A while back I posted here about the transmission in my '09 Unlimited X slipping and not shifting into higher gears once hot and worked on the job with all the stop and go driving I do. When its driven normally, it shifts fine. I took it back to the shop that did the rebuild on it a few months ago and they said the torque converter was at fault and put in a new one. Back on the job today it acted the same way as it did before I took it in only this time the hot oil light flashed on for a second and the check engine light came on. I took it to my regular mechanic who put a scan tool on it and it has the codes p0218 High temperature operation activated, p1790 Fault immediately after shift, and p0731 Gear ratio error in first. Once again, after it cooled off and was driven normally, it shifted fine. It has an aftermarket trans cooler in front that was installed by the shop that did the rebuild. The odd thing is that when they plumbed it they ran the cooler lines directly to it omitting the factory cooler altogether.
Any thoughts what's about going on here? Is my transmission toast? Please don't tell me I was an idiot for taking it to my first "Trans Specialist" I know that already. Ughh.. I've had about enough of this thing.
I do believe most aftermarket trans coolers are supposed to be plumbed to receive the trans fluid after it's run through the factory radiator to further cool the fluid. Thus, why it's deemed an auxiliary cooler.
On my 2009, Instructions for my B&M cooler routed the line after the radiator. I'm no Mr. goodwrench, but I think those boys screwed up the cooler install. That may be why the fluid still runs hot and chances are it's running hotter than before the tranny cooler was installed if they bypassed the radiator and is now sending the trans fluid only through the cooler.
Find out what brand it is and pull up the PDF install instruction sheet for it on line to see if it was improperly installed.
Today after work I started it up after it had sat all day and it once again ran perfectly. The check engine light was off. I even abused it as much as I could with no problems. I always have the a/c on and the electric fan is drawing a noticeable amount of air across the cooler so I don't know if an aux cooler fan would help. Yes, the shop that repaired it is responsible but at this point I feel its a waste of time to keep taking something back to them that they just don't seem capable of repairing. I shudder to think about their "tech's" pulling the trans out for a third time if need be. The rounded off heads on the drive shaft bolts tells me they don't even care enough to use the right tools. I just want and need to get this taken care of soon as possible and appreciate all of the opinions from you guys that have and live with these things before I take it someplace else. Whatever turns up, I will let you all know.
After giving it more thought I believe I'm going to plumb the aux cooler as it should have been done to begin with and see how it operates before taking it in to another shop. Damndirtydog may just have a point there with those goons omitting the factory cooler and hooking the lines straight to the aux having an adverse affect. I have nothing to lose to try this first. Since the factory lines where they hook up to the stock cooler have already been altered, I don't know which fitting on the stock cooler is the inlet or the outlet. A little info here would be great. Looks like I will be having to improvise some fittings to attach my hoses to the stock cooler as well. I hope this works.
The reason they eliminate the factory cooler is they can't flush it. It might have contaminated fluid stuck in there from when the original trans went out. I never reuse the factory cooler after a rebuild. Not worth the risk.
When a trans. doesn't shift properly it's usually one of three issues, low fluid, overheated fluid or a bad trans. modulator. In your case it might be a combination of an overheat situation and/or a bad modulator. Some trans. shops don't replace the modulator with a rebuild as they should. Since your use is definately severe duty, the trans. cooler situation has to be properly taken care of.
This morning I had time to take my jeep to a legit transmission shop for a diagnosis before I addressed the cooler situation. They dropped the pan and found clutch material as well as metal in it. Looks like it has internal problems and the choice now is to have it repaired right and keep it or put in a salvage yard tranny and sell it. Not sure what I'll do at this point. When I bought it I had visions of keeping it until I retire and just fixing things here and there along the way. I'm not so sure about that now. Decisions decisions.
Thanks for everyone's input on this problem, I was hoping it wasn't going to be a big deal but unfortunately is.
Mm
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