Aux transmission cooler - where to mount and which one

[jaydez]

Okay guys (and gals). I want to add an auxillary transmission cooler to my 05 XLT. It is a v6 without the towing package. I need suggestions on which cooler to buy, where to mount it, and which line is which going into the faxtory cooler in the radiator.

If you have pics of where and how you mounted it that would be appreciated too.

I want to add it as a precaution to extend the life of my transmission and to do some light towing/hauling in the future.

Thanks!Okay guys (and gals). I want to add an auxiliary transmission cooler to my 05 XLT. It is a v6 without the towing package. I need suggestions on which cooler to buy, where to mount it, and which line is which going into the factory cooler in the radiator.

If you have pics of where and how you mounted it that would be appreciated too.

I want to add it as a precaution to extend the life of my transmission and to do some light towing/hauling in the future.

Thanks!

 

[zerodevil]

um, your explorer already has a transmission cooler, and a BIG one at that, when you look in the engine bay, the radiator the fan is behind is the T cooler... its as big as the engine radiator. a lot of things cause problems in these explorer 5r55's but...overheating ant one of them.

 

[JDT]

um, your explorer already has a transmission cooler, and a BIG one at that, when you look in the engine bay, the radiator the fan is behind is the T cooler... its as big as the engine radiator. a lot of things cause problems in these explorer 5r55's but...overheating ant one of them.

Well youre kinda right they do have a t-cooler, but the thing youre calling the t-cooler is accually the heat exchanger for the A/C, if you get underneath your front bumper and look at the very front of youre frame youll find a little silver mini radiator lookin thing and that is your trans cooler

 

[Ronin8002]

Well youre kinda right they do have a t-cooler, but the thing youre calling the t-cooler is accually the heat exchanger for the A/C, if you get underneath your front bumper and look at the very front of youre frame youll find a little silver mini radiator lookin thing and that is your trans cooler

Actually, that's the power steering cooler.

The transmission cooler is sandwiched between the radiator and the A/C condensor. if you take that black plastic piece off the top of the radiator and look down in the space in between the radiator and condensor you'll see it. It's as wide as the radiator and about 1/4 the height of it. Pretty big.

What transmission temps are you seeing that make you think you need a cooler? Not saying you don't, cause I've thought about it myself. I normally get temps between 150-160...it's gotten as high as 180 in stop and go traffic in very hot weather though but that's the exception. Highest I see normally is about 170.

I guess if I added one I'd get the biggest one that could fit in that leftover space where the factory one sits. Just run the input line of the stock one up to the input of the new one, then run the output of the new one to the input of the stock one...so basically they're hooked up in series.

 

[Ronin8002]

Oh and as far as what type of cooler, another thing you want to look at besides size is if it's a stacked plate type cooler vs tube and fin. If you do a google search you'll see photos of the difference. I have been told that stacked plate is better at cooling for a given size.

 

[feetwet]

For cold weather climates consider a tran cooler with a temp bypass , or one like a tru-cool that will allow most of the fluid to bypass the cooler if it's not up to temp.

 

[manaen]

For cold weather climates consider a tran cooler with a temp bypass , or one like a tru-cool that will allow most of the fluid to bypass the cooler if it's not up to temp.

I believe all the new transmissions have a temp bypass built in. I know the 5r55e does for sure and I believe all the new ones do as well.

Definitely go with the stacked plate design, they flow better and cool better.

 

[jrford]

pic of trans cooler . . .

 

[macknos94]

pic of trans cooler . . .

Man this guy is helpful... he went and ripped out his tranny cooler just so you can see it.

 

[macknos94]

Oh yeah pass on the new tranny cooler and do a efan swap. That way even in stop and go traffic when your towing up that hill you still have air flowing over your rads. A bigger cooler only works when your moving a efan works much better plus you can get a little power out of it.

 

[manaen]

Just make sure if you do an e-fan that you setup a proper shroud that draws air from the whole radiator area. Actually I ended up using the stock shroud and mounting one large e-fan in the middle of it. It will make huge difference on cooling...

Even my AC runs cooler now with this current setup. In fact this summer my truck got hot because I was climbing a mountain in 104 degree weather and the small strips of rubber that I used to seal the gap between the shroud and fan wore out and allowed air to leak around the fan, basically loosing any draw through the radiator. Something as simple as that caused my truck to almost over heat. When I first hooked up the fan I tried to mount it directly to the radiator. It would not cool well enough to keep my AC working properly. However with the shroud its awesome...

 

[macknos94]

When I installed mine I bought a peice of sheet metal and made an inch deep box that covers the rad fins. Then mount the puller efan to the new metal shroud. Also I used a 17 inch fan so even when the fans off driving down the highway there is more then enough air flow to release the hot air out tue shroud

 

[jrford]

Man this guy is helpful... he went and ripped out his tranny cooler just so you can see it.

rofl . . .only took a few,. naw just junkyard hunting ran across it, i thought it might come in handy so i took a phone pic.


Another idea posted by a guy at a border crossing, i guess they sometimes have to wait for 6 hours to get across the border. He was going to mount a pusher Elec Fan in addition to the mechanical one for the stop and go traffic, might help keep things cooler? If you go that route the Trans cooler is on the bottom in between the Rad and A/C condenser, so mount the Fan low to.

 

[manaen]

Depending how you mount them and what size they are, push fans can actually block more air then they help with. Honestly from what I've encountered one properly setup e-fan will be more then efficient to cool our trucks. If you are truly having trouble cooling then the best investment would be a multi-core radiator. I believe all of the explorers have single core units (except maybe some of the towing package models)

 

[macknos94]

Depending how you mount them and what size they are, push fans can actually block more air then they help with. Honestly from what I've encountered one properly setup e-fan will be more then efficient to cool our trucks. If you are truly having trouble cooling then the best investment would be a multi-core radiator. I believe all of the explorers have single core units (except maybe some of the towing package models)

These trucks do stay pretty cool honestly. If you are over heating the tranny ether you have something wrong with your tranny or your towing too much.

Before I joined tue military I used to work for an excavating company. Well I ended up towing a large skid loader about 30 miles most of it being highway. It wasn't the cooling, tranny or power issue it was the brakes I had a problem with. It struggled to get up to speed but it did it.