Transmission Heat Dissipation
Not sure if this is a unique set of circumstances, but haven't yet found a post similar to mine.
Bought a 2015 89k miles, unknown service, but fluids and engine compartment appeared to be free of giant red flags. Also passed emissions test two months prior. Drove the car home from the purchase (65 highway miles) and around town to run errands (20ish city miles) - no problems.
My wife uses it for doordash for about two weeks (misc city driving with lots of breaks between short 2-8 mile runs) - no problems.
One day after a 30 mile trip on the highway, we get the flashing D, limp to O'Reilly get the infamous P1590/P0841 and a P1797 comes free because we're nice people.
Have the transmission serviced at an indie tranny shop where they tell me the pan magnet looked decent and nothing looked out of the ordinary - just relatively used, ready for change CVT fluid.
On my way home (30 miles highway), throws the D again, limp to O'R, same codes but the emission scan has gone from red to yellow...
Wife does another few days of in city doordashing with no issues. I buy the A30D dongle and take the car out for a drive, and watch as the temp of the transmission slowly rises. Poke around under the hood and discover the coolant is low, fill that and take it for another drive. Tranny temp is pegged on 187 the whole way (35 miles highway).
Today, take it on 35 mile highway drive, get the flashing D. Plug the A30D in and find that the radiator coolant temp is at 195, which is allegedly spec, and my transmission temp hit 199.
How is something that needs to be in the high 180s going to be efficiently cooled by something operating in the mid 190s? What am I missing?