I'd say my driving habits are about the same as yours, Fernando......oh, sorry, I mean Don. My tranny still feels solid at my mileage (see sig), but I can't help but worry about it. My car has a cam somewhere in its future, probably a year down the road. I plan on keeping this thing for a while and rebuilding whatever I can to keep it on the road. I don't want throw another plain old 4T60E at it when the original goes out. That seems like a ticking time bomb situation, similar to the UIM but to a lesser degree. I see 3800 Performance offers a rebuilt 4T65E for about 2 grand, but I'm guessing this cannot bolt up to my car? Maybe I just need to get together with a local tranny guy and have a rebuild done to my specifications. Whatever I do, I'm still going to install a tranny cooler within the next month. I'd say it'* definitely time to heed the warnings, especially since I'm putting an Intense PCM in it. What do you guys think about all this?

I think that all Bonnes, beacuse of the weight of these cars should have a tranny cooler. It would have made sense at GM when buliding these cars just to add the Cooler and prevent to permature trans failure I mean come on, the SSEi got one but that was */C BUT some SSE that had the N/A engine also got a cooler? what makes the difference between a SE/SLE and a SSE maybe a few 100 lbs

it seems to be good practice that if you have ANY mods that a trans cooler is good practice

because saying that anything can handle more than what you're putting it behind means that you have to warranty it to do just that. and if you say a tranny can handle a 500 hp engine in a 300 hp application, there'* that much more leway for a person to complain when they break it
that'* part of it anyway. wife just told me that dinner is ready, so i'll see if i can chat more later

the fact is GM dosent want people modding there engines. If GM wanted the car to have more power they would have built them that way from the factory.

but GM rates the trans for the engines that is in there and nothing more

Thanks for the clarification, I see what you're saying now. There is an element of conspiracy theory in that line of thinking, but it seems possible. Do you really think GM would cover their workmanship by underrating their components? I know Ford seems to have more of an "honest" figure for their Thunderbird transmissions, which are rated roughly 150 hp above the output of the stock 4.6 V8. Why would GM lie about specs but another huge company like Ford tell the truth? I'm a bit baffled. And just to clarify, I'm not trying to call anyone a liar. I think if anything I'm just frustrated that I need a performance-built transmission to handle any serious mods. It'* a pain in the posterior to know I'll have to shell out 1-2k in the next couple years to keep this car on the road.

ill tell you why GM rates there trannys at what the stock output is....because thats REALLY about all they will hold up to, again lots of members here in the blown/new tranny club, my Bonnes not HUGELY modded, just a few bolt ons and it blew its tranny up at 115k.....look at willwren and DrJay both members of the tranny club, and both having modded cars (albeit DrJay just did it to preempt the enevitable)

So I guess nobody noticed that I called Don "Fernando" a couple posts ago? I figured since we were calling each other random names I'd just throw one out there. Well, that sucks. All my efforts at comedy have been wasted!

Pertinent post this time... what tranny does Todd use? Does he have a modified Intense unit or is he still using the stock 4T65E HD?

he has a Intense converter installed

I agree heat is the biggest killer. My tranny has probably one more summer left on it. How much more is an HD than LD for a 4t65?