How good is the stock transmission oil cooler on our trucks?, and would using 2 stock transmission oil coolers make a difference?.

Larry.

 

Under even race conditions, measured from a sensor in the side of the pan, I have never seen temps above 150, which is well within the safe range. I have a stock tranny with FTVB and B&M pan.

Maybe towing or stop-and-go traffic would produce higher temps. Maybe my sensor is off. Dunno.

There are probably easier and cheaper aftermarket solutions for an extra cooler. Remember, we already have two coolers -- one in the radiator and an extra cooler just in front of the radiator.

 

Tim,

In monitoring the tranny temp using AutoTap in stop and go driving, I've seen the tranny temp reach 195.

(running FTVB and Ford 4x4 deep sump tranny pan)

Bob

 

That's why I posted the qualifiers. My numbers are suspiciously low. I have ordered some extra senders and am going to try a swap.

But 195 max is not bad at all. A $50 cooler should easily be able to knock off that heat.

Gregg Evans reported that adding an external filter dropped his temps 30 degrees. I am adding one soon. Plus, I just ordered this cool collar from jegs today:



With the external filter located right behind the intercooler heat exchanger, I'm hoping that this is all the extra cooling I will ever need.

The tranny cooler I previously bought is going to do diff cooler duties. 200+ diff temps on the highway! And that is with a double-capacity Mag-Hytec cover.

 

Tim, I don't trust your data. As someone who has already destroyed 3 trannies, I feel that I need every edge I can get. Another cooler seems like very cheap insurance to me. Which model B&M did you install, and where did you source it?

 

Isn't the B&M pan the same as the Ford Racing and MAC ones? Just different stampings? I've seen the MAC one for less and have thought about picking one up......

 

The B&M does not have the exposed drain plug. All of the pans are shown here.

 

This should take care of your high tranny temps... Thermostatically controlled fan is nice..

 

George, you tranny eater, I don't trust your driving, so there. As you sure that heat had anything to do with your tranny failures? Seems like Gregg Evans indicates that most of the failures he sees are caused by improper chip parameters or just plain stress.

Anyway, I agree that a cooler is cheap insurance. The 4R100 tranny fluid cannot be overcooled, as it is not even routed to the cooler lines until it is heated up. I got two B&M SuperCoolers -- model 70264 (11" x 6" x 1 1/2") for the tranny and 70266 (11 X 11? X1 1/2") for engine oil. I bought both from either Jeg's or Summit. I haven't installed either yet. I am installing an engine oil temp sender hopefully this weekend. Did not want to install any extra coolers until I have baseline data to work from. I don't want to be one of those guys that spouts off about how he has had Part X and his truck runs great without establishing that Part X has anything to do with that success.

I'm sure I will end up installing both soon, but if the oil temps are completely under control, I will skip the engine oil cooler and use one of the two for a diff cooler. I suspect that the water-to-oil stock oil cooler works pretty well.

I just installed dual remote oil filters last weekend. I also have a remote thermostat, which does not route the oil to a cooler until the engine oil temps get above 180 (the oil needs to get at least this hot to be able to burn off water and other contaminants). So if the oil temp does not get over 180, an extra cooler would be a waste of time and would just cause lower oil pressure and potential failure points. If the temps are just barely over 180, I think I will add a couple of the cool collars to the filters and see if that does it. The torture test is, of course, open track events. So I won't make any more cooling decisions until after the next event.

When are you going to come out and run on a track with me? We Lightning owners must represent! At Willow Springs in June, I was the only truck running.

 

That looks like a nice piece, but Troyer wants $200 for the kit (includes all fittings, hoses, and instructions, though). With all of the real estate we have in front of the radiator and intercooler, it seems like a waste to use a fan-driven cooler. Troyer claims that this will help in stop-and-go driving, which may make sense.

The B&M 70264 is only about $50 from Summit:

 

That's very reassuring. I did have some concern about possibly overcooling the the tranny fluid. And yes, I am sure that heat played a part in my last tranny failure, but the other factors you mention, stress and chip parameters, also played a role. It was a triple whammy, which is why that tranny went into Gregg's Hall of Shame. Going to do everything I can to help the Monster Box survive. I guess I'll order a 70264 from Summit today.

I'm going to come out to the track when my truck is running. It was really disappointing to be unable to go to Willow last weekend. Its been over 4 months since I've tasted the thrill of Lightning performance. I'm going to move heaven and earth to see that it gets done in time to drive it to the Historics next month. Are you planning to go? Mike Nicoll and Mike Frick are. If you are, shoot me an e-mail and I will tell you how to get infield parking.

 

Anyone doesn't happen to know the tranny fluid flow path? I mean what is in and out on the stock cooler...Just trying to figure the best way to hook up the extra cooler...

 

rear line is the in line.
As greg says, "the 4R100 takes it in the rear"

I have a B&M cooler with fan and it really does nothing for the tranny that I have noticed. My tranny temps are around 190° in traffic. Probably highre at the track. I'll have to watch to get better #'s.

 

Which B&M cooler do you have? Strange that not even with a fan your tranny fluid is still that hot...

 

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your post.

Our Troyer Performance Active Transmission Cooler Kit is of course more expensive than passive coolers, none of which have our unit's features, of course. It's 2 different classes of product, basically.

Ours is a beautiful stacked-plate unit with thermostatically controlled fan & mounting brackets already assembled, uses -6 AN fittings (we also include standard barbed fittings), and includes all the fittings, additional hose, docs, etc. as you kindly pointed out in your post (thank you). It features an inline thermostat that kicks the mounted fan on @ 180 degrees & back off @ 170 degrees, to keep the fluid within a narrow and ideal temperature range, for maximum transmission & fluid service lives. And there is no effective pressure drop or restriction in flow of the tranny fluid.

It was never intended to be a "cheap" or "inexpensive" product, nor was it ever meant to compete with cheap passive coolers; it is designed to be a true highly efficient & lightweight yet rugged remote-mount cooler, and that puts it in a completely different class. This of course makes it more expensive, along with the fact that there are no fit & finish issues with our cooler, etc.

For some applications, it may seem like overkill, but frankly, as big a factor as heat really is in the failure rate of automatic transmissions, I've always said I'd like to see every vehicle with an automatic transmission have an active cooler from the factory so that nobody ever had to worry about those temps or spend *anything* over the cost of the vehicle for proper protection in this regard.

We serve many Lightning owners of course, but we also have to deal with "regular" F-150 owners, Expedition, Excursion & other truck & SUV owners. Those owners are doing a lot of heavy towing (pulling anywhere from 6500 lbs. to 20,000 lbs.), and/or a lot of city traffic driving, etc. We have to make sure that our customers towing 13,000 lbs. over the mountains in 100 degree heat can maintain strict control over tranny fluid temps. Or those towing thru AZ in 120 degree temps have no problems keeping tranny fluid temps under control even when stuck in stop & go traffic, where pavement temps are well over 150 degrees. Or for our Lightning owners having to hot-lap in 95+ degree heat & high humidity, and of course for those Lightning owners who are road-racing, with many acceleration & deceleration cycles every lap, etc. In those conditions (and most others), our stacked plate cooler with automatic thermostatically controlled fan will do the job better than a passive unit depending on roadspeed for airflow can, while taking up less space and being lighter than any passive cooler of the same capacity.

Overall, the Lightning has generally better transmission cooling capability & capacity than "regular" F-150's & Expy's do, so there are Lightning owners that can certainly do without our cooler. But there are many other vehicles that really need it's combination of capabilities & features. The advantages of supplying it's own airflow so it can be remote mounted, being smaller, lighter, and automatically maintaining the fluid temperatures within a narrow & optimum range is a big relief for many truck owners who feel another $199 is cheap insurance for their new $40K-$50K vehicle's tranny.

Of course, this piece can be used for engine oil cooling (we use -8 AN fittings for use cooling engine oil), or for cooling just about any fluid.

In short, it's for when you want the best in a highly efficient, small, light & remote-mountable package.