While my transmission is out being rebuilt, should I do the plenum fix? The back of the intake/engine is all out in the open (I'd rather not do it now, but if its that much easer...)

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140,000 miles and only slight oily residue on about 10% of the inside that I can see with light and inspection mirror (i did just spray a can of carb/TB cleaner down there when running within 20mi. ago before I changed the oil, didn't think to look before)

so far:
-bypassed original radiator trans cooler & check valve, flushed the external cooler/lines
-installed salvage yard elect fan in front of radiator/cooler
-put in a trans temp Gage
-got the CPS notched and ready to advance till detonation, I do have the death Flash
-new U joints on rear drive shaft
-new input & output seals on T-case
-single 2.5" Flowmaster ready to splice in stock location
-a couple of the red and other color small vacuum lines are brittle and cracked for front axle and T-case, whats the best/cheapest replacement for these? Is air shock line the same stuff?

any other budget diy to do while trans, T-case & shaft are out of way?

 

the transmission being out doesn't make it any easier to fix the plenum because the plenum is on top of the motor. the rear main seal however is in the back of the motor, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to change that if it has even a little leak.
it also wouldn't be a bad idea to change the freeze plugs on the back of the block out with brass plugs because they are between the transmission and the engine.
the rear main seal and freeze plugs are cheap.

what kind of transmission cooler did you replace the stock cooler with?
this type of cooler doesn't work if it is the only transmission cooler on the truck. it is good if it is added to the stock cooler, but alone it will make the transmission overheat.

 

Thanks, I do know where this stuff is located

just that I know how much a pita doing an intake on an engine half under the cowl is (with trans out at least the back bolts, distributer, sensor plugs etc, are out in the open from under truck)

on the external trans cooler, you have me curious to "why it doesn't work if only cooler on truck", first, its a gas 2500 with the factory auxiliary cooler in front of rad. with a (just installed) 12" elect. pusher fan helping out the AC cond./trans/engine rad

in the southwest it is common practice to bypass the "in rad" cooler" and have better cooling with or with out a helper fan, if in colder regions it may take a while longer to get fluid warmed up an flowing

is this an issue proven in Rams or just a general problem? I agree, the tube & fin type cooler like you showed is not the most efficient or rugged, I would prefer the "stacked plate" type like B&M sells

BTW, my trans guy puts on the invoice "recommended to bypass in rad cooler and put on external one"

 

I would say yes go ahead and do it considering you're already down for maintance. It's always better to do the heavier work while the truck is already out of commission because if you wait untill it's all back on the road and you're driving it, you will get use to driving it again an then when the plenum does go out you'll be kicking your self in the *** for not changing it while you had the chance.

 

Sheriff,
can you shed some more light on why "just auxiliary trans cooler is not enough"? personal experience? Others? or is it a Ram thing, I trust you, its just goes against my past experience.

I may try another can of brake cleaner pushed through the in-rad cooler to try to get it clean and use it, but over 20 oz blown through it already and its still spitting out crap, I don't want that in a fresh transmission build nor can I afford a new rad now, if I bypass it and trans runs hot, at least I have a gage now to keep tabs plus an electric fan

for now, I'll hold off on the plenum fix.

(small plastic vacuum lines) after looking at a few discount auto parts stores, I finally found the plastic vacuum line Dodge (and others) use under the hood and for the CAD front axle disconnect and around the cross member
Auto Zone had it near the pcv valves, its 'VACU-TITE!' brand, 1/8" id hose, (over the years I could never find this stuff and alway had to rig up some rubber vacuum hose and metal line, air shock line is to small.

 

The crap is still coming out because there is still plenty of fill area below the height of the bottom fitting. The best way to clean it all out would be to remove the radiator. Without removing the rad you are going to have whatever you are using to clean it now with sitting in there and getting mixed in with the new fluid. Not that it's that much but, just sayin.

 

i had my transmission rebuilt and the tranny guy put the tube and fin cooler on it and couldn't figure out why it got uncomfortably hot on the test drive with just that cooler. he said that it has to stay around or under 176º and it was going over a little. he swapped that for the stacked plate style and it now hangs around 150-160º. if you have the aux cooler running with the b&m cooler then you shouldn't have to ever worry about a lack of proper cooling.

i believe the reason that the tube and fin style don't work when they are the only cooler is because the fluid is pushed through it too fast and it doesn't have a chance to actually cool off like it does in the stacked style of cooler.

 

Rebuild transmission is in as of this weekend.

"i believe the reason that the tube and fin style don't work when they are the only cooler is because the fluid is pushed through it too fast and it doesn't have a chance to actually cool off like it does in the stacked style of cooler"

...that make good sense, the guy who rebuilt mine agrees, its the slowing the fluid down to exchange heat thats the key along with surface area, when I picked up the trans I talked to him in more detail and we decided to try to clean the in rad cooler and utilize it...

I was able to get the in rad cooler clean by filling it with carb cleaner and soaking over night plugged up, I then ran some more brake clean with compressed air and got nice clear brake clean out. I'm using both with no check valve, I now have a trans temp gage and it will get up to around 180 around my house thats in a very hilly area, I do have a problem still, its not shifting into overdrive (yet to talk to rebuilder) I will address the question in my original thread

Thanks

 

Dont do the CPS mod. It does absolutley nothing.

 

Is there a reason why it dosen't work? Why do some say it makes a seat of the pants difference? If proven not to work, why are the threads that are dedicated to the mod not updated? ...not being a smart a$$, just wanted a basis of your comment

I know the the plenum leak needs to be addressed first to take advantage of more timing