CoolingDiscuss all of the aspects of cooling that you can think of! Radiators, transmissions, electric fans, etc.
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whats the best way to route the lines using an aftermarket trans cooler? i was thinking in using the stock one and the aftermarket together but a guy from a transmission shop told me to use only the aftermarket one, so whats better?
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i got mine going through the factory one first and then to the aftermarket one....i put it in the lower right hand corner of the ac evap, drilled 2 holes in the top of my air dam to run the cooler lines to the metal facrory one
does it cool down the tranny pretty good? i was thinking in puting a trans temp gauge with it
mine stays cool, dont know of a temp, but feeling the bottom of the pan its no where near as hot as it was before, i also got a Derale trans pan cooler http://www.derale.com/pans.html
here is the pics
Here is the cooler mounted, the SS braided lines are for my airhorns you can see one of them in the upper left corner along with the wires to the eletric valve for em
OK here is the hole i drilled in the air dam
and here is how it hooks to the factory lines, i did modify the bends in them to get it to work properly
sorry everything is dirty on the underside.......looking at it in the pics now makes me want to go out there and detail away under that thing
is that enough or you need more????
another FYI i also have an all aluminum racing rad, it keeps the coolant cooler than the stock one did, and that means the trans cooler inside of it works better to
Im using aftermarket trans hose with push on fittings, that goes to my trans cooler and to my th350. Trans cooler botled to 2 alum flat stick pieces, where the ac evap use to be.
since my car did not have a trans cooler in radiator tank
when i went from 4spd to auto back in 1993,i made up
an independant tranny cooling system: mounted an oil
cooler salvaged from a cop car under the battery area
with a specially made 8" electric fan switched on by a
thermostat in the tranny pan(200* switch on) made
a custom guage panel under the center A/C vent that
includes tranny and engine oil temps. BTW i have air
horns on mine too-twin trumpet hadleys-lol
I priced a trans cooler for about 60 bux and said screw that. I went to my local junk yard and got one off an old pickup truck for $4 bux. Then i just plumbed it in with some 3/8 hose i had laying around and ziptied it to my radiator where my condenser used to be. I did the whole thing in about an hour and it only cost me 4 bux. And here's the sweet part, i made sure to tap into the return line from the radiator so my fluid gets double cooled, first by the stock cooler, then into the standalone cooler, then back to the trans. Keeps my tranny nice and cool even with a 3000 stall. Daily driven.
Im using aftermarket trans hose with push on fittings, that goes to my trans cooler and to my th350. Trans cooler botled to 2 alum flat stick pieces, where the ac evap use to be.
whats the best way to route the lines using an aftermarket trans cooler? i was thinking in using the stock one and the aftermarket together but a guy from a transmission shop told me to use only the aftermarket one, so whats better?
I cant believe nobody caught this.
DO NOT USE JUST THE AFTERMARKET COOLER. It is not enough cooling or enough routing length for the fluid to cool properly. Always use the in radiator cooler as well. If you read the other statments on here that use a tranny cooler, with radiator cooler and a tranny pan cooler and they're fine, but STILL reaching high temps. So with just an aftermarket cooler you will boil that fluid easily, unless you attach a fan to it as stated by 8t2...
Get a nicely sized cooler, Run it in front of the condenser/radiator just like everyone else has stated.
i cheated lol. I have no ac. I cleaned out my condenser and with some fittings i got at a hardware store my tranny stays plenty cool in the summer!! Plugged the ones on the rad and with some hose and cutting have rubber lines (or braided if you want to go fancy) hooked them up to the barbed fittings i put in.
i did a couple of tests with different coolers and with/without the radiator inline.
180* thermostat, 2600 stall
thru the radiator then thru aftermarket tube&fin cooler about 1/2 the size of the radiator my trans temp sat at 195-200* not good.
thru the same tube&fin cooler without the radiator inline my trans temp sat at 200* and started to go higher, no further tests on this one.
bought an aftermarket b&m stacked plate style cooler, size is 11"x10"x1.5" ran it thru the radiator and then thru the cooler and my trans temp never goes above 150*. perfect. part number B&M 70266
so my recommendation is to use the stacked plate style cooler, it is more effecient. and only costs like $10 more. it also has a built in thermostat, to where most of the fluid bypasses the cooler until it heats up. only complaint i have about it, is it takes a while for the fluid to warm up, and doesn't shift like it should. takes about 5 minutes to get to 100* and then another 10 minutes to get to 150*. this is with winter weather testing only, i haven't had it long enough to test it in the summer, its right around the corner tho.
takes about 5 minutes to get to 100* and then another 10 minutes to get to 150*. this is with winter weather testing only, i haven't had it long enough to test it in the summer, its right around the corner tho.
About perfect time it takes to warm a car up to operating temp anyway huh. Sounds like summer should cut that in half. Would like to hear the results of the summer drive.
About perfect time it takes to warm a car up to operating temp anyway huh. Sounds like summer should cut that in half. Would like to hear the results of the summer drive.
P.S. Avg Winter Temps?
i should have worded that a little more accurately. meant to say it takes that amount of time after the coolant temp is up. takes about 5 minutes for coolant to reach proper temp of 180*, then 5 more minutes for trans to reach 100* and then another 10 minutes to reach 150*. total of 20 minutes, most of my trips take no more than 20-30 minutes, so it can be an annoyance at times. i would like to install a remote oil thermostat, but the only one i can find is the derale unit that doesn't start to open till 180* which could make the temp get as high as 195*. i would like a max temperature of 170* cause at 195* that would cut the life of the transmission in half. currently my average winter temp is 150* never gets hotter. im also running an aluminum deep trans pan with cooling fins that holds an extra 3 quarts of fluid.
if anyone knows of a remote oil thermostat that opens at lower temperatures, let me know.
I would put a temp gauge on the tranny first. If it runs to cool it's not the greatest for it either. Not saying it's going to blow up.
If you drive it in cooler weather the coolant will also help get it up to operating temp.
FYI, 200 isn't to hot for a tranny. That's about where you want to be.
I think the perfect fluid temp would be around the 200* these cars are suppost to run at anyway. If you look it up our 3rd gens are suppost to run up to 220* before fans turn on. So take that and realize trans temps should probably be based around your coolant temp. So the 180-220* range is best. But thats just me so...
I have my trans routed to the radiator first then to the cooler and back to the trans. I also have a deep TCI pan that holds a couple extra quarts. I have a trans temp gauge mounted also. With a 3000 stall my trans temp never goes above 175 degrees.
you have to also think how many of our cars have slipping transmissions or failures, 200* isn't too for a transmission if you only want it to last half of what you could get out of it. i do have a temp gauge in my transmission, thats how i was getting the readings....
how do you suppose i hook that hayden oil sandwich adapter up to my transmission lines, it only has one in and one out, it would work for what it is intended for, between the oil filter and housing, but not for a transmission. i would need something like this http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku
stacked plate type is more effective,but also more
expensive-stacked plate type is used in a lot of OEM
apllications -especially fords-so you can salvage one at
a junkyard for a fraction of new cost-i think ford
explorers have them with hose barb connections,also
check old police cars for both tranny and engine oil
coolers.The older b&m transmission temp gauge i have
in my dodge 4x4(sender not hooked up yet) has a
yellow caution zone that starts at 220*,red warning
zone at 260*. the oil temp gauges in my camaro were
salvaged from a wrecked semi truck,i like to run
tranny temp at 180-200*,engine oil at 220-240*
oil should be warm enough to flow well but not too
hot.
stacked plate type is more effective,but also more
expensive-stacked plate type is used in a lot of OEM
apllications -especially fords-so you can salvage one at
a junkyard for a fraction of new cost-i think ford
explorers have them with hose barb connections,also
check old police cars for both tranny and engine oil
coolers.The older b&m transmission temp gauge i have
in my dodge 4x4(sender not hooked up yet) has a
yellow caution zone that starts at 220*,red warning
zone at 260*. the oil temp gauges in my camaro were
salvaged from a wrecked semi truck,i like to run
tranny temp at 180-200*,engine oil at 220-240*
oil should be warm enough to flow well but not too
hot.
Here are some Vette guys sharing their experience with oil temps.
Seems like around 220* is where you want to sit your oil temps at. But Vettes run up to 300* NORMAL.
stacked plate type is more effective,but also more
expensive-stacked plate type is used in a lot of OEM
apllications -especially fords-so you can salvage one at
a junkyard for a fraction of new cost-i think ford
explorers have them with hose barb connections,..
I like the ones Ford use also, but I go for the ones with hard line fittings. Never have to worry about hoses going bad up in front of the radiator where its hard to get to. you can do a cleaner tighter install, too.(that is if you're not half bad at bending tubing.)
QuickSyle,
You also have to think about what kind of car your talking about.
Camaro's are driven one of two ways. Like it was stolen, or babied cause it's the owners special car and they don't ever open it up.
Anything driven hard is going to break. Also the 700 and 4L60 aren't all that strong. Not saying they are bad, but they don't do well with lot's of abuse. Running the tranny cold isn't all that good for it.
Also along with that, how often do you see people change their tranny fluid. Other then the people on forums? Most of them don't know if even has a filter. Lack of maint is the biggest killer.
QuickSyle,
You also have to think about what kind of car your talking about.
Camaro's are driven one of two ways. Like it was stolen, or babied cause it's the owners special car and they don't ever open it up.
Anything driven hard is going to break. Also the 700 and 4L60 aren't all that strong. Not saying they are bad, but they don't do well with lot's of abuse. Running the tranny cold isn't all that good for it.
Also along with that, how often do you see people change their tranny fluid. Other then the people on forums? Most of them don't know if even has a filter. Lack of maint is the biggest killer.
So figure, people run theses cars over 100K without changing fluids and I have seen them go even more than 120k without fluid or filter change and still shifting fine. So put regular maintenance into that tranny from 0 miles up, I bet you could get over 200k out of a trans with proper care and maintenance. Sounds about right no?
Also, talked to a buddy who runs a turbocharged car and really runs it, says he keeps his oil temps around 200 and trans temps around 180 (Near coolant levels).
one other question: my transmission went bad and im gonna run the stock cooler and then the aftermarket one do i have to flush the stock lines and cooler and if so how do i do this?
Depends on how the tranny failed,if there is a lot of
metal in the oil,or the oil is burnt(it will be yellow)
would be best to flush the lines out-tranny shops
have machines to do this,there may be other methods
someone might know(i've never had to do it)
if oil looks clean with no metal i would just run it.
one other question: my transmission went bad and im gonna run the stock cooler and then the aftermarket one do i have to flush the stock lines and cooler and if so how do i do this?
You need to buy a couple cans of this stuff or a brand like it
Since I have a axillary manually switched pusher fan in front of my radiator I had to install my axillary cooler behind and between the radiator and rear stock puller fan . The transmission fluid runs through the main radiator trans. cooler then through the axillary cooler. Here's the catch. Its a combination engine oil /transmission oil cooler. It runs the trans. fluid through 4 coils of the the cooler at all times but only allows the engine oil to run through 6 coils when the engine reaches 180 degrees. That way the engine oil stays at a optimal temp. I was really impressed with the quality of the Deraly cooler and the pieces that came with it. Picked it up a Summit Racing on line. Here's the link. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DER-15903/
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Last edited by ronusmcmma; 12-12-2009 at 11:24 PM.
Reason: add info.
Our family does not do any towing but a transmission cooler on a factory vehicle seems to be only part of a "trailer package". Am I over estimating the value of such a cooler on prolonging the life of these fancy 6 speed automatic transmissions that won't experience any towing? But maybe the cost of the trailer package isn't much different that installing an aftermarket cooler . What do you think?
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one92rs -- Any idea what the BTU rating of your a-t cooler is?
B&M rates the (above) #70266 at 20500 BTU.
The models that indicate a "cool fluid bypass" are rated at condiderably less:
#70255 at 9800 BTU, and #70268 at 13000 BTU.
one92rs -- Any idea what the BTU rating of your a-t cooler is?
B&M rates the (above) #70266 at 20500 BTU.
The models that indicate a "cool fluid bypass" are rated at condiderably less:
#70255 at 9800 BTU, and #70268 at 13000 BTU.
I bypassed the stock radiator. In Houston, there is no point in running your transmission fluid through the hot radiator. The radiator runs hotter than the transmission fluid does. Highest I've ever seen the transmission fluid at was 188°. That was after sitting in afternoon August traffic for 2 hours. Shutting down to fill up for gas. And then driving one more block home.
That thin pencil tube that runs through the radiator isn't going to cool the transmission as good as a stacked plate, large surface area cooler that is getting air dam air at high speed and radiator fan air at low speed.
Oh yeah, that above day in August when I was stuck in stop and go for 2 hours? My radiator was at 245° by the time I got home. Was running around 230° before I stopped for gas. Why would I want to run transmission fluid through that?
Last edited by Reid Fleming; 12-19-2009 at 10:08 PM.
Our family does not do any towing but a transmission cooler on a factory vehicle seems to be only part of a "trailer package". Am I over estimating the value of such a cooler on prolonging the life of these fancy 6 speed automatic transmissions that won't experience any towing? But maybe the cost of the trailer package isn't much different that installing an aftermarket cooler . What do you think?
They're some of the cheapest insurance against expensive transmission repairs you can buy. It really depends on your weather and traffic. If you're stuck in rush hour all the time, they're mandatory. If you only cruise on empty highways during the weekends, it's not that necessary.
. What do you think?
