BA’s Problem Description:

My car’s name is BA. That came from a sticker on the back window that says “This car is rated BA – Not for the Faint of Heart”. She was customized in California by her original owner, Obiwan. She is the 2008 LX National 6.1L Bracket Race Champion and intends to defend her title in 2009, but has a problem.

The problem first showed up after a night of racing at Memphis Motor Sports Park in September 2008. We came in second, red lighted by .01 seconds in the final round. My fault, not BA’s. While driving home, I stopped at a gas station in Memphis for a fill up. BA drove in fine, pulled out fine, but at the next stoplight she would not move. I pushed BA to the side of the road, turned BA off and waited a minute. When I started her back up, all was fine until I got to the next stoplight and she wouldn’t move again. I called AAA and had her hauled to my place in Osceola, AR. The next day I talked to the Chrysler dealer in Osceola at Louis George Motor Company, which is only about three blocks from my apartment. He said it was probably a leaky core (13-pin connector), said they have had to fix several of them and had replacement parts in stock. His service staff is practically non-existent, but took a quick look at her, said the fluid was pink, radiator probably leaking and the core was leaking. He had her hauled to Gene’s Transmission Shop near Blytheville, AR. The core was replaced and the fluid was flushed. I picked her up there a few days later and she was fine again. The repair bill was $412.94, which included hauling.

A few days later while driving to the gym after work, the car shifted funny and I noticed a stream of fluid trailing the car. I was only a block from the bungalow, turned around and pulled back into the driveway with a stream of fluid following. I borrowed a dipstick from the dealer and checked the level expecting it to be low. It was high and appeared to leaking out of the vent instead of the core again. I checked with the dealer and he said the transmission shop added 7.5 quarts as it calls for in the service manual, but did not check the level because they didn’t have a dipstick either.

That weekend I bought a siphon pump and started removing fluid and checking the level, but the level readings were inconsistent and it fell like the tip of the stick was turning over in the bottom of the pan. The leaking stopped, but the car wouldn’t move because I think I siphoned too much out. It this point I figured its time to read the book.

Eight hundred pages later, I was ready to remove the pan, change the filter and make sure I had a dipstick that went to the bottom of the pan and no further. I got a dipstick from the dealer that was close, but a little longer. I measured the distance from the bottom of the pan to the top of the dip stick tube (32 ¾”), marked the top of the dipstick with a piece of duct tape to get consistent readings, filled it up to the required level for the temperature she was operating at and everything was fine again. This took six (6) quarts of ATF-4.

After a couple of weeks and a few short hops around Osceola, I was starting to feel good again, but then she refused to move away from the stoplight again. I turned her off, waited a minute or two and then limped a couple of blocks home. I checked the level and it was high again. I then remembered that the original mechanic thought the radiator might be leaking, so I got the service manual out and started reading again. That’s when I found out that the transmission cooler was made integral with the air conditioning condenser and not the radiator. If anything was leaking in it must be AC coolant and not radiator fluid. An auxiliary cooler had been added to the car, so I bypassed the stock transmission cooler and went straight to the auxiliary cooler to see if that would solve the problem. In this mode, in leakage of AC coolant would not be possible.

I dropped the pan, drained the fluid and added 5 quarts of ATF-4 (it took 6 last time) and started checking the level. I found that it was already too high. I checked the drain pan to see how much was drained out and found it to be only 3.5 quarts.

I dropped the pan again and drained out over 5 quarts and started filling again very slowly this time and checking all the way and shifting through the gears. With the level where it is suppose to be, I tried backing up. She moved a few feet, but only after 2K-3K rpm. I had to cut her off and reset to get her to move forward, but again only after 2K-3K rpm. At this point I threw in the towel and backed off!

During the past year I meet Mexi in Memphis. I don’t know his Mexican heritage, but he is “All American” in my book. He often brags about his dealer and his service writer, so I am thinking about sending BA to them, but I thought I would try the LX Brain Trust first. Any advice would be appreciated.