installing tranny coolers and gauge

[f250man]

I have a '93 F-250 with an e4od and shes on her last legs.... so before i take it to my tranny guy to rebuild it i want to install a temp gauge and hang twin coolers with fans to keep an eye on her especially while plowing...where do i put the sending unit in at? i was planning on mounting the coolers in front of the radiator. is that alright?

also has anyone used the lucas oil additives in their transmissions? did it make any difference?

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[jauguston]

You will get varied ideas where it should go. I believe what you want to know is what is the temperature of the fluid as it goes into the working parts of the transmission. If that is what you want to know then the pan is the logical place.

Jim

 

[pafixitman]

Easiest place is the test plug, drivers side right by the ...MIPS (if i have it right) that is where mine is. I also have dual coolers in front of the rad, but just posted about my 210* towing trip. I'm thinking of moving them and installing fans on em. Agnem has his mounted under the truck w/ fans.

 

[aaklingler]

I would wait until after you get the tranny rebuilt to install the coolers so you don't fill them up with junk and then get the junk in the rebuilt tranny.

 

[argve]

I always installed mine in the output line of the tranny because I wanted to see what the working temp of the tranny was - I felt this was a truer picture of what was going on - just my opinion. I thought this was good because coming from an industrial background when we look at cooling systems or hydraulic systems temps we always took the temp readings from key points in the systems or the output line before any cooling took place, reason was we didn't really care what the reservouir temp was which the pan on a tranny is a reservouir. I know from doing some reading that the port that Joe is talking about pretty much gives the same readings as what the pan does - is it wrong - no you just have to adjust your temp ranges vs mine.

I know with mine you can run 225 degrees all day long and not have a problem, if you get over about 260 I would slow down and let her cool a bit. now word of caution don't shut the truck off to let it cool - just place her in park and let her circulate the fluid through the coolers so that you can dump the heat if you shut her off she will just sit and heat soak the fluid, which can lead to overheating spots - not good....

Now to protect the coolers and the tranny I would place an external tranny filter BEFORE any cooling happens this way you will trap the debris before it gets to the coolers (hopefully) if and when the trans dies (as you suspect/plan) then back flush the coolers before reinstalling them. If you don't add the extra cooling you will surely kill it pretty quick with doing plowing and you will seal it's fate pretty quick. You can pick up a Perma-Cool trans filter from Summit Racing, Jegs or just about any high performance dealer of autoparts.

Part number PRM-10678 cost 40 bucks. Uses a standard oil spin on oil filter (it's the one that just about every Ford Gasser takes FL1A or something to that effect).

 

[f250man]

thanks for the input guys

Travis that helps me out a lot i didn't even think about adding a filter

isn't 225* pretty hot though? or does it all depend on the fluid that you use? or is the working temp going to be that much different than the reservoir temp?

sorry for all the questions i'm just trying to get all the info i can before i tackle this. i can't afford to put a new tranny in every year so i'm just trying to give myself a little insurance

 

[argve]

Yes working temp will be different - what's in the pan has just been in the cooler(s) - the fluid returns to the tranny then dumps into the pan before being sucked up and used by the tranny. That is why I didn't take my measurements from the pan because that to me (insert opinion here) isn't going to give me a real picture of what's going on. Again that was just my opinion and we all know that everyone has one just like they have......

When you take the measurement from the pan don't let it get above 200 degrees but in the output line you can pull all day long at 225 and not damage anything.