200-4R troubles.......Need help diagnosing..........Please!

[79MeanGbody]

First, i'm going to start with my setup. I switched from a th-350 last July to a Monster Motorsports Mega-Monster 200-4R, that supposedly can handle 450hp/tq. You can visit eatmyshift.com to see what is done to the transmission. I got the 1650stall convertor free with the trans and a "universal" TV cable with the Edelbrock geometry correction bracket. I also got a large trans. cooler from bulkpart.com. At first I ran my lines only to the cooler. I put about 500 miles on it before I put it away for the winter.

Before I put it away it started ticking from around the flywheel. I thought it might be a cracked/out of round flywheel. So last winter i dropped the trans. to change to a SFI spec flywheel from Summit. I also swapped to a higher stall TCI convertor, for when I put a bigger cam etc. in my motor. I got the 12" lock-up convertor(2200-2400stal) from a MonteSS member with roughly 1500miles on it. When I got that finished up I decided to run my trans. lines in the radiator as well as the cooler for colder weather driving. I have a DeRale Trans. Temp. Gauge as well.

This sping I have driven it about 500-1000 miles. All was well up until a week or 2 ago. My trans. generally doesn't get above 180 unless it's extremely hot and i'm getting on it. But even then I see the temp. drop after the fluid cycles trhough the cooler.

One day I was cruising around when I start to notice the temp start to rise about 180 with normal driving. It continues to rise to 220, so I hurried to my local Marathon Service Staion to put it on the lift. I couldn't see much but I beleive it was boiling out of the tube on top of the trans. I let it cool down to 180. Then I drove maybe 2 miles home and it was up to 220 again. By the time I got home it was up to 240 and I get out to check the fluid level when I notice I was dripping in my driveway, looking under my car I see a large pool of fluid. I shut it down for a few days frustrated with all the troubles i've had with my car.

I readjusted the TV cable to where the 1-2 shift was about 18, 2-3 around 30 and 3-4 around 50. Now after about 30-45 mins. of cruising around in 80degree weather in the counrty. It got up to about 220 and by the time i got home it was at 240. It wasn't shifting firm like it usually would. It would hesitate maybe a sec. or so shifting from park to drive(definetly more of a pause than normal). Fluid level was fine before I headed out and I was maybe dripping a rop or so now(nothing major).

Now I am stumped. I think I am going to run the trans. lines just to the cooler. But I know something else is wrong. I just don't know where to start. Sorry for the long post I thought it was neccesary to explain my trans. troubles. Hopefully somebody can give me a hand. Thanks -Ethan

 

[1975ssnova]

I always run my trans fluid thrue the cooler only. I have never burnt a trans up doing it this way,Even with a decent stall converter.Some will say you have to run it thrue the rad also but it all depends on the cooler location and the type of fan setup you have.I run my coolers in the very front of every thing (RAD,AC Condenser) and i have a electric fan . If your cooler is behind the condenser or rad or mounted on the frame it may benifit to run it thrue the rad.Hope this helps you out some.

 

[79MeanGbody]

I switched my lines to run just through the aux. trans. cooler and it never got above 180 so far. And when it does it goes down to 160 or even less. This is good news for me. It seems like it shifts later than it normally would sometimes.(I don't have a high-po govenor so it doesn't redline before i shift) But one time it redlined and wouldnt shift until i let off the gas a little. But it seems to be ok most of the time.