About to Buy, but have some Q's

[martinrisher]

So I've narrowed it down to two PF's that I'll buy within the week or so. But I am cautious about the Tranny / Radiator issue. Although it seems like most vehicles effected are 05-07, I would assume thats because most '10's just haven't hit that mileage yet.

Both the PFs I'm looking at are 2010 V6's. One has about 20,000mi and the other about 45,000.

I know people have talked about a bypass, but have also read this could affect performance (Towing, ect...). I also read about coolers? I'm semi-auto inclined, more than your average folk, but far from a gear-head.... but don't know anything about an external cooler?

I'm also having a hard time understanding where exactly the problem lies and how the two fluids are mixing together to begin with. Are they not two separate systems? Feel free to relocate this, or point me to a thread that goes in depth - but I wanted to introduce myself... in a big way. Haha.

OH! Anywhere I should look specifically on these vehicles under the hood (or driving) when doing my inspection for signs and/or symptoms ??

Hopefully soon to be PF Owner...
(Unless ya'll scare me away)
~M

[NmexMAX]

The current design is that there is a smaller tranny cooler that sits inside the radiator, and the radiator has antifreeze/coolant, and the smaller cooler inside of it has tranny fluid. The housing is plastic and can become aged and become brittle and fail, causing the 2 fluids to mix. When those 2 mix, it's catastrophic. There has been talk that you lose some cooling capacity when you by-pass the smaller cooler. I don't think this is much of an issue, but if you were concerned, you can always add a smaller external tranny cooler. Jegs/Summjit racing, etc. They can increase the cooling capacity of the cooling system, or in the case you by-pass, bring the capacity back to where it was before you by-passed.

External coolers:
http://www.summitracing.com/search/prod ... on-coolers