Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) How to cook a transmission well done

[DavidC]

By luck I came upon this recipe all by my self a few months back and I am sure you people would like a copy.



Ingredients:

1. Stock CTD

2. Stock auto transmission

3. 3:54 gears

4. A grade better than 6%

5. 1 tight turn requiring you to slow down to approx. 30mph

6. Have 10K load or better behind you. (the larger the load the more exciting).

7. Trans temp sending unit installed in pan



Approach the grade doing at least 60 mph.

Remove overdrive and keep the pedal to the metal.

when approaching the hair pin turn leave off the pedal.

Slow to approx. 30mph (this will vary according to your guts).

Go thru the turn, your now in second gear (no TC lockup).

Pedal to the metal again. Speed starts to edge up just enough to shift to 3rd (TC locks). Not enough momentum to stay in 3rd so it jogs between 2nd and 3rd violently. Repeat these steps 3 to 4 times really mixing that fluid up. Knowing this is not going to work manually pull the sifter (shifter) down to second (no TC lock). Keep the pedal to the medal in 2nd till you crest the top of the hill (about 3k feet). Do not bother looking at the transmission temp because the sending unit is in the pan and shows that everything is just fine.

Now you can start wondering why from a dead stop the trans starts out in second gear and you have to manually pull it into 1st.

The recipe went according to plan and I followed the directions to the letter. The fluid is now brown and has that delightful burnt smell. After all this the trans could and will do peculiar things, it will probably do things you did not think possible.

Visit your favorite trans shop, inspect the pretty blue discs, heat cracked seals,pieces of clutch lining and pat your self on the back.

You have successfully cooked your transmission.



This is what happened to me on a trip a few months ago.

Since then the sending unit is in the line telling me the truth. A DDUFM box installed. DTT trans with smart controller and 89% TC.

I personally did not like the taste of this recipe (to expensive). With the above mods it is not much of an effort with these grades and with the 2nd and 3rd TC lockup the temps stay down. Now I watch the EGT. I hope this recipe keeps someone else from doing the same scenario.



Dave

 

[Motorhead]

Dave Thanks for the rather expensive dissertation I PREVENTIVELY did the DTT as I didn't want to end up the same way. It takes a REAL man to post his mistakes.

 

[DavidC]

Motorhead



Back in the old days of Direct Connection (Chryslers racing section) were talking 70's here. They actually sold yellow T-Shirts that had the saying "REAL MEN DRIVE MOPARS" . Being the Chrysler freak I am I owned 3 of them . One of the things I wanted to stress is the sending unit in the pan. It was pretty useless in that position, along with no TC lockup in 2nd which makes the temps soar. With everything that trans went through it still got us where we were going and home again. Heck I drove it for another month until Fred Swanson did the DTT thing.



Dave

 

[moparguy]

Wow, (70's) was it that long ago, I've still got my collection of hats and magazines from the DC Performance Group.



RJR

 

[mike r]

I still got some old catalogs when the W-2's were new issues and still have a brand new set of castings from the 70's. Man I'm getting old. What about the Voodoo Hemi shirts?

 

[Shovelhead]

Found it on a google search.



from:http://images.google.com/imgres?img...mi+&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=G



#ad

 

[DavidC]

It is nice to know some of you brute horsepower guy's are still around. I still have the rapid transit posters the original small block hop up manual and some original road runner iron on transfers from chrysler along with some other trinkets. Believe it or not I gave away a complete set of W2's to a guy I sold a 68 Barracuda fastback to. I am still holding onto the 70 road runner that we bought in 73 though.



Dave

 

[Fireman Dave]

Originally posted by DavidC

Motorhead



Back in the old days of Direct Connection (Chryslers racing section) were talking 70's here. They actually sold yellow T-Shirts that had the saying "REAL MEN DRIVE MOPARS" .

Dave

I still have my yellow shirt.



Quote: What about the Voodoo Hemi shirts?

And I have that in a poster.



Dave - don't sell the Runner! 19 years later, I still have several minutes of deep depression daily over selling my '70 GTX. :{ :{ :{

 

[DavidC]

Fireman Dave



I think my yellow shirt shrunk . Yeah that's right, must have been in the hot water wash. No real plans for selling the road runner. I use to hit the show car circuit around here pretty hard until I got burned out on it. I can not tell you how many people would stare at that car with a tear in their eye and explain to me how they had one and sold it. Everyone of them wished it never happened.



Dave

 

[Fireman Dave]

Originally posted by DavidC

Fireman Dave



I think my yellow shirt shrunk . Yeah that's right, must have been in the hot water wash.

Dave

Hey - me too!:{



How about the "Plan A Head To Win" shirt - with "Direct Connection Is The Plan" on the back. Yup - still have that one too. Another shrinker, though. I still have my DC license plate frame too. Remember when DC stood for Direct Connection and not Daimler Chrysler?



Take good care of the RR - you're fortunate to be able to still have it after all these years. Now I just get to look and drool. Some day I'll have another killer B body, though (probably after we get our daughter through college).

 

[Motorhead]

David C, I was in the Plymouth trouble shooting contest in 1970. I was a senior at Mira Costa High school in Redondo Beach. It was a real trip. We all had mid sized Plymouths and Dodges with 318's and automatic. My partner and I got our back sides in Hot Rod magazine.

Where do you tie in the temp line now? Is there some way to modify the origional lines without buying the new,earlier line?

 

[inarush76]

warm feelings

It does a heart good to see so many long time Mopar fans in one place. I grew up in a Dodge family. My first car was a '70 Charger w/ big block. I sold it a few years ago as I didn't see the time or money to give it a proper resto. The guy I sold it to is restoring it and is going to build it as a Daytona clone. I have a number of Mopar engines from 70's 318's, to premium fuel 360's, a steel crank 400, severa 440's, a '63 Max Wedge short block, and one complete 340 Six Pack engine, and two 340 Six Pack long blocks. There are others but those come to mind first. I even have a 950 cfm 3-barrel Holley. I sure miss the days of raw horsepower and torque.

James

 

[Hohn]

Mopars!!



When I was born, Dad was driving a '66 Sport Satellite. Later traded for '73 Satellite Sebring (318). Then we got the '78 Fury Cop car with the 440 Pursuit package (woohoo!). Got rid of that for a '78 Newport.



My first car, bought when I was 15 (in 1990) was a '66 Coronet 440 4dr-- 318 Poly, 55K miles, immaculate interior, paid $200.



I presently have owned my dream car '69 Coronet 2dr post car for over 7 years (paid $550). Someday I will get back to it. In addition to trunk pan and floor work, it desperately needs a 470 stroker, 4. 10 rear, large cam and and Indy heads. Lots of maintenance to do



Hohn

 

[pwr2tow]

When I had a stock transmission I got by quit nicely by just adding 60 HP injectors, enough umph to get me up to speed for lockup in third and not too much HP that would kill the transmission. I done this on a regular base's from a dead stop (stop sign) leaveing a camp ground we frequent. I could excellerate all the way to the top at 55-60 MPH.



Ron

 

[DavidC]

Motorhead,

Where do you tie in the temp line now? Is there some way to modify the origional lines without buying the new,earlier line? [/B][/QUOTE]



I believe jannety racing has a kit with a T block and compression fittings you can buy. Some guys swear by this thing because it is cheaper (the early line is approx. $105. 00). I personally did not like the idea of a $3500. 00 trans. relying on compression fittings so I opted to save myself the anguish of the line cracking or coming apart and bought the early line with the built in boss. All that fluid coming out of a broken or seperated line at 60 mph would not impress me.



Fireman Dave,



I still have the original Direct Connection license plate and the Direct Connection license plate frame. The RR still has the purple hemi grind camshaft I put in it while stationed at Loring AFB Maine back in 73. The RR made the cover of Chrysler Power Magazine and was also featured in Car Craft Magazine. Years ago I told my wife this car is either our retirement or my daughters inheritance. I guess it depends on how harmful diesel fumes really are to a persons health



Dave

 

[Motorhead]

DavidC, Yes, I have the temp sensor in the pan. I was at DTT and they didn't seem to say one way or the other as to where the sensor goes. I am with you on the compression fitting issue. Is there that much differential between the hot line and the pan?

 

[mike r]

For that guage to do what it's supposed to do it needs to be on the output line of the transmission before the cooler and not in the bottom of the pan mixing with the pickup fluid. You would have seen a big difference in the temperatures. Anyway I'm glad your problem is fixed as will mine soon and I'm glad some of us Moparheads still get excited when the A and B blocks get mentioned along with our favorite cars. My first car was a '71 Superbee with a 383 that I built right out of the Direct Connection catalog for a 12 second bracket. AND IT DID GO 12's! Personally I miss the B bodies the most. :{

 

[pwr2tow]

The only difference I seen between haveing the sensor in the line or in the pan is,



With the sensor in the line the gauge would climb faster and when the transmission went into lockup the teperature would drop rapidly.



With the sensor in the pan it takes a little longer for the temps to come up and longer for the temps to go down.



Knowing this I preferr the sensor in the pan because I know as soon as the transmission goes into lockup it cools down fast and I would prefer to know what temperature the fluid is that the transmission is sucking up from the pan.



Of course if I had not had the probe in the line to begin with I would never have known how to gauge what is going on, so for someone who that has never had a transmission temp gauge I would recommend in the line.



Ron

 

[DavidC]

Motorhead

There can be a very significant difference in temp depending on how hard everything is working. The line temp is the fluid after doing all the work where the pan temp is after it is run thru the coolers. Being I have had both systems on a good grade I have seen up to 80 degree difference, the inline being the higher. I am more interested in what is going on inside the trans which the in line shows. Not really interested in how cool the fluid is coming back thru the coolers (at least not yet). That 89% TC sitting in traffic at a standstill can create a lot of heat on its own. While stuck in traffic one time I actually saw 230 on the guage which prompted a shift to neutral and high throttle to cool down. The pan sensor will not show these readings.



Dave

 

[DavidC]

Muscle Cars,



I think the biggest thing I miss is $3500. 00 worth of WHOOP AS# out the door. Now it is at least 30K. Anybody's wages increase this much in that amount of time?



Dave