Trans cooler help

[jus97tin]

Posted this in the transmission forum with no luck so far. This is a bit specialized for this one. Ok fellas. I had my 94 a4ld rebuilt a year ago. Works great so this isn't one of those threads. I have the factory cooler after the radiator in the front and I really want to try to make this thing last. I've put less than a thousand miles on it since the rebuild. So what I'm thinking of doing is mounting an electic 8 inch fan in front of the cooler. Is this something that would be a good thing and help keep things cool or should I put another cooler in line. I really just want to put a fan im but I'm not sure what would be best. I'm not sure i want to have another cooler take up more real estate in front of the radiator cause I don't want to over heat the motor and crack heads. So what's the best road to take?

 

[Tbars4]

..The very first thing I would do is install a tranny temp gauge..

..Without knowing what your temperatures are reading with the old cooler or the new cooler, you are just guessing one is better than the other..

..another item to think about is how old is your fan clutch and is it regular duty, heavy duty, or severe duty?..:scratch:

..Are you going to be towing often?

 

[Maniak]

If you do decide to add a fan in front of the cooler.. This is what it looks like on our X. This fan is from a Geon Prism/toyota Corolla

Transmission-cooler-misc 003 by maniak_az, on Flickr

But, as Tbars4 said.. figure out what temps you are getting and make sure your fan clutch is good (they do wear out)

Adding the fan will only help at the slower speeds AND you will need a way to get it to run when the vehicle isn't going fast. A pusher fan spinning in front of things can actually cut down on the air getting through. I have mine wires to run when the trans isn't in lockup. It isn't that complicated of a circuit BUT, I have a 700r4 so it was easy for me to know when the converter is locked up. For the circuit, I'm just using a few relays and a 38,000 mfd capacitor so the fan waits about 5 seconds before turning on.. That keeps it from starting right when I touch the brakes.

~Mark

 

[Anime]

You can mount not just one but TWO rather large transmission coolers (like shown above). This would keep the transmission fluid pretty cool, and shouldn't increase the radiator temps too much, if the cooling system is in good shape and everything (including the fan clutch) is working well.

How you mount them can make a difference - if you just zip-tie another cooler in direct contact to the A/C condenser, or even the radiator, the air going through it goes right into the condenser/radiator, with no time to cool.

If you mount it to the radiator support like shown above, there will be an air gap of a few inches between the transmission cooler, and the condenser or radiator. This not only gives the air coming out of the transmission cooler time to cool down slightly before going into the condenser/radiator, but it also allows the cooler air around the top and bottom of the cooler to fill that gap, giving even more of a cooling effect.

You might not really need more than one trans cooler in the northeast, so just mounting one on one side, or even a short, wide one down low, might keep the ATF fluid cooler without any issues.

You probably should install a temp gauge to figure out if the trans needs any additional cooling beyond one extra cooler. While an external electric fan has it's uses and benefits, for engine cooling and A/C performance as well, you should figure out if you're trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist first.

One of the best ways to prolong the life of just about any transmission is to keep track of the mileage and change the fluid regularly. Using the right ATF, from a quality brand, and maybe even a synthetic, also helps. Part of the reason a lot of transmissions have issues is because the fluid was never changed. Never. When the next owner finally changes it, it's too late, the damage is done and the wear is there.

 

[natenkiki2004]

One thing to think of is with a second cooler, it will take longer for the trans to warm up, especially in the winter time. I'm thinking of a second cooler too but am waiting for my temp gauge to come in. Being that it's summer time now, I'll see what the trans maxes out at and see if it's worthwhile to get a second cooler.

For what it's worth, I've setup a spin-on trans filter. I'm convinced that between it and the Seafoam, it's fixed some issues and has made for smoother shifting. The big chunks currently in the pan won't end up in the filter due to the screen filter in the trans but anything new that comes out of the trans should be filtered nicely. The extra hoses and filter housing probably help cooling, even if it's slight. If you're interested, take a look in my signature.

 

[vq5speed]

I put a new cooler with a 10" fan in mine recently. I didn't even know our X had a auxilliary cooler already. When I took my grill off and was surprised it was there or I would of just added fan to mine instead. But since I already purchased then new cooler and fan I went ahead and installed it. Took out the OEM one and mounted the new one. I ran it without the fan hookup for about month cause the kit didn't come with what I needed to wire it up. I had to buy all that stuff later. I wired my fan up directly with a manual switch. I tried to use a thermo switch but couldn't get it to work. But a heat gun on it to see if it would turn on but it wouldn't. So its wired up so I can manually turn it on and off.I bought mine cause in the 20 years i've owned it I've had to rebuild my tranny twice and I don't do much 4 wheeling. So its been 10 years since my last rebuild I thought it wouldn't hurt to have a fan on the cooler. I don't have a gauge either but I have one coming this week a digital LED one.