I don't know if or how this'll help anyone, but I'll write it up anyway.

My Tap Shift tranny began give me heartache about 30 - 40K miles ago.
I'm not happy about putting $$$ into it, so I've been babying it. Now that
I have 101K miles on it, it's becoming more difficult to deal with.

The earliest issue (30-40K ago) was that the shifts at near-WOT were no longer
crisp.. they felt so bad that I worked hard never to let it get near WOT. It sux
driving a fast car slowly.

Flash forward to about a month ago. I had a check engine light and brought
it to my dealer. He tells me it's an internal tranny code and he'd have to pull
the tranny to diagnose it. I have no cash available, so screw it, I drove it out.
Now I keep the tranny temp display up on my DIC to monitor it.

Since then, here is what I've noticed:

1) At 226* tap shift is disabled
2) At 233* tranny throws the code and the check engine light comes on.
3) After cooldown, both 1 and 2 return to normal.
4) (and this is the big one) if I ride exclusively in Manual mode, the temp
never gets above 206*, everything feels nice and I don't get any codes.

I checked this all out yesterday on a 180 mile round trip. On the 90 mile trip out,
temp went to 226*, tap shift disabled. On the way back (same road, same ambient
temperature, same amount of traffic), I used manual mode and it never got past 206*.

Same thing in traffic: Drop the car into manual mode and the temps fall by 10-20*.
I don't know why.

Anyway, like I said, I don't know if this'll help anyone, but bear it in mind
if your tranny temps go too high.

Cheers,

Mike

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Sport Red '04 Comp G | SPO Grilles | SPO Rain Guards | 18" Sport Edition F9 Wheels
Goodyear Eagle GT 235/50R18 | Chinese Smoked Projectors

I noticed something about my screwed up tranny yesterday. Ever since the last 2 rebuilds, the tranny temp has been around 200 ºF and up. Now that 1st gear is shot and the tranny slips its ass off, the temp was at 172 ºF yesturday after about a 1/2 hour of riding in upper 90 ºF temps. Go figure.

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3.5" MPS, 1.84 Rockers, 3" DP, Frt PEM, 39lb Injs., PowrTuner, Wizair
14.07@ 98.85mph 2.180 60'

Wow! those are some damn high temps OP! yes, your car will go into a mode where it babies the trans when it gets that hot. i don't remember what the cutoff temp is though. at those temps you're surely roasting many of the gaskets and seals in the trans that will eventually lead to hard part failure.

I think the temps staying lower when in tapshift may have something to do with the amount of shifts and the torque converter not locking/unlocking constantly. I'm no expert here,just speculating but. . . if you drive in tap shift frequently and keep the car in a given gear the car isn't uselessly shifting at every load change,rpm change as well as other conditions the pcm detects to select what gear to use. This also keeps the torque converter(the biggest source of heat in a trans) from locking and unlocking too much.
If you're worried about temps you can always get a tune requesting a low fan turn on temp
I have my fans turns on @ 150f and rarely see the trans get above 190,definently helps. i'm sure it's wearing out my fans a little quicker but i'd rather break fans>Trans!

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Comp G: 3.2-E85-65's-headers-rockers-104's-DHP tune & "other stuff that doesn't matter"

yeah that trans is toast after 220* you start boiling the cluch material off the cluches

the reason why the temps are not getting as high in manual mode is the trans goes to full line pressure so the cluches (whats left) are forced harder together so they do not slip as much as when it in normal mode.

slipping is friction and friction produses heat. the trans in my lawn ornament slipped realy bad in first so with my tuner i cranked line pressure to full in first gear and no more slipping

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92 LeBaron Convert: Turbo 3L 97 Grand Prix GT 4dr "Frankenstein": L67 4t65 swap
97 Grand Marquis: Summer DD 99 Grand Prix GTP: Top Swap Beater

Yeah... I know it's roasting and I'm putting my pennies away to have a full
rebuild. I probably need to get another 4 to 6 weeks out of it before I'll
have the cash. I'm working under the assumption that this is definately not
a qucik fix.

Thanks for all your input.

Mike

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Sport Red '04 Comp G | SPO Grilles | SPO Rain Guards | 18" Sport Edition F9 Wheels
Goodyear Eagle GT 235/50R18 | Chinese Smoked Projectors

yup not a quick fix not sure on book time but expect a few days

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92 LeBaron Convert: Turbo 3L 97 Grand Prix GT 4dr "Frankenstein": L67 4t65 swap
97 Grand Marquis: Summer DD 99 Grand Prix GTP: Top Swap Beater

$2650 and a week later, I have my car back. Needed a complete rebuild. I weighed the
pros and cons and decided to invest the money in the GP. Other than the tranny, at
101,000 miles, it's still the best car I've ever owned. Since I hope to keep it for a long,
long time, $2650 wasn't too hard a pill to swallow.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Mike

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Sport Red '04 Comp G | SPO Grilles | SPO Rain Guards | 18" Sport Edition F9 Wheels
Goodyear Eagle GT 235/50R18 | Chinese Smoked Projectors

Ouch!! I feel your pain. Mine cost that much the first time at the dealership. The second time, it cost me $1800 at Master Transmission. This time the guy told me to expect $1400 - $1800. I thought about ordering a custom built for $1750, but then I'd still have to pay to remove the old tranny, pay for shipping for the new one plus a core charge until I sent mine back. Pay to install the new one and then pay to ship the old one to them and wait for my core charge.
That added up too much, so I'm just gonna have it rebuilt again. Hopefully it won't be much longer. It's been since May 24th. I run it everyday and drive it at least once a week so that the engine doesn't gum up on me.

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3.5" MPS, 1.84 Rockers, 3" DP, Frt PEM, 39lb Injs., PowrTuner, Wizair
14.07@ 98.85mph 2.180 60'

Just out of curiosity, did you get your rebuild at a GM dealership? I have some tranny issues starting to occur and I imagine that I may need a rebuild at some point in time. I am wondering if it is worth spending the extra cash for a dealership to do it....cause of their warranty using GM parts...etc...or maybe it is not worth it??? A little protection is nice afte ryou spend that amount of money.

Thanks.

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2009 G8 GT -Sport and Premium Pkgs, Roto-Fab CAI, Cortex 93 Octane Tune, Billet Prototype Catch Can, BMR Front and Rear Sways, BMR RTAs, BMR Rear Cradle Bushings, BMR Steering Rack Bushing, GXP SW......and much more to come.

My bad, I should have been more specific. I was afraid of the dealer, frankly. I brought it to
Aamco because I'd had a good experience with them many, many years ago. Included in the
price is a one year/12K miles warranty. At 11 months and 29 days, I have an option to add
2 more years for $700 or lifetime for ~2 grand. We'll take that as it comes.

On a side note: my 300th post! Hurray for me!

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Sport Red '04 Comp G | SPO Grilles | SPO Rain Guards | 18" Sport Edition F9 Wheels
Goodyear Eagle GT 235/50R18 | Chinese Smoked Projectors

Just order one from Tim King and call it a day. I am driving up there soon to have mine rebuilt and have a few hardened parts in it as well. He comes highly recommended and would be a perfect setup for your car and would last until you are ready to sell it.

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2009.5 SBM G8 GT
November 2011 Car of the Month