started thread on a whim someone else had played with the torque converter lockup. I was thinking I just need 2 wires to a switch. How does the system ground itself out unless I completely misunderstand. I'm terrible with wires.... probably from being electrocuted a lot lol.

Their may be a reason lockup is locked out when the fluid temperature is below a certain temperature.

That would be to warm up fluid...from my understanding the fluid has to hit the set temp they want. All to achieve smoother shifting and warm the vehicle up to reduce emissions.
I drive with an extremely light foot. Rough shifts shouldn't be an issue which is what the main concern seemed to be on another thread I viewed. I just want it to lock up during summer. Winter which it will be driven more for safer travels particularly​. I would leave it to adjust itself most likely. At least until up to operations temp. Current driving conditions for my time of day are around 40-60°. No real issue with fluids at these temps. Just my thoughts for that. When I hit winter and have -20° and lower again that's another story.

I would be tempted to add a resistor to the temp circuit to trick the computer. This is the chart out of a 2002 4t40 manual. I would think 400 ohms would do the trick. I did this to the iat and coolant temp sensors a few years ago while playing with a Geo Metro. I could start the car like normal and within 1 mile from cold start I could flip the switch and the car would tolerate warm fuel trims. Put it on a spdt switch so you could make it lock up when you wanted. You will loose the overtemp ability if you lock the temp with a resistor. Verify that this chart is accurate for your car, as always use at your own risk.http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_0059.jpg

What over temp ability do you mean? I have the 5r55W I believe it is. According to torque od kicks in at 110° normal startup it's around 40-50° this time of year. Wouldn't resistor only need to swing the reading up that 60° and operate normally? Not sure how all this works I need dummy terms and things broke down Barney style. Very capable of turning a wrench but like understanding exactly what I'm doing when doing things. Wires are a nemesis of mine lol