Transmission oil coolers

[Boyd]

I saw in another post, that some people are adding a Ford Transmission Oil cooler to their rides. My car seems to over heat, and I am thinking if I run the T Oil through a cooler first, it may help cool the water temp in the engine. What coolers have you installed and are you happy? If it is the Ford, which one is the best?

 

[CBODY67]

Rather than an endorsement of "Ford" atf coolers, the particular "Ford" cooler probably fits the application the best. No more, no less.

Verify if you really do have an overheat issue, or just running 210 rather than 180, for example. An IR heat gun is great to use for this. Check the radiator, top to bottom, side to side, plus the sides of the engine block, each side, to look for hotter areas. Might be that the bottom of the radiator core is plugged with sediment, or the rear of the block's coolant passages have sediment in them too.

Putting another "cooler" in front of the radiator only puts MORE heat in the airstream going through the radiator core. Heat which the radiator core might not be able to handle?

Getting the sediment out of the low spots in the block and getting the radiator redone is money better spent, by observation.

Ensure the clutch fan is working correctly, too.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[bronze turbine]

If you're car is overheating, you probably have a problem with the radiator. I followed the same line of reasoning as you on my 1980 Mirada 30 years ago. I added a transmission oil cooler, but it didn't change my water temperature at all. Don't be too concerned if you have a temp. gauge and it doesn't stay at 180. If your car had the thermostat replaced it might have a 195 thermostat as this was an update by the OEM in the 70's. As long as the temp stays around 200, you are fine. That being said, a transmission oil cooler is still a good thing. Don't remove the lines from the original oil cooler in the radiator though (another mistake I made, but one that seemed to cause no harm) because not only does it cool the trans fluid but also warms it in very cold weather.

 

[1970FuryConv]

I saw in another post, that some people are adding a Ford Transmission Oil cooler to their rides. My car seems to over heat, and I am thinking if I run the T Oil through a cooler first, it may help cool the water temp in the engine. What coolers have you installed and are you happy? If it is the Ford, which one is the best?

I run Dexron III and have no cooling issues. I also do not run a separate trans oil cooler. Trans oil does not help keep coolant temperature down.

My guess is that you've got sediment in the block. If you have an overflow reservoir, does your coolant have on a rust tint? If you see rust around your core plugs, that's another indication. A cooling system flush would be where I'd start. I'd remove the thermostat to help the flush. You can always reinstall it later.

 

[Boyd]

Thanks for the help. I bought this car years ago. It is a 1965 New Yorker, but it has a 440 engine in it. As you all know, the 65 only had 383 and, I think, a 413 in them. Anyway, I do not know if the torque flight was the original transmission. I had the radiator shop redo the radiator maybe 200 miles ago. They have done a Jeep Commando, Ford F100 and Mercedes radiators for me in the past without any problems.
So yesterday, I went to Harbor Freight and got my IR Laser thermometer. Boy, do I like this thing. My wife said if she knew this would have entertained me for so long, she would have bought it for me a long time ago. Below are some of my recordings. My two "goto" guys told me that I have nothing to worry about, but I have been in parades with my 1963 Studebaker Avanti and have seen too many guys pulling out to have their cars cool down. One of the guys told me that his 65 GTO and Buick Grand National have factory ATM coolers in them.
I don't want to be sitting in line at Carlisle and embarrass the old Mopar. So, will the ATM Oil cooler help?

65 Chrysler, parked	85 Degree day
	15 Min	30 Min	15 Min	30 min	1 hour
	after start	after start	after shut	after shut	after Shut
			down	Down	Down
Temp at center of radiator	150​	159​	145​	127​	101​
Temp on the Cylinder head	188​	199​	214​	196​	169​
Temp on top of the intake manifold	190​	203​	215​	196​	171​
Temp of Radiator Tank	194​	194​	179​	157​	130​

 

[MONC440]

Your numbers look good to me depending on what thermostat you have.

If you want it to run cooler try putting a lower temp thermostat in it. If you put a lower one in it and your numbers go down then you know nothing is wrong with your cooling system.

I do recommend a trans cooler on any heavy vehicle or anything that is going to be run hard. Heat and low trans fluid level is the main killer's of automatic transmissions.

 

[live4theking]

Thanks for the help. I bought this car years ago. It is a 1965 New Yorker, but it has a 440 engine in it. As you all know, the 65 only had 383 and, I think, a 413 in them. Anyway, I do not know if the torque flight was the original transmission. I had the radiator shop redo the radiator maybe 200 miles ago. They have done a Jeep Commando, Ford F100 and Mercedes radiators for me in the past without any problems.
So yesterday, I went to Harbor Freight and got my IR Laser thermometer. Boy, do I like this thing. My wife said if she knew this would have entertained me for so long, she would have bought it for me a long time ago. Below are some of my recordings. My two "goto" guys told me that I have nothing to worry about, but I have been in parades with my 1963 Studebaker Avanti and have seen too many guys pulling out to have their cars cool down. One of the guys told me that his 65 GTO and Buick Grand National have factory ATM coolers in them.
I don't want to be sitting in line at Carlisle and embarrass the old Mopar. So, will the ATM Oil cooler help?

65 Chrysler, parked	85 Degree day
	15 Min	30 Min	15 Min	30 min	1 hour
	after start	after start	after shut	after shut	after Shut
			down	Down	Down
Temp at center of radiator	150​	159​	145​	127​	101​
Temp on the Cylinder head	188​	199​	214​	196​	169​
Temp on top of the intake manifold	190​	203​	215​	196​	171​
Temp of Radiator Tank	194​	194​	179​	157​	130​

Those temps look good. I wouldn't fret over it.

Putting a lower temperature thermostat in won't cause the engine to run at a lower temperature, it will slow the warm up process down. Going by your temperature at the intake (only cause it is closest to the thermostat) if the car likes to run at 203° the thermostat will affect the time it takes get to 203 degrees. A 180 would take slightly longer than a 195 to reach 203 degrees simply because it opens sooner and will drop the engine temp momentarily after it opens the first time.

I hope to meet you at Carlisle. The family and I will be there with our 68 NYer.

 

[fury fan]

Those temps look good. I wouldn't fret over it.

Putting a lower temperature thermostat in won't cause the engine to run at a lower temperature, it will slow the warm up process down. Going by your temperature at the intake (only cause it is closest to the thermostat) if the car likes to run at 203° the thermostat will affect the time it takes get to 203 degrees. A 180 would take slightly longer than a 195 to reach 203 degrees simply because it opens sooner and will drop the engine temp momentarily after it opens the first time.

I hope to meet you at Carlisle. The family and I will be there with our 68 NYer.

I agree with all of this - except the intake temperature vs closest to the T-stat. it's a bigblock, so has a dry/airgap intake and temperature data from it is relevant only for exhaust crossover and thermal choke diagnosis.

If a car is overheating, diagnose/correct the cooling system, don't add a band-aid of a trans cooler (as others have said).

Of the given temperatures/locations, the highlighted temps are the only ones that matter. Doesn't matter what the temps are after shutdown.

Temperature of water housing where lower radiator hose connects would be more useful.
Also important - what are these temps when driving - does the car get hot at highway speed, when stopped in traffic? Are these temps at idle/park? If so, those temperatures are lower than what would occur in a driving/traffic situation.

 

[Boyd]

Those temps look good. I wouldn't fret over it.

Putting a lower temperature thermostat in won't cause the engine to run at a lower temperature, it will slow the warm up process down. Going by your temperature at the intake (only cause it is closest to the thermostat) if the car likes to run at 203° the thermostat will affect the time it takes get to 203 degrees. A 180 would take slightly longer than a 195 to reach 203 degrees simply because it opens sooner and will drop the engine temp momentarily after it opens the first time.

I hope to meet you at Carlisle. The family and I will be there with our 68 NYer.

All the days?