Traveller Smurf (Cubey's '89 van)

[Cubey]

Transmission cooler is all hooked up. Stupid thing is 3/8" barbs though, being sold as 5/16". Left a 1* review for it and the seller.

I was able to use it by hooking it up with the included 3/8" hose, on 5/16" barbs. I used fuel injector style clamps, so they're good and clamped down.

I idled the van for a few minutes in park, then turned it off and checked for leaks everywhere. Nothing seems to be leaking. Hooray.

I prefilled the new filter, so the ATF shouldn't be too low, since it only lost what was in the radiator cooler and the lines, and the amount in the tube of the new cooler.

This is how it's plumbed (generic diagram):

You must be registered for see images attach

Same color scheme below.

ATF exits the transmission, goes through the filter, then goes to the radiator:

You must be registered for see images attach

Enters radiator (red), exits (yellow) and goes to aux cooler:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Blue is the return line after being cooled.

 

[Rdnck84_03]

@Cubey i doubt that the lines being zip tied together had any major effect on the fluid temperature. They come from the factory with about 85% of the length tightly held together with metal clips.

James

 

[Cubey]

I just tossed $43 at this. Dunno if my van has a 16 or 19 gallon front tank, but IDI van parts are so hard to get. The front sender is wonky on the van, so figured I better grab this, just in case. It's the sender for the 16 gallon IDI tank.

I won't be messing with it anytime soon, and I might be on my way back west before it gets here. My mom will be here to receive it and keep it for me though.


MPC entries:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Cubey]

@Cubey i doubt that the lines being zip tied together had any major effect on the fluid temperature. They come from the factory with about 85% of the length tightly held together with metal clips.

James

Except they leave an air gap between the with the clips. So it's a few inches total, instead of several feet of heat exchanging.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

The seller's screen name is "fomocoloco" and that cracked me up!!

 

[Cubey]

The seller's screen name is "fomocoloco" and that cracked me up!!

They must have bought out a storage unit/warehouse of NOS Ford stuff and made the account just for that. All that's listed is 60s-early 90s Ford parts.

The seller address shown is a probably fairly expensive apartment in Glendale California, based on street view. I guess it's a side thing they do.

 

[Cubey]

Re: the new $35 transmission cooler, I left 1* reviews for the seller and the item for it being 3/8 not 5/16 as advertised. Seller messaged me with a typical long "sorry" message and refunded it.

re: the $43 sending unit, they usually go for $120 shipped! it is missing the shower head but that's not a big deal for the price. They don't directly fit the typical 19 gallon tank, due to the in/out barbs facing the opposite way, but some extra hose solves that. He wrote a page about it: https://www.nickpisca.com/diesel/fu...di-van-center-diesel-tank-sender-replacement/

 

[Cubey]

Hmm. I drove out to get the front alignment this afternoon, about 80-82 degrees.

The transmission got up to 180-190 when I got back, with stop and go and backing into the driveway. The cooler pipe near the exit was pretty freaking hot to the touch.

Checked the fluid and found it not even on the dipstick! Promptly, but slowly, dumped in at least half a gallon (maybe as much as 3/4?) of ATF I had on hand. Then it was around the looped tip, maybe close to the lower dot.

I shut it off and got another gallon at Walmart (drove mom's car). Came back and cranked it up again. Adding another 1qt got it up to the upper dot/bottom of the crosshatch area, so it should be perfect now.

The engine was idling around 185-188F and the transmission was a bit under 160. It only sat for maybe 20 minutes at most, so it didn't cool down much at all.

I know it wasn't badly low before the cooler replacement, it just lost more than I thought.

(edit: I'm a dork, just realized I forgot to add any to account for the transmission cooler contents that was lost)

It was driving ok to the shop and back, aside from seemingly being hotter than I'd expect. Perhaps the 3/4 to 1 gallon low level was the problem?

The cooler wasn't as hot after idling to add the last 1qt and check it repeatedly as it drained down the very long tube.

 

[Cubey]

I might cave and buy another Hayden 779. It's big and thick for the price: about $115 shipped from RockAuto. 11x13x1.7 inches.

That's what I put on the RV after the C6 rebuild and it did well for the RV's size and the C6 TC slippage.

At least it won't be too messy to change the cooler in the future. Might have to make the hoses longer with mending unions is all.

You must be registered for see images attach

I do need to get my hands on the two missing factory vertical support bars though, so I can mount the 779 just like I did on the RV. At least they should be easier to get from most any 80s-91 Econoline.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Cubey]

I made a junkyard run. A 1990 E150 got put out shortly after I went a bit over a month ago.

Spent $88. Not bad for what I got.

I grabbed:
1) ac condenser
2) overdrive switch
3) wiper switch with intermittent computer/relay
4) complete grill, no broken screw down tabs

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

The overdrive switch is rare and expensive. I have a truck one glued in because it's the same connector and pinout and it's all I could find for cheap a year ago.

I might sell the overdrive switch because yeah...

You must be registered for see images attach

The thing about the grill is they're expensive in general... but also, the orange turn signals are NLA and are a bit expensive used. Gonna keep that for the time being in case I need the lenses. And in fact it's in better condition than mine, so I might swap it out.

You must be registered for see images attach

Also ... it seems Ford quit putting the vertical bars between the grill and condenser, because they weren't on the 90 E150. The grill and all hadn't been messed with before I got there, so I know it hadn't been removed. Unless they were removed prior to being junked.

 

[Cubey]

Yeah, I suspect it'll need a better transmission cooler. I think it might be doing better than the condenser was, but it probably won't be enough if it's 80-100 degrees and towing.

I'm not towing the bug right because I will be fetching my cargo trailer from Yuma. It was 71 degrees for the high today in NE Texas, and it got as high as 180-185 degrees trying to do 70mph. Slowing down to 55-60 got it to slowly drop to 165-175ish, so I think the radiator transmission cooler is working properly. The engine/coolant temperature went down and so did the transmission.

The B&M gauge doesn't have many markers, so I'm guessing on the temperatures. I need to get another Autometer gauge for a more accurate readings. That's what I put in the C6 deep aluminum pan on the RV. The B&M was on the uncooled line coming out of the transmission. I could put it on the van in the same place, since the maximum temperature is higher than the Autometer gauge.

The Hayden 779 should do much better cooling, it's stacked plate and over twice the depth vs the 3/4" thick tube and fin cooler it has now.

At least I have a few months to shop for a bigger/better cooler. I'm eyeing this one with more surface area than 779, but it's also 0.4" less thick. I should probably just go with the name brand, twice as expensive 779.

This is a generic Chinese part that gets branded dozens of ways.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I'm eyeing this one with more surface area than 779, but it's also 0.4" less thick. I should probably just go with the name brand, twice as expensive 779.

This is a generic Chinese part that gets branded dozens of ways.

What's that saying? Buy once, cry once.

 

[Cubey]

What's that saying? Buy once, cry once.

Yeah, that's my thought. It's still pretty cheap on RockAuto, $99ish. It was $90ish in 2022, before the crazy inflation. O'Reilly charges $176 for it. It needs $24 (2x $12) in extra fittings to attach 5/16" hose, plus extra hose to point the barbs upward like you're supposed to installation wise, to avoid trapping air in it.

It's cool enough to use the current cooler without too much worry, as long as I go slower. I just need to upgrade it before I head back with the trailer around April.

And I got refunded for the tube and fin cooler because it wasn't 5/16" as advertised, so no loss there.

 

[Cubey]

Ok yeah it's gonna need a bigger cooler for sure. Today when I entered Arizona, a mild but steady climb upwards on I-10 from New Mexico got it up around 190° at 55-60mph on a 70° day, not even towing. If it gets to 190°, it seems to take forever to cool back down. A 3/4" thick pipe/fin cooler just can't keep up.

Water and EGT weren't running high at all, just transmission. Unless it's an issue with probing at the test port, showing higher than normal.

The 779 cooler price dropped about $7 on RockAuto, so I ordered one just now. It seemingly did a great job on the motorhome so yeah. Maybe overkill, but better to be on the colder side than the hotter. In a pinch, I can partly cover it, if i find myself in a very cold climate for some reason. My current gauge shows 100 at lowest, so I will know if it's running too cold.

I also grabbed the two fittings it'll need on Amazon, plus a new K&N RU-2820 filter since it's 20% off right now. Spectre (k&n knockoff) doesn't make that specific size and shape I need for the Banks van kit filter mount, so I have to get K&N. $52 instead of $65. Plus I'm getting 5% cash back bonus on Amazon right now on Discover.

And yes I used a 5% off code on RockAuto too. I'll get 1.5% cash back on a different card for that order.

Every dollar saved helps.