I just ordered myself the 4454 tranny cooler from Tru-Cool after reading a bunch of horror stories about the dreaded strawberry milkshake. I've only had my car for about a year, but when I was moving out of college I towed a trailer ~700 miles and didn't turn off O/D (because I'm a moron). 2.5k later, I have a new torque converter and basically completely rebuilt transmission, so now I want to protect my investment. My rig has about 160k on it. I've done some searching, but I can't find any specific instructions on how to install this cooler; is there a walk through on the site? Does it come with instructions? Is there some other resource that has it?

I'm pretty average when it comes to wrenching around. Not a total gear head, but still comfortable getting under the hood. This will be my biggest (solo) car work yet though, and I'm just trying to be cautious, especially with something as major as a transmission at stake.

 

There is not to much in to installing a tranny cooler; I did mine a year or two ago. One of the best mods to my tranny, the only hard part is to find a suitable location for the tranny cooler...the instructions say to mount it in front of the main radiator, but to me it looked like it would cut off way to much air flow to my 3vz (which runs hot to begin with) so I mounted it on the skid plate below the engine which is great but does require cleaning every so often (I enjoy going through deep mud pits) If you do mount it on the skid plate I would recommend getting a small radiator fan to pull air through the tranny cooler... its not necessary, but by adding the fan it allows the tranny cooler to be efficient at low speeds (trail riding and steep hill climbs, ect). Also I would recommend bypassing the main radiator all together for two reasons:

1) It deletes the possibility of the split core radiator from failing and allowing water to DESTROY your tranny.(strawberry milkshake)

2) It lowers your engine temp! by bypassing your main radiator you can lower your engine temp, how?, As stated above your main radiator is a split core radiator, meaning tranny fluid and radiator fluid are trying to be cooled in the same housing. The only problem is that under load, trany fluid heats up very rapidly, moreso then your engins water temp, therefore the water that is entering the radiator to be cooled is actualy being heated, because of the hot tranny fluids presents which results in higher engine temp........hope that made sense its kind of hard to explain.

here's a thread on the mod http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...26tbs%3Disch:1

good luck!!!

 

Yeah, I was already planning on bypassing the radiator, since the main reason to install this is to eliminate the possibility of milkshake. I've only got a 2wd, so I think mounting it down low wouldn't be a problem as far as cleaning goes. Thanks for all the info and advice! I'll be sure to say how it turns out.

 

1. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/e...15/index2.html

2. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/b...cooler-126953/

You're welcome!

 

Here's a couple pictures of my cooler installed. I didn't take them when I had the bumper off, so it's kinda hard to see where the thing itself is. I need to get some more hose and re-route the lines, at the moment I can't put the skidplate back on because of where they are.





I'm very happy with the cooler; I don't have a temperature gauge hooked up to my tranny, but I have noticed that my engine runs cooler now that the transmission heat is out of the radiator. The cooler itself definitely gets warm, and quickly, which means it's doing its job well in conducting heat. There is ATF on the underside of my chassis, and I'm not sure if there is a small (and I mean very small) leak, as I've been checking my fluid religiously since the install and noticed no drop in my level. I think most of the fluid is from the old circuit in the radiator, which I didn't cap off or fully drain.

Anyway, I'm glad I did this mod. I'll be posting some more pictures in a few weeks when I can redo the lines; Probably just gonna run a single piece from each steel line as opposed to using the multiple sections and connectors that came in the kit. But a big thanks to Yotatech for all the tribal knowledge!

 

I'm lurking along here also for my friend has an 01 Limited.We're planning ahead to budget for this mod.

You did cap off the old radiator ports dutch? Total cost of parts and cooler if you don't mind revealing?

 

Actually I didn't cap off the old ports. Only ill effects were some ATF getting sprayed on my undercarriage when the rest in the rad got warmed up and flowed out, but it has since evaporated / washed away. The cooler was $50 roughly, and I spent 5-10 on some extra hose. I wouldn't recommend mounting it where I have it in these pics, I have since remounted it up higher behind the grille. Good luck, and if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

 

got some new pics of the relocation?

 

Yeah I posted it all in this thread:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/m...l-pics-211198/

 

Just run a section of ATF hose between the 2 ports, that way when the cooler does fail you won't lose all your coolant on the ground 500 miles from home (its always 500 miles from home with me ).



You should be able to get a good ATF cooler and extras for less than $100.

 

That's a really good idea, I wouldn't have thought of it. I wanted to cap them off, just wasn't sure how to do it. Damn good Jethro Engineering right there

 

"Jethro"??? I'll have you know I have a BS in ME.

 

Gdutch, whats your temperature gauge reading without the OE cooler?

 

thanks guys -I am so very glad I am a 5 speeder. Now just have to get my friend's done before it happens to her.

 

Engine temp? It seemed to drop slightly, it now sits just below halfway instead of being square in the middle. I don't have a scanguage or anything to get accurate temps unfortunately.

 

No I was asking about the transmission temperatures.

 

Yeah that's what I figured - no temp guage so I have no idea what my new temps are. My shift selector feels cooler at the base though, for what it's worth lol.

 

I don't have a tranny temp gauge on my Taurus so I use the "finger on the cooler test". If I can hold my finger on it without too much pain its ok. I have noticed the inlet side is much hotter than the outlet side too but it is a very long ATF cooler.

 

Does anyone know which side is the inlet and which is the outlet coming to the radiator? I want to convert to the external cooler before a long trip this weekend.