Keeping your cool

[Expolicious]

If you have room to only add one oil cooler, would you plumb it for your engine oil or for your transmission?

I have an X with 5.0 auto 2WD and I do have the factory trans cooler.

Also, I live in hot (100+ degrees) SoCal and I off road in the desert if that helps....

 

[my pos mounty]

I'd probably go with engine oil cooler. But why not add an electric fan (lose the clutchfan) and add both coolers?

 

[Anime]

If I had to use one, it would most likely be for the engine oil since I don't feel like tapping the manual transmission to add cooling lines.

Then again, I don't see much point in cooling the engine oil, and it just seems like creating a place for a leak to happen. I'd just keep using synthetic and keep up the frequent oil changes. And keep the oil pan clean.

Really what I'd do is get the cute little factory power steering cooler for in front of the oil pan and have a longer lasting power steering pump.


If I had a vehicle with an automatic transmission, I'd get a transmission cooler though. Lower temps overall has been proven to extend transmission life, and when you add towing, off-road use, and a high temp climate, it would make a lot of sense to add additional cooling.

 

[Expolicious]

Based on the responses, I've come up with this thought:

I like mounty's idea of converting to electric fans. I'll use a temp switch with it.

I'll use anime's suggestion and use the new bigger cooler for the trans. I already use synthetic oil for the engine (handles heat better).

And since it is now available, how about I use the smaller factory trans cooler for the power steering? It's bigger than the factory one and mounted in a less vulnerable location.

Anyone think that's a bad idea?

 

[Anime]

There's a been quite a few discussions on converting to electric fans, and the costs/benefits versus the factory clutch-driven fan. You'd have to go over all that info and find what's working for other members and see what might work for you.

Personally, I wouldn't switch over from the clutch fan if the system is working fine. Lots of members have had trouble getting the conversion to produce any improvement, and some have wound up with worse cooling. It doesn't seem worth it to me, especially on a V8. That said, additional cooling in hot climates is a good thing, and an accessory electric fan to push air in front of the radiator/condenser would probably be a great deal of help in low-speed high temp situations.

As for the coolers, there's debate on that too, about whether switching from the factory radiator trans cooler to just a standalone transmission cooler is better, or using both at the same time is preferable. I'd go with the conventional thinking on this one and just rig up the trans cooler to go in tandem with the factory one, rather than changing it to cool the power steering system.