So I just finished swapping the tranny out in my 98 DGCaravan with the 3.8 engine. Everything went good with the swap and the van is up and running good. I actually used the thread off of this forum to help me through the whole thing, and it was an amazing help. Anyhow my question is about the tranny coolant lines. I'm pretty sure I have them hooked up right, right line as you look at them goes to top of radiator. After a test drive and letting her warm up good I was checking all connections and everything when I felt the tranny lines and neither was warm at all. I was just wondering if they or at least one of them should be warm or hot after running it for a while. I assume it should be moving fluid throug the radiator and one side would be pretty warm. Is it possible that no tranny fluid is being moved through the lines. Everything else was hot, the radiator, the tranny, everything but the lines. Is this normal?

 

make sure you have sufficient flow. you need to get a quart in 30 sec. the routing is top hose goes to the port closest to the engine port to the driverside goes to the bottom of the radiator. you should always flush radiator cooler when installing a new trans just ensure no junk is in the cool which will cause planetary gear failure if plugged.

 

The transmission lines don't have coolant going thru the lines, so they wouldn't get hot. Unless you are a flow problem just like 22mopar22 had said.

 

The lines where actually cool to the touch while the engine was upto operating temp. I assumed the lines have tranny fluid in them and would be hot as the fluid moved to the cooler. Is that correct?

 

You are some what right. But the way to look at the cooler lines is, The radiator either lower or side tanks have coils inside them, that help to cooled off the transmiision fluid temp the by cooling system. You always want to keep the fluid as cool as possible. Heat is not good for transmission seals. Thats why some cars or trucks run two transmission coolers. And by all means if you have questions do ask. There are lot of members that can help you with your questions.