They're actually not a bad transmission, but it would have been so much
better had they went with brakes in the drums, instead of bands. People
don't know there are two band adjustments on the transmission. The main
reasons these fail is heat, servo and band failure. The bands do need adjusted
after a period of time. You loosen the stop nut, turn the center screw to
120"-lbs then back off 2 full turns. Then tighten the stop nut to 40'-lbs.
The issue here is the nuts have a tapered seal on them that may fail once
you loosen them up, and then you leak fluid from there... SO, have
a new set of these nuts just in case... Reverse band is not adjustable,
and the servo is internal.
The other failure is the servo bores for 3rd and O/D. The bores wear, and
the servos stick, or stick and release. So, the band don't apply or is delayed,
and causes the damage to the clutch packs or drums.
MAIN failure, HEAT! These coolers are not an AUX cooler after the radiator. IT is a
stand alone cooler between the condenser and radiator. This allows too much fluctuation
in the transmission temperatures. When idling in gear, the trans fluid temp gets hotter than
it should, and hotter with the A/C on as the condenser heats. If you get a radiator with a
trans cooler built in (heat exchanger), go through that first, then the factory cooler. Then
you have a steady temperature to begin with, then the secondary cooling afterwards. While
driving, it stays at about 173-175 degrees, but once you idle, it gets up to 184. You don't
want to go higher than 170, ideally. The cooler should be in the VERY FRONT of the car,
not sandwiched between the rad and condenser. My former Charger had a bigger one,
and was right in front.
I am up there in miles, I would say around 115,500, or so... I get delayed reverse
engagement when hot, it will bang into gear if I put any pedal into it before it
shifts, so I had to get used to waiting, then gassing... I get some noise when
shifting while coasting at times, just a little knock into gear here and there. If I
am at WOT, there is a binding 2-3 shift at times, so the servo is sticking, or the
band needs adjusted. I fixed it for a while when I used the Firm Shift feature in
the tune, but I am back to factory shifting, and it's still firmer than it was when I
first bought it. I added a trans catch, and put some Lucas Trans conditioner in
it, seems to have helped some. I gotta get, at least, that Intermediate band
adjusted.
