I have two coolers that sit in front of my radiator and I don’t know if they are stock or an aftermarket add on to my truck. I have not been underneath to check out where the plumbing runs to, however I can guess that one is probably a transmission cooler. I am not sure what the other would be (oil?).

Anyone have any thoughts? Any good advice for maintenance on these coolers or do they pretty much take care of themselves.

Thanks.

 

Power Stearing

 

Really...?? Why or what does that help accomplish?

 

PS on the driver's side and AT on the passenger's side. There is no maintenance unless they get plastered with mud or a bug plague.

 

Regarding a power steering cooler....

Only seen them on police equipped vehicles, but the purpose of them is to cool down the fluid during extended periods of hard use, such as a high speed pursuit(constant or repeated high RPM's).

SL

 

Well since I am not going to be chasing anyone down any time soon that is interesting you say that; but I understand the conclusion that you are trying to make.

Would that be more in line for a towing aspect? Greater strain on the power steering system?

Could it be a oil cooler? Ill have to get underneith there when the weather is better to find out where those lines run to.

 

Did you not read this post?

PS = Power Steering and AT = automatic transmission

Those are the two coolers you have. All 97-03 F-150's have a PS cooler, but not all have a tranny cooler. The 5.4L comes standard with one tranny cooler, or all factory tow packages come with an upgraded tranny cooler.

Why does it need a PS cooler? Poorly designed pump? I have no idea.

 

Sure I read the post. I just never have heard of a power steering cooler before.

 

are you guys sure it's a power steering cooler? it's to cold here right now to go crawling under my truck but i thought that the other cooler was for the engine oil, not the power steering. i'm more then likely wrong cause i'm sure a lot of you guys have already been underneath and checked. i get my dealer to do the oil changes while it's under warranty so i don't have much cause to go under there.

 

If you guys don't know jack and you're too lazy to examine the hose routing yourself, why don't you just accept the correct information that you asked for?

Ash575- Ford has used power steering coolers for decades.

 

that's easy to say when you live in 100* weather all year round like Texas. it's -10*F today and i really don't feel like getting under my dirty salty truck thank you. is this not a board to exchange information? ya i'm lazy, why crawl underneath when someone else propably already checked to confirm. lighten up TEX.

 

The correct information was EXCHANGED 9 posts ago and CONFIRMED 6 posts ago. Your 2 additional posts added no correct information whatsoever. The cooler lines can easily be traced by opening the hood from above. Everythings chill here, but if Ash575 asks a question, then, questions each and every person that answered correctly, he should just grow some plums and draw his own conclusions.

 

Easy there Max. Lets keep the personal attacks to a min.

I am glad that sgauthier asked his/her follow up question. As you can tell neither one of us has heard of power steering coolers and we were both looking to get more information. Just because someone says one thing does not always mean it is gospel.

In many threads I have read in news groups one posted question may have many different answers too it. Thats the purpose of a newsgroup. To gather as much information from as many sources as possible.

Now I am not the most mechanically incline person in the world; however I know my way around an engine enough to do minor repairs and maintenance.

Please show some respect to those who are not as knowledgeable as others here in this news group and allow them to post their follow ups if they have questions about what they are reading. Maybe just grow some plums and stop reading the post if that is too much to ask?

 

Hello Newsgroup-

I guess your scathing rebuttal would devastate me had I been wrong about the coolers or your combined indolence and lack of knowledge. There is only one answer to your query. If I took 3 minutes of the 3 days wasted on this thread, I could search the phrase "power steering cooler", search the phrase "transmission cooler", and open my hood indentifying the cooler hose routing with Canadian road salt in my eyes. The searches yield 42 pages of corroborating information. No comment on either inept oil cooler reference. The engineering directive for the power steering cooler would likely confuse the layperson.

 

I think the reason for a power steering cooler is that you have a heavy truck and wide tires. It takes alot of pressure and power to steer the tires when you are moving slow or sitting still. Lets say you are backing a short trailer and aint too good at it and are sawing the wheel back and forth , you will quickly heat up the PS fluid.

Even my 87 5.0 Mustang had one because of its quick ratio steering and wide sticky tires, requiring more work from the pump and fluid. This wasnt a traditional cooler with fins , but a long loop of steel tubing attached to the front crossmember.

Usually oil coolers on Ford trucks are oil to water units mounted with the oil filter and have two little radiator hoses going to it.