Just wanted to share with the community here. .
I've only had my car for a few weeks and noticed trans temps getting above 200* pretty regularly during normal driving, which made me uncomfortable. I was aware of the upgrade to the PP Aux trans cooler upgrade and had read all the write ups on them. This one caught my interest
http://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php?topic=5389.0Thanks to polskifacet for shedding light on the cooler trans T-stat in the PP by-pass valve. That got me thinking . . why couldn't a guy swap just the thermostat and not add the whole Auxiliary cooler just to get temps down a bit . . . why not this guy! seemed easy enough
Bought the whole by-pass from the dealership(they don't sell just the t-stat that i could find) for $40. Removed the old T-stat and replaced with the new one from the dealership valve. This was pretty easy. just removed the driver side wheel and loosened a few bolts of the fenderwell guard and had easy access. The snap ring that holds the t-stat took a little work to get out but not too bad and didn't lose much fluid at all. Went for a drive. . . keep in mind my car at this time is bone stock.
Overall trans temps seemed about 5-10* cooler on average and peak temps reaches about 205* where they would normally get to 210-215*. I also noticed the coolant temps seemed to run a little cooler also which i didn't expect-maybe just less heat absorption from the trans fluids.
Fast-forward a couple days to today and i get my 170* coolant thermostat in the mail and swap that in. . . went to pick up the daughter from school which is about a 25min drive- all 45mph-ish roads/no highway and plenty of stoplights. Coolant temps were consistent with anyone running a 170* stat(165-185ish). Trans temps stayed cooler for A LOT longer. Hovered around 165 for a while slowly raised to about 185 by the time i parked the car. On the way home the trans temps continued to climb and reached a peak of 200* with a lot of sitting in traffic.
so summary: with the cooler trans t-stat and 170* coolant thermostat- Trans temp WILL
EVENTAULLY get to near what they are stock. Makes sense . . there's no additional cooling apparatus. BUT it takes a hell of a lot longer for them to get there. for me-nearly an hour of stop-n-go city driving. With all the stock thermostat's it would take 15-25 mins. I'll update the thread if i notice any additional results over the next couple days.
I'm sure i'll eventually upgrade to the Auxiliary cooler unit(save it for next spring/summer when it's getting hot again) but wanted to do what i could in the meantime. Also, getting a tune within the next couple weeks and i'm sure lower fan-on temps will help out a little.
I took a couple pics of the install if anyone would like to see . . but i doubt this "mod" warrants a write-up of any sort.
Just wanted to share the results for others who don't yet want to go all out for the PP upgrade