P0711: Transmission Fluid Temperature Sensor A Circuit Range/Performance
What to do
Ask for the sensor to be compared against the other temperature readings on a fully cold vehicle — that single comparison usually settles it. Expect firmer shifts in the meantime.
What this code means
The fluid temperature reading is electrically valid but wrong. Most often it is a value that never changes — stuck at one figure while the transmission plainly warms — or one that rises far too slowly to be real.
There is a simple check that settles it without any test equipment beyond a scan tool. After the vehicle has stood overnight, every temperature sensor on it is measuring the same thing: the air around it. Coolant, intake air, ambient and transmission fluid should all read within a few degrees of each other at that moment. Any one that disagrees at a cold start is the faulty one, and no amount of further reasoning is needed. It is the fastest test in this whole family of codes, and it costs one reading taken at the right time.
Likely causes
Start here
- Faulty transmission fluid temperature sensor · moderate
Less common
- Blocked or restricted transmission fluid cooler · moderate
- Low or degraded transmission fluid · easy
- Corroded transmission connector · moderate
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Community experience
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