AC Condenser as Trans Cooler

[BrianX128]

I've seen this done on several vehicles online, just wondering if anyone here has ever done this or heard of it. Not IDI specific in that I'm looking to add a trans cooler to my gasser that has an E4OD but only the radiator plummed cooler, on a 90+ degree day driving in hills I can tell my trans "cooler" becomes a heater when temps build climbing hills with the AC blasting. Nothing bad, but I'd rather my trans stay as cool as it can rather than heat soaking from the radiator mixed cooler.

I also have a spare smaller ac condenser I could easily cut one line to the trans cooler in the radiator and add this into the circuit with some good rubber fuel line, I just don't want to buy what is essentially the same thing online when I have this sitting on the shelf new, it came with a kit I got to add an under dash AC system but the truck I was putting it on already had a massive AC condenser in it so I used that one instead.

 

[gnathv]

Is it a r134 or r12? If it’s the old round tubing type it should work fine. If it’s the new style the passages are not much more than pin size and may cause restrictive flow.

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[BrianX128]

I swear it had obvious looking tubes like second one in from the left in that picture, I'll have to double check when I get home.

 

[Big Bart]

Many on this site have a secondary air style trans cooler. So it would make sense to add to your truck. Most have it on the trans return line to cool down the atf from radiator temp.

I would buy one, not repurpose a a/c condenser. Smaller units are $30-40 (3-4 row.) and larger ones are $100-140. If you are not towing heavy loads a smaller one should do the trick.

Some have bypassed the radiator and just added a air cooled one. But that is usually problematic in stop and go traffic where there is little to no air going through the grill. So using both seems to be the best solution.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

@gnathgreat point!

If you want to re-purpose the condenser I'd say go for it pending the restriction issue.

But I would also say that the heat you're worried about dumping unto the radiator via the built-in cooler will still be dumped into the radiator by putting the condenser into the cooling stack. The only way around that is to put it somewhere else(with airflow or put a fan on it).