Well I was #4 in a 4 car about a month ago.

Truck was at Archer Dodge for about 3 weeks and after enough calls from my wife they said it was ready. I opened the hood to look things over when I picked it up and immediately saw the tranny cooler has isuses. I drove it over there and there was no leaks, but somehow they busted it at the shop, and tried to find a replacement. They said they could not find one so they sent mine out to have it fixed by a radiator shop. It is not leaking but one of the feed lines is kinked about in half. I told them it was not acceptable to keep looking. They tell me there are none to be had. Now I am looking for an alternative, and need some advice on what to run. If none are availible, then there must be an after market unit that will work. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Next is an issue with the boost. With the wastegate locked, I was making 32psi of boost at WOT. Now it will make 28 then it falls off to 22. Truck is smoking pretty hard now and is just not running right. I need to check for a boost leak. Has anyone written out a procedure for doing this with back yard tools? I was thinking of getting some PVC end caps and blocking off the hose at the intake, and pressurizing the hose at the air box. Putting 30lbs of pressure, I should be able to find something right???? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

It was a VERY hard hit, and it did move the cross member enough that it had to be put on the frame machine. It drives as good now or better than it did before the wreck so they did a good job on that part. The paint looks great except where my old paint is peeling on the bed!

I told the body shop to keep looking for the tranny cooler, and that the system is loosing boost and they kind of shrugged it off. They got paid, so now I guess it is on me. They got axed by Chrysler so I guess they have more issues to deal with than me. I will be sending the bill to State Farm once it is fixed.

I am glad they didn't total it, but ****** that I was out of a truck for 3 weeks, and it still aint right. Oh well, at least no one got hurt, well except for the mini van I sent to the grave yard in the sky!

-Dave

 

http://perma-cool.com/Catalog/Cat_page05.html

here you go. bottom right on the page. it's an aftermarket cooler (larger) made for our trucks . . .

 

your truck/story looks and sounds just like mine. Was just me and one other car though. Very similar damage on the same spots, not quite as bad though. my truck was out for around 3 weeks too and the body shop said the same thing, that my trans cooler was damaged and the tried to order a new one and it was back ordered over a month. They told me they were going to order a new one and when it gets in they would do it then, but im not to sure. Mine aint leaking so im happy. My truck drives better now then it ever did, no boost leaks.

theres some pics in my gallery, i also sent a car to the grave, civic

good luck

 

This is the type of cooler I would run. One with a fan when things get toasty... Even yesterday towing about 5,000 lbs around town, 90 above, my tranny was hot. 180 degrees in the hot line, little to warm for me, have to be careful how much you push on the skinny peddle..

http://www.autoanything.com/coolers/65A3050A0A0.aspx

 

i also rearended a civic and casued similar damage. had it estimated and was told the tranny cooler needed to be replaced. i had a close look at it and it looks fine to me other than a couple bent fins. no leaks, and fluid is not burned at all.

my damage was worse than yours. you might be able to get away without replacing it.

 

I will have to replace it, the solder job they did on one of the passages looks like my 6 year old did it. Then where the bracket is, the feed line behind it is kinked hard. They squeezed it with pliers to open it up, but it is still at least 50% blocked off. I will check out the after market ones.

Just made it back into town after driving the wife and kids up to 6 flags. Hopefully I can figure out where the boost leak is tomorrow.

-Dave

 

A quick trip to Home Depot and about $20 in parts and pieces will build you a leak checker/detector.

Here is a pic of mine, it's pretty self explanatory with regards to putting it together. I went a little overboard by adding a pressure guage and such but it's not going to hurt.



Jeff

 

Thanks Jeff,

I picked up some parts but was using the hose from the air box with a plug in it. Kept blowing it out when it would puff up. Didn't think about using one of those rubber adapters right on the turbo.

I couldn't get it up past 22psi before it blew the plug out. I am beginning to suspect it may be something else now anyway.

I noticed that at some throttle positions it runs like a dog and smokes, but if I let up a little, or give it a little more throttle, it takes off hard. Kind of like cylinders not all hitting then all of the sudden they all light. Same feeling, except they are all hitting. Hard to explain. I have a smarty and played with the settings this week to see if I can find anything, but no luck so far.

I can see the lower boot is rubbing against the edge of the fender well and it has started cutting into it. Could be that is where my leak is, but at 30 or so lbs, there was no detectable leak or hissing sounds.

Oh well, I will keep looking. I was just sure it was a boost leak because this all started after the wreck and my boost pressures are down.

-Dave