Factory Auxilliary Tranny Cooler(s)

[Jack Flash]

I recently bought three '91 to '94 Explorers: a '91 roll over/wreck, a '92 with bad tranny, and a '94 from some very abusive owners...lol.

they all have (factory ???) tranny coolers mounted in front of the radiator. is this cooler not sufficient for normal driving ? since I will have at least one spare cooler, would there be any benefit to mounting 2 of them in tandem on the '92 model when I replace the tranny or would that just be a waste of time and space ?

I've spent about 4 hours a day since joining this forum, just reading and taking notes......lots of excellent and useful advice here. y'all need to let the world know about "The Explorer Forum"

jf.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Most people say to add another cooler, simply because heat is the big killer for those transmissions, people have experienced overheating trouble even with normal driving in mountains and such. A cooler is a cheap way to help avoid problems.

 

[aldive]

I too am a believer in additional cooling for the transmission.

I run an additional cooler on my '99. It a stacked plate type ( most efficient ) from B&M.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I would flush the cooler from these vehicles before installing it on a good transmission. I have a product review on the chemical which is used to flush the cooler: http://www.explorerforum.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php/product/226/cat/500

 

[bryan_1980]

I had a thought today to replace my existing external tranny cooler with a more effective, aftermarket one, rather than add one. Maybe one of those with the little fan. Would something like that be sufficient for occasional towing?

 

[aldive]

The factory cooler is a pretty good one. I would keep it an add an additional staked plate cooler.

 

[bryan_1980]

I read through the thread with your additional cooler install, Al. Good, clean installation. Looks pretty straightforward. I might use one with a fan to solve the airflow issue. If it fits, that is!

 

[aldive]

I tried to use one with a fan but it did not fit.

Good luck ....

 

[Maniak]

On our '92 I'm using a hayden 30k gvwr cooler (3/4" thick cooler) with a 10" fan in front of it from a Geo prism ('94 I think).

Mounting it was pretty easy.. I just bent some steel strapping to make some mounts.

It barely fits, but it does fit (grill is just pushing on the metal guard of the fan)

~Mark

 

[mawrazen]

For towing , I added a 2nd high performance tranny cooler .

I also relocated the stock tranny cooler and added a 12 VDC fan infront of it.

The fan is what really made a difference with my tranny overheating issue going up mountains towing a 3500Lb boat.

 

[aldive]

Please post a picture of the relocated cooler/fan.

 

[mawrazen]

I'll take a pic with the grill off in the morning. "cleeeeek"

Just saw your post Aldive,

Its dark, and I've been drinking tonite

I moved the oversized Hi-performace tranny cooler to the location of the factory installed cooler.

Then relocated the original tranny cooler to the smaller opening on the passenger side and had to turn it 90 degrees to make it fit.

The 12 VDC fan was too big to fit over the large NEW tranny cooler so I opted to place it infront of the smaller stock cooler.

Just an illuminated 12 volt switch on the dash to turn it on or off. The switch also turns on the light on the ATF temp sensor I installed as well.

24.15 MPG with 242+K miles on original engine and tranny.

Aldive P.S. - I did a mod today to monitor the MAF voltage ouput with a digital voltmeter on the dash. (Just to see if CAI Ver 3.1 actually makes a difference.) Voltage varies from .57 at idle to over 3.7 VDC under acceleration.

But I try to drive like an old lady.

 

[aldive]

24.15 MPG with 242+K miles on original engine and tranny. .

Excellent; way to go.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, very good, that's good insurance.