Wow, my 03 won't go into the red... The rev limiter cuts in and that's where it stops. You should have the dealer look into that one.

 

Now I don't suggest you try this, but even switching to "R won't do anything if you are moving over 10mph. When you slow to the "magic" number, it will pop into "R" with conviction.

 

Not true, there is a rev limiter. No, it won't upshift for you but it won't let you go above a certain RPM and kill your motor.

 

For what its worth - I had a bad experience downshifting at high speed/rpm... I had an aftermarket ATF cooler and the line pressure blew the return line right off... I spewed trany fluid all over the fwy. Motor was running fine but no gears at all! I was spooked!!! Fortunately after replacing lost fluid all was fine

I removed the ATF cooler btw. I'm pretty sure it was more of a hose clamp issue that anything but I didn’t want to risk it again.

Moral of the story - this trany is bullet proof! Mine is strong as it ever was... ATF coolers are fine but I suggest doubling the hose clamps. Or better yet use one screw style and one spring/tension clamp style (if I ever put it back on that is what I will do).

Bottom line though - I don’t down shift too low at high rmp/speed anymore.

 

Yeah I don't down shift much especially after going FI. After dumping one tranny already I'm putting in a tranny cooler. With the VB upgrade line pressures are even higher

 

One of the best, and cheapest, insurance items you can have is a tranny oil cooer. Keeping oil temperatures under control will preserve life considerably in any auto tranny.

If a hose blew, it was either a defective hose or a deficient installation, most likely the latter. Just make sure it's installed right the next time, but by all means, reinstall the oil cooler.

I drive my 5AT in manu-matic almost all the time, frequently pressing the car and I downshift just like I would with a stick.

Early in the life of the car, I installed the largest tranny cooler that would fit. If I remember right, it was motor home sized. Anyway, it had to be mounted on the bumper frame because it wouldn't fit adjacent to the radiator (actually, it's a convector - but that's a subject for another thread).

I just did a VB upgrade and coincidentally passed 60K miles on the car. The magnets in the pan were clean and there was absolutely nothing in the screen.

 

It wasn’t the install… ran well over 2K miles without an issue... It was definitely the down shifting (extremely agressive) - which admittedly wasn’t a good idea. I won’t elaborate, but no one should have done what caused this so it normally wouldn’t be an issue for most people.

BTW our cars already do have an ATF cooler, and in most cases it's sufficient. As my first post stated, there isn’t anything wrong with having an extra/aftermarket cooler - but when you get spooked like I did first inclination is to take it off. I also stated that if/when I reinstall I will double clamp and I highly recommend that anyone else does as well.

Frankly I wish threaded lines were an option, but of course with our transmissions and OEM radiators it is not.