Has anyone ever used the air conditioner radiator ( not sure what that thing in front of the radiator is called, condensor maybe?) for a tranny cooler? It looks a lot bigger than the ones that you can buy from B&M etc. It also has its own brackets. Plus it is not touching the radiator, and would disapate heat better, I would think.
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14226 A small condensor may work if you plumb thru the radiatior. If you run the lines directly to the condensor, it may run the trans too cold.
Thanks Reynold, I must have missed that thread. What is the proper temperature that the tranny fluid should be at? Too cold would not be good it sounds like. Do people install temperature units to monitor this?
The person to ask is dcm422. He would know proper trans operating temperature. The two major contributors to trans heat is improper cooling(cooler in the radiator or independent trans cooler) or high stall convertor. I've always run a decent size trans cooler with large cooling tubes and bypassed the radiator cooler. Even with a high stall convertor and street driving I've never had a problem. Bigger is better but overkill is not a good thing. The trans does need some heat to shift properly. I guess that's why nobody makes a trans cooler the size of a radiator. Summt and Jegs both sell a trans temp guage. I think AutoMeter makes one. But I've only seen them on very high hp, heavy pro street cars that generate lots of power and heat.
Ideal operating temp for ATF is 175-225* according to Ron Sessions' book on the THM-400. The sending unit for a gauge should be spliced into the return line coming from the cooler. It is possible to overcool the fluid especially in cold weather.
I thought 225* was the high side, but I was sure about the low end of the scale. I don't think an average hot rod with a 3500 stall or less and is being street driven(low speed) will build up enough heat to be a problem that a normal external cooler wouldn't help. I like the new one's with the fan attached. Those are sassy!:TU:
Reynold, I agree, I wouldn't want to see 225 either, but we would probably be surprised how warm our transmissions run at times, being most guys don't run a gauge. I think the synthetic stuff would have no problem with those temps, but ordinary ATF is junk at 250*
They make thermostats for this I read about them just the other day. You can have the same over-cooling problems with engine oil that you can have with Tranny fluid, I gather. They make thermostats to put inline between your oil pump and cooler to keep the oil around 180 degrees. They run $100 or less. You could probably just buy one for oil cooling and run tranny fluid through it, but I would check with the manufacturer. I only know of one vendor that sells them, Pegasus Racing, but there are probably others. They have their whole catalog online, thermostats are mid-page: http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pdfs/062.pdf Hope this helps. - Freed
The Ron Sessions book indicates that the ideal configuration is to route the lines first through the finned trans cooler then through the rad's cooler. This'll help get the trans up to operating temp faster, and help ensure that you're at the proper temp. afterwards. It has the further benefit of being free :TU:
