2004 GT Transmission Cooler. Need info!

BigDog143 said:

Just took ROSE to the dealership yesterday. I'm swinging by tomorrow (Wednesday) to talk w/ the tech and look it over. Many problems identified however:

I was told that the tranny is slipping because the cooler busted and allowed coolant into the transmission "system".

As a result, I need to purchase a new radiator and have "the system" flushed. [The ominous warning was that there was no guarantee everything would be found and the tranny may start slipping again and it may get worse and doom and gloom and gloom and doom :evil: ]

Soooo...I dusted off my Haynes Repair Manual, did some web surfing and snooped around.

If the ATF is cooled through the radiator, how come there's no connection between the radiator and the tranny? If the "transcooler" is IN the radiator, wouldn't that mean I would need to have the COOLANT system AND the ATF system flushed and filled?

It appears to me that pollution in the ATF system would be a "simple" matter of flushing and filling that system. Afterwards, diligence in detecting any tranny slips would be the order of the day and, at the first sign, another fluid drain and filter replacement would be in order.

Your thoughts? (I'm also looking into the $/procedure for replacing the rag top window. Initial estimate from the dealership...$1800!!!!)

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SoCal2V said:

You really should start a dedicated thread for this, you'll get more responses that way.

Next, the shop that told you what needs to be done is correct. New radiator, flush trans out, flush and replace coolant, and then hope for the best on the trans. It could be toast, you might get lucky - it's a tossup really. Recently on a different vehicle I had a pretty good trans fluid leak that although it was repaired promptly, the fluid ran low a few times in between discovering the leak and getting it into a shop, and as a result the trans slipped a few times. It lasted for about a month after the repairs before it went completely out and had to be rebuilt. The clutch packs, or rather the material the clutches are made from are not designed to slip; technically, it only takes about 0.5 seconds of slippage to destroy them.

The trans cooler is part of the radiator, the two systems are separated internally, so yes I would think that flushing the cooling system should be done as well.

Regarding your back window, they are available from aftermarket retailers such as latemodelrestoration.com and I think americanmuscle.com carry them as well. Not sure on the price, but they're not crazy expensive - maybe like $2-300. Take it to a local upholstery shop for install, shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

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