Went to the track with et streets on running about 18 lbs of air
Made 4 runs and car was flawless trans temps never got above 180
Took the car for a drive today on the freeway no ragging just in cruz and doing the speed limit trans STARTED TO CLIMB IN TEMP and went to 250 ,I have a cooler.
running amsoil in the trans no problem with the shifts so far.
Does anyone have this or similar experience with the 4l60e and I also have the YANK SY3500

 

Check your trans fluid level. Last time mine ran that hot it was low on fluid and the 3-4 clutch pak went.

Yours is shifting OK so thats good. But I'd check the level. And the cooler.

 

John maybe the cooler is clogged?

 

If the clutch starts slipping excessively it will generate tons of heat.

Also, I would definitely not run Amsoil. I've heard nothing but bad things about synthetic use in 4L60Es. A few of my buddies blew up theirs with redline synthetic in under 20k miles. I ran my A4 on plain dexron III for years and years and never had an issue. Dozens of passes at the strip too.

If you notice, on the transmission there is a big bold warning - Dexron III ONLY.

This MIGHT be your problem, but who knows.

Dope

 

I jacked it up today and all looks ok with the cooler and lines, the lines seamed cool for a trans that just ran 250 degrees.
Kirby maybe the clutch material is plugging it all up.
Cooler seamed cool also.
I will check the fluid level then pull the pan off next to see if is in self distruct mode.
Sure wish it was simple but it never is and also expensive.


[Modified by blktie8, 6:56 PM 7/5/2004]

 

Ditto on the Amsoil. I wouldn't use a synthetic in my transmission either.

 

ahh, yet another participant in this summer's "toasted tranny" celebration!

(me too, sad to say)

 

Assuming you have a stock 4L60E then Amsoil ATF is fine as it meets the Dextron III GM specification unlike the regular Redline ATF. Redline does make D4 ATF and High Temp ATF which is recommmended for Dextron III use. For my FLP built tranny only non synthetic ATF Dextron III is recommended by FLP because of the different materials used.

It does sound like the A4 is on the way out. If that is the case then I would be sure to at least back flush, if not boil out the transcooler in the radiator as well as the auxiliary cooler that you added and all transmission lines. I went even further than that by replacing the radiator with a new one from A&A Corvette that has a larger core then stock and a new B&M cooler. That is probably overkill but since I was spending a fair amount of money for a new trans and converter I did not want any chance of having residual material turning it to junk.

I would also be wary of the converter, as it does not take long for the contaminated fluid to damage the turbines in the converter. At the very least it should be flushed and perhaps checked out by Yank to verify it is still ok.

It is a shame that a new, beefed A4 is a hidden cost of a H/C and or converter, but that is the way it is sooner or later. At least you donÂ’t have a supercharger in addition to your other mods or you would eventually see a forged shortblock and maybe a beefed differential as part of your hidden costs from what I have observed


[Modified by SFVetteman, 6:42 PM 7/5/2004]

 

You know SF, I never looked at it like that until recently, but you have a point. How many times have we seen people have to go to a new, stronger transmission following heads and cam and to a slightly lesser extent, aftermarket torque converters.

Some of the guys around here with either or both of these mods don't speak in terms of "if" their trannys fail, but "when" their trannys fail. After mine rolled craps, I learned a lot about the stock 4L60E in the A4 Vette. Turns out that it is not all that stout to begin with. There are a lot of things it does not like and will not tolerate.

Heat, "excessive" horsepower, "excessive" torque, low fluid levels, etc.

Bottom line is, you gotta know going in that with either of these mods, your A4 transmission is probably not going to die of old age

Auxillary cooler or not.




[Modified by EB20003, 11:32 PM 7/5/2004]

 

Totally agee. I have worked on auto trannies for over 30 years and have seen many failures. I also know a few folks at GM Powertrain and we all are sad when we here folks NOT running DEXIII. Approvals don't mean much. The engineering team who designed the A4 based friction materials on DEXIII dyno fluid. Synthetics are too slippery causing eventual band an clutch failure. Just keep the temps below 200* and change the fluid every 10k miles (even less if racing).

 

Geez, I guess they did not know that the Dextron III specification is not limited to dyno fluid. That is pretty stupid of them. Even more stupid is that once they realized their error they did nothing to correct it. No changes to the Dextron III specification. No service bulletins. No changes to the owners manual. They just sat back and let everyone destroy their transmission by using synthetic Dextron III. At least they are kind enough not to refuse warranty work because of their oversite.

Well, this may very well explain why the 4L60E is such a POS. The transmission is designed by idiots that do not specify exactly what type of fluid is to be used and would rather fix them under warranty than correct their mistake

 

If you want to learn about the practical aspects of the 4L60E check out:
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/forumd...0&daysprune=-1

These guys are even running "type F" fluid to reduce slippage.