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

[79cutlass]

First, i'm going to start with my setup. 79 Cutlass with open 8.5 10-bolt 3.42. 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 drop 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

[cutlasskid]

did you change the size of the cooler lines in the last change. not sure which cooler you have on the web site but if it takes threaded fittings and looks like the b&m super cooler you should be ok there, i would just run the cooler alone that way the engine heat is not a factor. check to see if one of the lines is kinked or bent you may not have good flow, there is a restriction some where. is the stall in the convertor getting higher ? i woiuld look in the inspection cover to see if its turning blue colar was the trans shifting fine before you changed the t.v cable ? you may want to see what the trans pressure is at. if all fails pull the bottem pan to see it the filter is half pluged or not in the trans all the way or pan is dented in and restricting flow to the filter. this is just a couple of things to look at good luck.

[79cutlass]

The cooler I have is a Hayden cooler maybe the second biggest one, it was for a motorhome i believe. It doesn't have threaded fittings. I need to look for a kink or "restriction" in the lines. The stall convertor getting higher?---i'm not sure what you mean. I don't have the inspection cover on, I haven't put it on since the th350 swap. It felt like the TV cable slipped out of adjustment thats why I readjusted it now it seems to shifts fine but when it gets hot it hesitates a little going in gear and taking off. Checking my pressure would be a good idea--I just need to find a good trans shop around here to help me out. I'll see what they say.

Meanwhile i'll look for a restriction in the lines and filter. If you can think of anything else to add let me know. Thanks for the suggestions.

[79cutlass]

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.