Tranny Cooler Instal Help

nic01scgt · Sep 29, 2005

Hey everyone I am going to be installing a tranny cooler this weekend and I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of their install or instructions on what they did. Thanks.

Kilgore Trout · Sep 29, 2005

Do a search, there are some great threads on this

timeless2 · Sep 29, 2005

Here is a search result:
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=522936&highlight=tranny+cooler

You might also PM propellerhead (he posted in this thread I mentioned as well) to see if he has more information to share.

Good luck!

propellerhead · Sep 29, 2005

We installed a Hayden cooler. It didn't have the right couplings so we ended up bypassing the stock cooler entirely. This made the installation really easy.

Mount the Hayden cooler. Disconnect the hard lines from the stock cooler. Connect the hoses to the hard lines with hose clamps. Connect the other end of the hoses to the Hayden cooler. Done.

Removing the cooling fan and that plastic piece between the grill and the radiator helps a lot.

nic01scgt · Sep 29, 2005

Where did you mount the cooler at? In front of the radiator? If so where at? Did you cut the hard lines?

propellerhead · Sep 29, 2005

We put the Hayden cooler in front of the radiator. We just used the plastic zip tie things. Some people choose to use brackets.

You don't want to cut any of the hard lines. It's gonna need flaring to connect anything to it. Just disconnect the hard lines from the stock cooler and connect your hoses to the end of the hard lines. In the end, I have the transmission, pushing hot fluid via the stock hard line, connected to a flexible hose, connected to the Hayden cooler, then to another flexible hose, connected to the return hard line, back into the transmission.

My transmission fluid temps were normally between 180-195 degrees. Now, it sits at about 140 degrees. In the Texas summer heat, beating on the car, it got up to maybe 165 degrees.

propellerhead · Sep 29, 2005

Oh yea, on my 2004, the top hard line was the one that returns back to the transmission. We were trying to install it with the stock cooler in series at first.

nic01scgt · Sep 29, 2005

Sweet. What size cooler did you get? I'd love to see pics if anyone has them.

propellerhead · Sep 29, 2005

Mine is the $64.95 one at http://www.powerdemon.com/TransaverPlus.html but we got it through a friend.

sgarlic · Sep 30, 2005

nic01scgt said:
Hey everyone I am going to be installing a tranny cooler this weekend and I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of their install or instructions on what they did. Thanks.

I did one on my foxbody (04 is a manual,) so FWIW here's my advice to you.

One, go to bulkpart.com and find the big ass cooler they have on there.. made by B&M I believe. IIRC, it's rated at 40,000btu's or something ridiculous like that.

Also, pick up their line connectors. It'll let you add the cooler on, without cutting the factory lines, it just re-directs them. Basically you'll have a line running to the rad. tranny cooler, then from the output of that to the cooler you put in, then out from that back to the stock return line. When routing the new lines, make sure to watch for unacceptable bend radius's, and use something to keep the lines from chaffing on the side of the rad/condenser.

There is TONS of debate on whether or not you should keep the radiator in the chain or not. Some say no, because the cooler you're putting in is better. I say yes, for 2 reasons:

1) The heat of the radiator helps bring the tranny fluid up to operating temperature faster in cold climates.

2) 2 coolers are better than one. I don't care how little the radiator tranny cooler does. It cools it some. And that's all the less the auxillary cooler has to do.

Lastly, use a good mounting procedure to install it. I used those pull-through zip ties that Hayden/Imperial makes, but I bought the el-cheapo AutoZone brand cooler for my foxbody. If you get the huge one, you'll probably need to fab. a bracket or 2.

propellerhead · Sep 30, 2005

sgarlic said:
There is TONS of debate on whether or not you should keep the radiator in the chain or not. Some say no, because the cooler you're putting in is better. I say yes, for 2 reasons:

1) The heat of the radiator helps bring the tranny fluid up to operating temperature faster in cold climates.

2) 2 coolers are better than one. I don't care how little the radiator tranny cooler does. It cools it some. And that's all the less the auxillary cooler has to do.

Since you started it, I'll throw my thoughts in. No flaming. Just my thoughts...
1) In cold climates where you need to heat up the transmission fluid, the thermostat in your engine will be closed (or almost closed). There will be none or very little radiator fluid flowing. The radiator will be getting a blast of artic wind and will be cold. It won't be hot enough to provide any real warming to the transmission fluid.

2) The Hayden cooler I put in is more than adequate just by itself. My transmission fluid now stays between 135 and 150 under normal driving. I locked out OD and stayed at 75 on the highway for 3-4 minutes in the Texas heat and it went up to 165. Before the Hayden cooler, the factory cooling would have the temps between 185 and 210. I'm actually thinking it's too much cooling.

Nick03gt · Sep 30, 2005

ok but if you don't intend on driving a car in the extreme cold weather, can you really have too much cooling? if so what temp do you think a person should stay above for tranny temps? 135?

sgarlic · Sep 30, 2005

propellerhead said:
Since you started it, I'll throw my thoughts in. No flaming. Just my thoughts...
1) In cold climates where you need to heat up the transmission fluid, the thermostat in your engine will be closed (or almost closed). There will be none or very little radiator fluid flowing. The radiator will be getting a blast of artic wind and will be cold. It won't be hot enough to provide any real warming to the transmission fluid.

2) The Hayden cooler I put in is more than adequate just by itself. My transmission fluid now stays between 135 and 150 under normal driving. I locked out OD and stayed at 75 on the highway for 3-4 minutes in the Texas heat and it went up to 165. Before the Hayden cooler, the factory cooling would have the temps between 185 and 210. I'm actually thinking it's too much cooling.

Thanks for chiming in about this. It's argued almost every time it's brought up

I hear what you're saying, about your first point. Here's how I think of it. If it's 30 degrees below zero out, and I have my tranny cooler pointed right at the front, it's more than likely going to be overcooling. This would be when using the radiator cooler would come in. Although not at first, at some point the radiator will be rejecting some heat, some of which would probably leak over to the tranny cooler side, keeping the temps up enough (I'm talking seriously cold weather here, but I'm from WI originally, so I'm used to that sort of thinking. )

About your second point.. this isn't a likely scenario with a Mustang, but in any other type of vehicle, try towing a trailer with a boat on it, around here in Tucson in July. We're talking 110*+ ambient temps, plus 150* road temps.. it's REAL easy to overheat a transmission around here. My wife's Jeep ZJ has a HUGE tranny cooler on it, and the temp still climbs REAL quick when towing around here during the summer.

I guess what I'm saying is, anybody with common sense probably knows when enough is enough. When your tranny cooler is approaching the same size as your radiator,it's probably enough. If you're not towing stuff constantly, or don't run a stall converter, you probably are fine with the 50 dollar autozone version.

propellerhead · Sep 30, 2005

I've been tempted to hook the stock cooler in series and include a temperature sender in three places. Then wire them all to a switch that goes to the gauge. Like transmission -> sensor A -> stock cooler -> sensor B -> aftermarket cooler -> sensor C. Then I can switch between the three sensors and see what the temps are in different places. Then I could move the aftermarket cooler to be on the supply line, then log the temps again.

My car = rolling laboratory. Hehehehe..

timeless2 · Sep 30, 2005

propellerhead said:
I've been tempted to hook the stock cooler in series and include a temperature sender in three places. Then wire them all to a switch that goes to the gauge. Like transmission -> sensor A -> stock cooler -> sensor B -> aftermarket cooler -> sensor C. Then I can switch between the three sensors and see what the temps are in different places. Then I could move the aftermarket cooler to be on the supply line, then log the temps again.

My car = rolling laboratory. Hehehehe..

The only bad thing there is the potential for failure with the extra intermediate parts and connections.

propellerhead · Sep 30, 2005

It would be temporary.

Tranny Cooler Instal Help

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