I took a close look at my '04 Town and Country today to look at what would be involved with adding an aftermarket ATF cooler. I was surprised to find that the ATF is cooled with an external cooler - a big one at that - and the fluid is not sent into an in radiator cooler. Does this mean that Chrysler has figured something out???
Do you have the tow package added - or did they maybe they just decided to give it to everyone?
I don't know the years and models but others have mentioned that on the late model vans that Chrysler went to a real tranny cooler.
Ted
My 2002 Town and Country has large transmission cooler mounted between = the radiator and the AC condenser, the shop manual shows the cooler as = standard item on all the models.
Jack.
If you've got the manual.... Did they really eliminate the in radiator core? If so, that's great! It removes the change that the tranny can be polluted by coolant. Is the cooler thermostatically controlled to maintain the temp. if it's cold out? Thanks for any info.
Jack.
In my ATSG trany manual, it refers to 150-200 degrees as operating temp for ATF+3, no mention of ATF+4. (this is an old version of the manual)
The thing is, though, that ATF+4 is a synthetic transmission fluid. One of the most vaunted properties of synthetic is that it maintains it's same lubricating properties at cold temps. My guess is that Chrysler decided that it's new ATF+4 fluid doesen't need to run at a specific operating temperature.
Ted
If they are factory filling these transmissions with a good synthetic lubricant (not sure who Chrysler Farms out ATF production to) than they don't need to add the cooler. Just as cold temp performance was cited as a benefit, high temperature performance is one as well. Many vehicles will be going to fill for life transmissions in the years to come (no dipstick and or drain plug associated with the automatic transmission) some oems already are.
David Reid
My 1999 T & C has one because I ordered the towing package. Had a 93 T & C that went through four transmissions in 130K miles. Back in those days Chryslers standard warranty was 7/70 drive train, so Chrysler paid for 3.5 of them ( felt bad about all the problems and paid for half of the one that was out of warranty). After not being able to talk my wife out of buying the 99 (these women love this vehicle) I specifically ordered the towing package even though I didn't plan to tow, just to get the ATF cooler.
The good news is that this one is pushing 95K with no transmission problems. The bad news is the "extra heavy duty brakes" also part of the towing package, had to have the front rotors turned every 12K until I finally ran out of room and replaced them. Warped, bad cast iron on the rotors. Chrysler refused to make it good although they did do the first two turnings for free. My replacements, (not Mopar) are pushing 50k with no problems.
Maybe the cooler is standar equipment now.
The shop manual just show the flushing , removal and installation of the = AT cooler, to purge the cleaning fluid from the cooler they specify = using one quart of ATF+4 transmission fluid type 9602.
Jack.
Havoline and Petro-Canada.
Not true. The shearing effect in the torque converter generates heat in the trans fluid that must have a way of being dumped. Granted you can let the fluid get a lot hotter, but if there's no way of removing waste heat, the trans will eventually melt.
If your refering to Ford, there is a drain plug.
fill for life on the auto tranny hydraulic fluid is in the same league as the "maintainence free" battery that never uses water. It's a pure marketing ploy that is attempting to create a benefit for something that the vast majority of purchasers never thought they needed. Most car owners do not change fluids, they leave that up to Jiffy Lube. And the Jiffy Lubes will simply tell the vehicle owners that the factory is blowing smoke up their ass and they need a trans fluid change anyway, and will make the change by dropping the pan and inserting a drain plug, and if the factory tries to defeat that, the Jiffy Lubes will just buy machines that they can connect to the trans cooler lines and flush the trans that way.
By the time that 150,000+ miles are on enough of these "fill for life" auto trans to see that "fill for life" is a joke, the marketing people will be tired of this game and move on to "fill for life" something else.
Ted
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