While I have seen several troublesome 31TH transmissions, I won't condemn the design just yet. Most of the drivers of the bad transmissions has poured wrong ATF into the transmission. If you read your owner's manual, it will say that your transmission requires specific Mopar ATF which corresponds to ATF+3, or currently ATF+4 transmission fluid. If you never pour Dexron III ATF into your transmission, you should be fine.
What I did to my 41TE transmission (98 Chrysler Cirrus LXi) is, instead of removing and extending the lines to another trans cooler, I use the radiator cooler and I add another external cooler in series. So, from the transmission to the radiator, the output from the radiator to the cooler, output from the cooler I attach back to output going back to the radiator. I have 197K trouble-free miles from the transmission. I have owned the vehicle since 34K miles.
May 5, 2009 at 12:47 AM