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Is there a such thing as too much tranny cooler?
- Thread starter shady
- Start date
British Slave
1/2 ton status
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
- Posts
- 2,086
- Reaction score
- 2
It was 45* here this morning, 97* last week! It tied the all time record low for this date here this morning!
evolve991
Resident Problem Child
After having to pour 15 gallons of fluid into the tube and out the lines to get the strawberry milkshake out of my 5 year old 700r I will NEVER run thru the radiator lines again!!
that sucks, never seen an automotive one do that.. I'm surprised it milked out on ya as the trans puts out more pressure than the cooling system..
being in Maryland, ya better not drive in winter then.. it'll never get up to temp.... I wouldn't necessarily condemn the system, when it was an odd rad failure..
I know I'm about to sell a semi-new alum, no cooler rad, just to buy one with, as I'm going BACK to running thru the rad...
being in Maryland, ya better not drive in winter then.. it'll never get up to temp.... I wouldn't necessarily condemn the system, when it was an odd rad failure..
I know I'm about to sell a semi-new alum, no cooler rad, just to buy one with, as I'm going BACK to running thru the rad...
x2 on atf in coolent 98% of the time.
better check the system for other problems.
better check the system for other problems.
I see that sh*t at least weekly on the boats.... sucking ocean water thru 5 or 6 thruhulls to cool gearoil, pumps, motors, etc, etc increases the odds.... matter of fact I had a velvet-drive with strawberry Quick in it yesterday....
actually, I'll semi-hijack the he!! out of this one with a funny cooler failure/hero of the day story....
about 10 yrs ago, I had about a 1/2 dozen Bluewaters as customers... these freakin lake boat things...
well, the bluewaters where notorious for putting motors under sinks, beds, in closets, etc... repowers where just stupid on em....
anyway, I had one with a Cummins package under the one bed... I forget the particular marine package it was, but it had the engine oil cooler integrated in with the engine antifreeze, not raw ocean water...
well, this focker failed, started pumping engine oil into the cooling system.. thus, it started spewing out the rad cap overflow... well, it's pumping out there and landing on this shelf in the engine compartment... no big....... until, it creeped under the wall and started working it's way thru the brand new, $100 a square yard, fancy schmancy, living room carpet that was just installed...
guy comes back on one when he shut down the motor when a low oil pressure buzzer came on... I get on the boat and there's this giant, black dizzle oil, and I'm sure you all know how skanky dizzle oil can get, spot the size of a couch in this pink with roses carpet...
it took me 10 hrs, about 5 gallons of Spray 9, 112 rolls of paper towels, pulling the carpet up, but I made it look new!
got a C-note tip out of that gig... and the bill for the cleaning alone, without the engine repair was probably a grand.... 
about 10 yrs ago, I had about a 1/2 dozen Bluewaters as customers... these freakin lake boat things...
well, the bluewaters where notorious for putting motors under sinks, beds, in closets, etc... repowers where just stupid on em....
anyway, I had one with a Cummins package under the one bed... I forget the particular marine package it was, but it had the engine oil cooler integrated in with the engine antifreeze, not raw ocean water...
well, this focker failed, started pumping engine oil into the cooling system.. thus, it started spewing out the rad cap overflow... well, it's pumping out there and landing on this shelf in the engine compartment... no big....... until, it creeped under the wall and started working it's way thru the brand new, $100 a square yard, fancy schmancy, living room carpet that was just installed...
guy comes back on one when he shut down the motor when a low oil pressure buzzer came on... I get on the boat and there's this giant, black dizzle oil, and I'm sure you all know how skanky dizzle oil can get, spot the size of a couch in this pink with roses carpet...
it took me 10 hrs, about 5 gallons of Spray 9, 112 rolls of paper towels, pulling the carpet up, but I made it look new!
got a C-note tip out of that gig... and the bill for the cleaning alone, without the engine repair was probably a grand.... 
Wyomingboy
1/2 ton status
Shady,
Let me give you my experience, since I live in Wyoming, drive through Colorado Mountains where they have "real hills and grades" not like the rest of the Flatlanders.
First off I put a tranny temp guage on my pan(90 Blazer with 700r4), and without the cooler the temp will go up to whatever your thermostat is set for. So if you have a 195 thermostat that is what your tranny temp will be when it just goes through the radiator.
Then I installed a B&M 14,000 GVW plate cooler, routed through the rad first, as instructed, the cooler dropped my temps by 15 to 30 degrees for flatland driving, depending on the ambient temp.
3rd and most importantly, as one of the other guys said, your tranny doesn't really build heat until the "Torque converter" unlocks. Then it's like somebody turned on the heater full bore. Climbing 9% grades that are 2 to 3 miles long, even with the cooler, at 60 degrees ambient temps climbing to the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 at 11,000 feet the tranny temp would climb to 230 easy.
And climbing 2 to 3 mile 9% type grades on dirt roads in 1st and 2nd gear the temp would climb to 230 degrees also as you don't have a high wind speed going accross the cooler.
So the upshot of all this is to manage your heat with coolers & fans for climbing and having a good temp gauge to monitor the temp.
2nd if your TC doesn't unlock much(i.e. flatland driving at lower speeds) you won't build heat. But if you tow and your TC is not locked, lookout, as your heat will be extreme with out a cooler or without a fan cooled cooler.
Finally at 20 degrees or less with the cooler (running through the rad first) my tranny won't heat past 120 or so at highway speeds. I had to put a piece of cardboard in front of my radiator to block air to my tranny cooler last winter when it was between zero and 20 above, as my heater wouldn't put out any warm air either.
So it is a multi faceted problem when you factor in towing or pulling grades with the TC locking and un-locking. But by far the biggest factor is the TC and managing the heat it builds !!!!
Let me give you my experience, since I live in Wyoming, drive through Colorado Mountains where they have "real hills and grades" not like the rest of the Flatlanders.
First off I put a tranny temp guage on my pan(90 Blazer with 700r4), and without the cooler the temp will go up to whatever your thermostat is set for. So if you have a 195 thermostat that is what your tranny temp will be when it just goes through the radiator.
Then I installed a B&M 14,000 GVW plate cooler, routed through the rad first, as instructed, the cooler dropped my temps by 15 to 30 degrees for flatland driving, depending on the ambient temp.
3rd and most importantly, as one of the other guys said, your tranny doesn't really build heat until the "Torque converter" unlocks. Then it's like somebody turned on the heater full bore. Climbing 9% grades that are 2 to 3 miles long, even with the cooler, at 60 degrees ambient temps climbing to the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 at 11,000 feet the tranny temp would climb to 230 easy.
And climbing 2 to 3 mile 9% type grades on dirt roads in 1st and 2nd gear the temp would climb to 230 degrees also as you don't have a high wind speed going accross the cooler.
So the upshot of all this is to manage your heat with coolers & fans for climbing and having a good temp gauge to monitor the temp.
2nd if your TC doesn't unlock much(i.e. flatland driving at lower speeds) you won't build heat. But if you tow and your TC is not locked, lookout, as your heat will be extreme with out a cooler or without a fan cooled cooler.
Finally at 20 degrees or less with the cooler (running through the rad first) my tranny won't heat past 120 or so at highway speeds. I had to put a piece of cardboard in front of my radiator to block air to my tranny cooler last winter when it was between zero and 20 above, as my heater wouldn't put out any warm air either.
So it is a multi faceted problem when you factor in towing or pulling grades with the TC locking and un-locking. But by far the biggest factor is the TC and managing the heat it builds !!!!
imagine without the rad... if I beat on the truck for about 45 minutes, it might break a 100 during the winter...
evolve991
Resident Problem Child
4xcrazy
3/4 ton status
I personally believe this is a very rare thing to happen with the rads used in the trucks, I personally have had several over the years, with several different Chevys and a few other brands of vehicles, this has never happened to me, or have I ever heard of it happening on regular type occurances/often enough to be concerned with.
Got this for my Blazer, best price I could find, good quality for price. Shipping was $6, and it was still cheapest place around. Turns Fan on at 200 and off at 185. He has another one that turns on at 190 and off at 175. Comes with all fittings, relay and wires.
This is the online store where I bought it.
http://www.abad71camaro.com/servlet/the-4445/Thermostat--Fan-Temp/Detail
This is the online store where I bought it.
http://www.abad71camaro.com/servlet/the-4445/Thermostat--Fan-Temp/Detail
yep 10+ years in the rust belt of new england . i have seen it 1 time. in a old ford van with 6cyl auto.
otherwise the rads fall apart looong before the atf/oil cooler rots out.
otherwise the rads fall apart looong before the atf/oil cooler rots out.
