Spring & ball removed "fishing out" using a drill bit. This info. from mechanic we used when he installed rebuilt tranny. Tranny fluid should more freely circulate, keep the heat down etc. What you say?

 

I blame these little bastards for premature trans issues in Mopar vehicles . Problem is , people just don't service their transmissions . Clutches wear producing grit in the oil . This contamination can prevent the check valve from opening properly . Thus , overheating the transmission , burning clutches , and breaking fragile c-clips from heat and resulting pressure .

On my jeeps , I have installed a drain plug in one pan , and replaced the OEM pan to a B&M extra cap. pan with a drain .

I remove this valve on all mine . Haven't done this Ram yet but have done the oil and filter even though it's a very low K rebuilt . It was still dirty at low K from the break-in . The valve I will cut the steel line just behind the valve , then run a "transmission line only rubber hose" direct to the rad , removing the stock rubber line . Always double clamp , just trust me on that one

Side effects : You may get a small leak when parked if your shifter seal , or dipstick grommet are not tight due to the drainback overfilling the base . Some also say to wait a few seconds before engaging the trans in gear to allow oil to circulate and torque convertor to refill . Only on first of the day starts . I've never noticed anything , but , if you start to , just shift to neutral , wait 2 seconds , then into gear .
In cold conditions , you may run too cold and not get the 3-4 change . The PCM will not allow OD until the trans is at temp . This won't happen at freezing , but at -10-20 , it's possible . Ive had this happen both with , and w/o the valve .

The valve does serve a purpose . My best advice would be make sure the oil is clean , kept clean , and just replace the valve with a new one .

 

Thanks for the thoughts and info. My son is a goodmason out of the Amherst, MA area-is looking for steady work right now.
I am sharing this info. with my Dodge tranny guy whose works out of his house...does good work at great prices.
Thanks again, Rich

 

Have your trans guy install a shift kit which allows the fluid to fill the converter in park b4 you remove the check valve or you run the risk of driving on a dry or partially dry converter which will kill the converter in short order. Dont want to have to put the trans in neutral to fill the converter.

 

All that's needed to get converter charge in park is the modified manual valve, Sonnax part number 2271-09, usually less than $25 at most places that sell them. Most DIY'ers could replace the manual valve without ending the world. It's very easy to do. Not that a shift kid would be a bad thing to have, but you don't need the whole kit just to get the manual valve. And if you get a kit, you have to make sure that it comes with that valve, or buy it separately.

Lots of transmission guys will just drill a hole in the valve body to get fluid charge in park, but it causes greater converter drainback. If a trans guy says that's how he does it, keep your vehicles away from him. It's a bogus hack.

The safe and easy way to restore a check valve to the circuit and not have to worry much about converter drain-back is a remote filter kit. The filter comes with a check valve, one that pretty much cannot plug, and that gets replaced every time you replace the filter. Properly plumbed, it'll keep grit and sludge from ever reaching your cooler to plug it. Between the Sonnax manual valve and the remote filter you can just drive without ever thinking about the converter running on a partial fill.

 

Why anyone would install just the manual valve and not a full kit to address the inherent flaws in the VB is dumb even for a diyer let alone a pro. To add any filter/cooler to the system in series is asking for trouble. If anyone of those should clog you would have a bad day. You want to add a filter/cool in parallel so if one or the other should clog there is still fluid flowing through the system.

 

I guess I'm just too damned stupid to live. Thanks for pointing that out to me. If I were much younger I'd consider taking myself out of the gene pool for the betterment of mankind, but it's too late as I've already reproduced. I hate me now.

 

What would be the point of running systems in parallel? All that would do is make sure the fluid follows the path of least resistance. I.E. NOT thru the filter, and the check valve in the filter would be pointless. Not to mention that folks have been running single circuit coolers, including a filter, for decades, without ill effect. I have NEVER seen a dual circuit cooler on anything, not even commercial trucks. I think you are talking out your nether regions.

 

I've been running remote filters on all of my automatics for more than 30 years, but I'm obviously stupid so can no longer recommend it.

But, seriously now, and back to the topic at hand, if the check valves in oil filters had any propensity for sticking or clogging we'd all know of it as a cause of blown engines. I've never seen it happen or heard of it happening. So I'm leaving my remote filter in place and not worrying at all about it... If it kills my expensive juicer, I'll let everyone know that I was wrong.

I've put (identical) ATF coolers in parallel where a larger cooler wouldn't fit any available space, and it worked just fine. No problem there. I've never seen a need for a polishing ("bypass") filter for an automatic transmission, and even if I did I'd still want the series filter to protect the cooler(s). While I've never seen a plugged remote ATF filter, I've seen several plugged ATF coolers and the scrogged transmissions that were behind them.

Or maybe I'm just too stupid to live.