Transmission cooler through radiator or not?

87crewdually

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Also here is a little speel that the site I get my tranny parts from has posted:
"Transmission Cooling: You must have a transmission cooler in your radiator regardless of what someone has told you for the transmission to last. Auxiliary coolers are just that, in addition to. Water cools 32 times better (faster) than air always, period. The transmission fluid comes directly from the torque converter at a much higher temperature than the water in your radiator and is cooled to the water temperature fast. Then it goes to the auxiliary cooler to be cooled far below the water temperature. If you don't need a cooler in your radiator why does Ford spend all that money doing so? If you wanted to cool a red hot piece of steel fast would you stick it in water or air, see the point. For the best cooling you need both water and air cooling for the transmission to be cooler than the motor."



Most automatic transmissions fail due to a breakdown of the transmission fluid caused by overheating. This chart provides a graphic display of heats contribution to transmission failure. The effect is also cumulative. Short term exposure to high heat levels (or even prolonged exposure to moderate heat) can break down the fluid to the point where even very short episodes of overheating will lead to failure.

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LCAM-01XA

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The 4r100 has the cooler by-pass line that goes from the two ports of the tranny. All the line contains is a little valve with a spring that when the atf gets warm it allows it to open the valve and the fluid goes through the cooler(s).
And there is an aftermarket kit that eliminates that contraption, forgot exactly why this is needed tho...
 

Fozz

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The 4r100 has the cooler by-pass line that goes from the two ports of the tranny. All the line contains is a little valve with a spring that when the atf gets warm it allows it to open the valve and the fluid goes through the cooler(s).

OK, cool. Thanks for setting me straight......now back to my beer;Really
 

RLDSL

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Well, I'm sure going to put one on. The question of the day is which one, and where.

WEll, if you want a serious tranny cooler, this will do the trick REal nice thing about these is you can mount them anywhere , like under the cab and they work just fine, they don't need direct air flow from the front, so they don't need to add extra heat to your rad or your ac condenser ;Sweet
 

idi traveler

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One of the easiest things to do to protect your trans. in conjunction to the aux cooler is install a spin on filter after the rad cooler to catch anything that might be lurking in the corners of the rad cooler and pick up the bigger pieces circulating in the trans fld. Replace the spin on every time you change your oil. or every 5k miles.
 

LCAM-01XA

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The bypass is there in case of blockage to the coolers. It allows the fluid to run to the rear of the tranny to prevent it from failing.
Right, that makes perfect sense, but I was wondering about the bypass elimination kit - I don't remember which diesel magazine did an article on it, but apparently there is a downside to the factory setup, I just can't recall what that was...

And in the light of this discussion I decided to go back to using the radiator cooler, but I ain't giving up my A/C condenser either - I now have the hot fluid discharged from the converter go through the rad first, then it flows through the A/C condenser, and finally back to the trans. Seems like this summer I will be having lots of runs in the south, so I figured I won't need the fuel heater and both the trans and the IP will like the extra cooling. Lines under the truck look a whole lot neater now too, which is always a plus :D
 

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