Automatic trans owners-- ever wonder what the trans cooler inside your radiator looks like? I have. :-) Today I replaced my stock one-row radiator with a Visteon two-row radiator for better cooling while towing (but that's another thread). Since the old radiator will soon be scrapped for its value as aluminum, I thought I would pry off the end cap and get a look at the internal trans cooler. Here's a pic for anyone who's interested.

 

Hmm. Pretty neat.

 

I thought so, but I find others don't always share my curiosity.

I was surprised to find a set of plates. I recently saw an episode of "How It's Made" that had a segment on auto radiators. The trans cooler in that radiator was a simple cylinder; no plates or fins. That's what I was expecting to find inside this one.

 

That looks like a better set up than I was expecting, Thanks for the show and tell.

 

I know what you're saying. I posted some pics of my work truck w/ the cab 6' in the air during a head gasket repair. I found it fasinating to see the guts of the truck from a different perspective ... I don't think many other people did though.

I'm surprised to see what that cooler consists of. I would have expected just a tube running through the rad. Thanks for posting the pic.

 

Yer welcome I also was pleasantly surprised by the design of the cooler. I figured it would be either a plain cylinder about 1.5" in diameter, or maybe a simple "S" of 3/8" tubing.

I've been looking at the pattern of brownish stuff on the lower right quarter of the cooler trying to figure out why it accumulated there and nowhere else. Got to be some combination of temperature and coolant flow...

Does the trans fluid enter the cooler from the top port or bottom port? If it's a "counterflow" setup, I would expect it to enter from the bottom.

 

I love stuff like that! The more I learn about what's on the inside of things, the better I become at diagnostics and troubleshooting.

Seeing stuff apart that way reminds me that trucks and cars are just collections of mechanical systems bolted together in a specific way. They are complicated only in the overall view; the individual mechanical components are generally pretty straightforward.

I expected the same. (And I'm glad you guys enjoyed seeing it, too.) It was worth opening it up to look.

I wanted to take pics of the entire radiator swap, but this job quickly got very messy and I was working alone and had no one to take the photos. The lower trans cooler fitting had a slow leak that started long before I got this truck. It coated the fan shroud with a film of oil which then collected dirt and then more oil etc., and this went on for a long time. The lower portion of the radiator, the fan shroud, and parts of the lower left of the engine compartment were coated with black, tarry gunk. Cleaning all that up took a while, but that fan shroud looked it came from a new truck by the time I put it back!

The performance difference between the new two-row and the old one-row radiator is huge. I'll have to post the details in "Towing and Hauling" when I have a minute.

Thanks to all who were interested enough to post a comment. I will do this again the next time I have something interesting apart.

 

I went to a dual core radiator, and an aftermarket trans cooler on my first 03. Just bought a large trans cooler yesterday. The cooler is too small for my taste. You can finish pulling it out of there by just cutting to the hose connections and it should slide straight out.

As for the discoloration, thats where the coldest coolant, and the hottest trans fluid meet up if im looking at it and thinking correctly.

 

Good idea, Patman. I removed the fittings and took a few more pics:

 

Pretty neat. Thanks for sharing

 

Looks like Ford has a good design there!