I've thought about installing a transmission cooler in my Volare. Instead of having the trans' lines going to the bottom of the radiator, they would go to the cooler. Anybody have any experience with this, or words of wisdom? This is just something I've been thinking about.

Wes '78 Volare

wes.moeller@compaq.com

It is possible to cool the transmission too much. It should warm up to about 180º. This is needed to evaporate any water that has condensed in the system.

If you are always racing, or pulling a trailer, you can bypass the lower radiator tank, as you suggested, or go through the radiator first, and then through the auxiliary cooler. This is the way the street hemis were plumbed.

For a street car, if you feel the need to add a cooler, go through it first, and then through the lower radiator tank. This way the radiator can add heat to the transmission fluid if it is too cool. Unless the engine is overheating, the radiator won't add too much heat, and running cooler transmission fluid through the radiator will help cool the engine coolant. For most towing, this method works just as well as the radiator first method described above. If you need the extra cooling afforded by the radiator first method, you are towing too much and need a bigger truck.


dwordinger@earthlink.net

Wes,

I've had success with the cooler in line with the radiator - this is what's on my daily driver '68 Dart. I also have bypassed the radiator and run the lines directly to a large (like 22000lbs GVW) cooler mounted diagonally under my passenger seat in my '64 Dart. It did get a little overheated (slightly burnt fluid) after two hardcore road racing outings with my 3500 rpm stall converter. I have deep pans on both cars, the '64 has the really good aluminum finned one from TCI.

Just some more ideas...

Lou

I had a transmission overheating problem several years ago. I had a /6 and 904 in my 1971 Valiant, and was working part time in a second job as a pizza driver. I'd put the transmission in the car in October of that year (1997), and in January, I checked the fluid as usual, and noticed it was looking brown and not smelling very good. Burning fluid in 20-30 degree weather! I finally figured out that all the sub-stall speed operation and low speed pizza delivery driving (Why rush and get a ticket over a pizza? Just cruise.) was overheating the fluid. I went to a junkyard and got a 4 row factory cooler out of an '88 Diplomat cop car. I changed all the fluid and rerouted my cooler system so fluid goes first to the radiator cooler, which will then serve as a pre-cooler, and then to the oil-to-air auxiliary cooler mounted in front of the radiator. Never had another cooling problem again. Even 2 years later, the fluid I changed looked like new.
Someone said to run the fluid through the new cooler first, then into the radiator's cooler. That is wrong. The converter generates all the heat needed to evaporate any water, then the coolers lower the temperature.