1990 suburban radiator question

[mrgoodwrench]

On my most recent trip 4wheeling in wyoming the trans cooler in my radiator began leaking. It appears to have only leaked external (no mix with coolant) so i bypassed the radiator trans cooler for that trip and ran on only my after market external trans cooler. My question is do the trans cooler lines in the radiator run through the coolant like most i have seen or is it somehow air cooling only. The reason i ask is no coolant and trans mix and running with the trans cooler bypassed im not leaking any coolant out of the trans cooler lines at the radiator. Im planning an nv4500 swap in the spring and the rad is in great shape otherwise so trying to decide if i should have it re cored or replaced or just leave it alone since i wont be needing the trans cooler anymore.

 

[Wes Harden]

yes coolant surrounds the trans cooler in radiator tank, is water to oil heat transfer. The external is air to oil transfer.

If coolant is not leaking you can run it with the NV4500

 

[mrgoodwrench]

Cool thats what i figured i was just confused /lucky that the coolant only leaked externally no mix and no coolant leaking.

 

[Blue85]

There's really 2 seals on those cooler line ports. One seals the oil cooler to the inside of the tank so coolant doesn't leak out around the fitting. The other seal is internal from the cooler to the line. That must be what failed in your case. If you ever did get oil in your coolant, that's more likely a hole in the cooler itself, than a double seal failure.

 

[mrgoodwrench]

Yep i guess i was just shocked to have and external leak i deal with nissans and we commonly have cooler failures where the coolant and trans fluid mix. Makes sense though