so i just got my car back from the dealer, they rebuilt the transmission, first chance to put some miles on the car since the rebuild. put a couple hundred miles on it today, it was about 80 degrees, all highway travel and my tranny temp was at 215.....imput?

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bigbrew08

Check the fluid level. Are you running the stock t-stat?

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2009.5 SBM G8 GT
November 2011 Car of the Month

X2, 215 is a little high. Was the trans a full rebuild or partial?

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2004 Grand Prix GT AGGRESSOR
PRJ PCM, Custom Exhaust, 180 stat, FWI Custom Intake, DIC upgrade.

i think pretty much a full rebuild, ill check the fluid, does the 04 gtp comp g have a tranny cooler stock? yes it has the stock t-stat, i should probably go to a 180

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bigbrew08

the only tranny cooler we have per se is the radiator, I would change your fluid and filter to make sure that your filter isn't clogged.

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2009.5 SBM G8 GT
November 2011 Car of the Month

filter and fluid should be new, only has about 300 miles after rebuild

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bigbrew08

If it was a full rebuild then you should not see temps at that range unless you are hot dogging it. But you also stated you are on a regular t-stat - Changing to a 180 is a great upgrade and can reduce the temps. The optimal temp in my opinion that you want to reach with the trans is around 170 to 180 and 210 should be your max.


Note: Dealerships are known for not replacing the filter during a rebuild. This would also cause high temps due to a clogged filter.

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2004 Grand Prix GT AGGRESSOR
PRJ PCM, Custom Exhaust, 180 stat, FWI Custom Intake, DIC upgrade.

Throwing a trans cooler on the car wouldn't hurt either. Keeping the oil cool in a trans isn't as bad as people believe.

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2009.5 SBM G8 GT
November 2011 Car of the Month

just went and bought a 180, will put in the car in the am when its cold and see where that gets me.

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bigbrew08

after putting in a 180, would you wanna program the fans to kick on at 180 (or around there) as well?

I should add that I would regularly hit 215 in traffic or higher interstate speeds. Had the entire fluid changed and filter replaced...now the highest I have hit is 206 after a hard pass and it then drops back down to cruising temp of 201.

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2005 Grand Prix GT - SPO Spoiler, Tips, Grilles, Sills, Mats, SE Front Fascia, GMPP F/R STB's W/ Don's Brackets, GMPP RTA's & GMPP Rear Sway Bar

Yes, you will want to lower the fan turn on temp. I concur that the trans temp @ 215 is too high, even for those conditions. At cruising, 200* is a li'l high, even, with a 180* t-stat, and appropriate fan turn on points. I would see 192-195. Driven REALLY hard, I'd see 245* or so, but that was 140+mph, constant WOT, and engine revs rarely under 5000, and upwards of 6500. LOL

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One Big Ass Mistake America

how do you go about adjusting the fans to turn on at 180?

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bigbrew08

PCM Programming, Basically when you get your PCM tuned you can have that temp changed for the fan turn on, and also a longer fan turn on time when the engine is off for better cooling when you turn off the car.

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2004 Grand Prix GT AGGRESSOR
PRJ PCM, Custom Exhaust, 180 stat, FWI Custom Intake, DIC upgrade.

ok so now im really starting to feel like a dumb ass....sorry guys, the last car i worked on was an old camaro with a flex fan. i understand pcm tuning, do i have to buy a special tool to do this, or does the local garage have the tool to do this, i have access to the tool to scan for codes, will that work?

-- Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:33 am --

so i just called the one guy in my area that i know of and asked him how much it would cost me to have him adjust the temps on the radiator fans to have them come on sooner........hope your sitting......he told me $500 because he had to get the program to do it.......FFFFFFFFFFFFFF that. There has to be an easier way, can somone put this in "hasent worked on a car in a long time and is an idiot terms" for me. thanks

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bigbrew08

Yep thats to much and its to easy to do. Now to tune your PCM you need the software/hardware - most used is HP tuners and this can cost you a pretty penny. Now the other route - if you have around $100 to $200 you can get a tuned PCM, which is a good upgrade and will come with the fan feature. If you want to spend a little less I would try a dealership that you know pretty well and ask them to turn on the feature - This can be done by the tech 2 ( Diag Computer ). Normally they will charge around $50 to $80 as it counts a diag test with the tech 2. In the long run your better off buying a tuned PCM or have your PCM tuned as the cost will be roughly the same depending on which company you select for tuning. Also might see if there is someone in your area with a tuner, NY has plenty of them .

PRJ Performance - One the best guys I know for tuning. There are a few others out there hopefully someone will chime in on those.

http://www.prjperformance.com/

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2004 Grand Prix GT AGGRESSOR
PRJ PCM, Custom Exhaust, 180 stat, FWI Custom Intake, DIC upgrade.

the thermostat change seemed to make a big difference already, havent really driven the car that far but will get more miles on it this weekend and see how it goes, thank you everyone for your imput, i appretiate it.

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bigbrew08

Make sure to report back how just the thermostat change affects your trans temps.

Assuming the filter isn't plugged and the fluid level is right on, what would make a transmission run hot other than hot-rodding around or some sort of slippage?

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2005 Grand Prix GT - SPO Spoiler, Tips, Grilles, Sills, Mats, SE Front Fascia, GMPP F/R STB's W/ Don's Brackets, GMPP RTA's & GMPP Rear Sway Bar

213 degrees, its about 87 degrees out and i was running at about 80 for 2.5 hours

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bigbrew08

Not having the converter lock up will give high temps too, as me how I know how!! But I haven’t gotten hotter than about 205, and I won’t drive it for a long distance knowing that the converter isn’t locking. I average about 175- 200 driving with a drilled 160 stat and temps from 65 - 90 get the solenoid changed and add a cooler and I will be golden probably won’t hurt for a service too.

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2001 white gt coupe with enough crap to make it run mid 13's with 3 bad pistons
2002 40th GTP sedan mostly stock

i dove the car like that for so long always on the highway too (where lock up actualy does any thing)

i think the hottest it ever got was 215* and that was MIS week end drive the Car to B&B's then drove it down to the track. it was a hot day too. put 500 miles on the car that day also not to mention all the times i went to detroit lol

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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

i think my thermostat is off, tonight i got in the car, it was 51 degrees out, the car had sat for about 8.5 hours and as soon as i started the car up the tranny temp came up as 64 degrees, mind you it was damp, rain all day thats why im thinking this.

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bigbrew08

Those temps sound right. The Tstat doesn't actually report the temp to the car, it only opens at a certain temp to allow more coolant to flow to lower temps. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong there.

As everybody else has said, you really need to have your PCM tuned to turn the fans on at 180 to really take full advantage of the Tstat. You can order them through a couple places/people. One is Overkill and the other is ZZP. The general consensus is that Overkill is better.

As to your original temps, really they seemed normal for the car. GM had these things running hot, even though a couple small changes drop the temps drastically.

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think i may send my cpu to overkill. for $130 you cant go wrong, its a daily driver so it seems they will send me a pcm for 229 and ill get a $100 discount after i send my core. having my fans kick on earlier cant hurt

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bigbrew08

Why don't you just get a transmission cooler?

I got the biggest one advanced auto carries and completely bypassed the rad trans cooler. I haven't seen temps over 200 since, even with several 100+ pulls and driving for hours in a speed pack constantly changing speeds from 70-95. With the stock cooler I surely would've been 230+

With my 05 GTP I saw 260 going up the colo mountains.... and I could feel it cooking. Shouldn't EVER see those temps now in my 04

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is a 180 ts recommended for colder climates? in winter it can get -30 sometimes here, but in the summer hits 85-95 tops. my trans temps aren't usually more then 210. just wondering.

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2004 Grand Prix GT2