Transmission Cooler

Vegas · April 27, 2001

Has anyone added one of these? I wanted the dealer to install one & they said they didn’t do that type of work.

I live in Florida & tow a 2000 lb boat every other weekend. Right now the tranny fluid is running at the same temp as the engine, adding a tranny cooler would help extend the life of the fluid/tranny. The dealer agreed & a couple of older mechanics advised me to add one also. I’ve also been reading a lot of people are having problems of slipping or hesitation with the

4L60-E. As of right now (6700 miles) I have been lucky with no problems. I’m thinking cooler running tranny longer life.

Looking for advise & opinions.

Frank S · April 28, 2001

I had one added to my truck in November but I really can't comment on any increased longevity because it really hasn't got hot in Texas yet.

I did have one on my '93 fullsize though and the truck had 167,000 miles on it when I sold it and the tranny felt as good then as when I picked the truck up.

It's not a very large investment and it certainly can't hurt anything so I say go for it.

April 28, 2001

If you are running the same temp in your tranny as your radiator, I'd say the cooler you've got is working fine. I would not add to it yet.

Vegas · April 28, 2001

I don't have a trany temp gage. So then I know it is at least the same temperature as the enginer or greater.

My point is that tranny fluid will last longer if it can run cooler.

When would you recommend adding it?

(Edited by Vegas at 10:25 pm on April 27, 2001)

April 28, 2001

My apologies. When you said that your tranny fluid was running the same as your engine, I assumed that you had a gauge.

You also said that you are in FL, so really cold temps aren't a problem. My best guess for you is, try a tranny temp gauge and see what's up. If it is hot, look into an additional cooler.

One more thing to consider, if the fluid is too cool, it can do as much damage as being too hot.

Where in FL are you? I'm in Milton, in the Western end of the PH

Vegas · April 28, 2001

I live in a real small town Parrish, you probably didn't hear of it. It's south of Tampa, just east of Bradenton, 10 minuets from the south tip of the skyway bridge.

I was thinking the tranny cooler was a cheap add on & anything that would help & was that cheap why not. My engine temp gage reads one line before 210 all the time once it's warm. I've also been reading that they are not too reliable.

April 29, 2001

I don't really know if the gauges we get are accurate. My experience in the past has been not to trust electric gauges at all except for temps.

If you put an external tranny cooler in, I would advise that you do one or more of the following;

1) Mount it "upstream" of the radiator. This way, if the ambient air is too cool, the radiator will warm the tranny fluid.

2) Mount the cooler behind, not in front of the radiator. This will accomplish the same thing as #1.

3) If you are really concerned about heat in your tranny, oil, and radiator, mount the tranny cooler in front of the radiator, upstream. If the radiator is a little warm, the tranny cooler may (doubt it) send a little extra cooling into the radiator.

Let us know how it goes.

(Edited by Friz at 10:34 pm on April 28, 2001)

jeff · May 1, 2001

Summit Racing, Hayden,& B&M make a filter kit for automatic transmissions that use a screw on type type filter that has a port in the body of the filter that you can attach a gage to. Serves three purposes, an actual filter, holds another quart of fluid, and allows you to monitor your trans temp. I have one it works good

96 Vortec · May 23, 2001

I thought that all of the new Chevy's came with tranny coolers.

At least my 96 has one factory.

Or it has a second small radiator on the passenger side.

kaspar139 · May 23, 2001

Quote: from 96 Vortec on 11:36 pm on May 22, 2001
I thought that all of the new Chevy's came with tranny coolers.

This may sound really stupid, but I would really like to know if this is true, because I was thinking about getting one BUT if I already HAVE one, then... (you see where this is going.)

So I can check... what does a Trans Cooler look like? How big is it? etc...

MountaineerTom · May 23, 2001

The factory one on my truck is approximately 6 to 8 inch square cooler located right behind the bowtie in the grill. There is also a power steering fluid cooler located on the drivers side of the radiator. It's about 6 to 8 inches long also, but only a couple inches wide.

Hope this helps.

Vegas · May 23, 2001

I ended up going with a Hayden, it is the DC 1403 or DC 1404. The actual coil fins are 7"X12"X3/4". I had a local transmission shop that specalizes in trucks install it. They mounted it in front of the radiator in the center of the cross supports, right behind the bowtie in the grill. Bolted it in. Looks like it was made to fit that location. The shop guy made the statement not to use the tie wraps they give you to mount it. He says that over time they will ware a hole in the cooler or the radiator. The shop guy also made the comment that the trany temp can never be too cool (maybe he ment just in Florida). I don't seem to have the stock trany cooler that MountaineerTom has on his. But I do have the power steering one he mentioned. I haven't done any towing with it yet. It seems to have lowered the engine tempeture a 1/4 to 1/2 a line on the gage. Here is a link I found to what they look like. They are real cheap if you install it yourself. If it doesn't come up at hit refresh.

http://www.dcflags.com/MM001.ASP?pageno=83

(Edited by Vegas at 9:32 pm on May 24, 2001)

76BBSub · May 25, 2001

I have seen in the car mags that you should mount the tranny cooler as Friz recommended. There is such a thing as too cool in the tranny, just like with your engine oil. Increased friction, lower shear point, sludge formation, etc. Performance and gas mileage will be increased if you run your transmission and engine at the proper operating temp. Run the cooler lines through the external cooler first, then through the integral radiator cooler.

Transmission coolers are part of the factory towing package, but I paid an extra ? or so for one on my '99 GMC Sierra, it was right there on the sticker. If you check Edmund's they list the options by RPO, and it's there as well.

Jeff