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Mountain Driving and Transmission Management

5:34
23:50
27.5K views

At 5:34 in

Rocky Mountain Race Week Day 5: The Reality of "Drive Days" With NO Interstates (Denver to Kearney)

What happens here

The drive continues through beautiful mountainous terrain with snow-capped peaks. Despite the scenic views, the vehicle is still encountering issues related to high altitude. The transmission frequently overheats, causing the torque converter to unlock and preventing the car from shifting into higher gears, leading to high RPMs. The driver explains this is a protective measure by the transmission, but it counter-intuitively generates more heat, preventing the converter from locking back. He mentions he is engine braking by riding in 3rd gear on downhill slopes to help manage the vehicle's speed.

Goal: Continue driving through high-altitude mountains while mitigating transmission overheating

Tools and materials

  • Red GMC Yukon XL GMC — The vehicle being driven through the mountains

What they say

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hot anymore because when the dash thing pops up transmission hot it doesn't want to shift until 4000 rpm and the converter won't lock for them to try to protect itself which to me seems weird because you think the converter being locked more often would make less heat and cool off faster but i don't know i'm just glad we're back into normal figured we'd just pull off here and take a look [Music]

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