I got to thinking about pulling my dads travel trailer through the mountains next week and thought maybe I should check to see if I have a tranny cooler. My truck is a 2001 F-150 scab 4.6L 4x4 with the 4R70W tranny. I just changed the fluid about 2 months ago and the tranny seems to be fine. I was looking in the grill and below the radiator on the drivers side there is a little cooler looking thing with one coil basically. Is that the cooler? My truck didn't have the towing package I don't think so I wasn't sure it even had one. If that is it I may be looking into something a little larger in the near future. Thanks for the replies!

 

i think what your seeing is the power steering cooler..the trans cooler would be in the upper pass side in front of the radiator..if you have a oil cooler thats where the tranny cooler is -opposite side...zap!

 

I think Zap's right. The power steering cooler has lines larger than the 5/16" steel lines that a stock tranny cooler has. The steering cooler should have the lines going to the steering fluid pump too.

 

You guys are probably right but one more question. Does the tranny fluid go through the radiator if you don't have an external cooler or is there just nothing?

 

Trans fluid goes through the radiator whether or not you have an aux cooler.

 

personally i by-pass the radiator when installing a tranny cooler...the radiator has enough to do as is ...zap!

 

Why would you bypass the rad tranny cooler?? Considering it has about 6 gallons of coolant running thru it and has a very large surface area to dissipate heat from (compared to an aux trans cooler), you are reducing your tranny cooling efficiency by basically one cooler and since it's thermostatically controlled, unless your rad is plugged up, you will not overheat the engine.....

I've got my trans temp gauge sensor on the trans output line, just before it goes into the rad cooler..... The most my trans temp has sustained was 180*... That was cruising down the hwy on a 90* + day at around 62 mph in third gear at around 2500 rpms... The engine temp was 195*..... This is towing a #4500 travel trailer. Running empty in OD, it'll run just a tad under 180* in the same 90* + day.... The engine temp is still 195*.

The most the trans temp has gotten to was 210*. That was going up a 7% grade and the trans was in UNLOCKED second gear.... Once the the TC locked, it actually went DOWN to about 195* while still pulling the grade... The water temp was at 210* during the 7% grade pull and that was maintaining 50 mph at around 3500 rpms.... On the downhill side, it went back to 195* and the trans went back to 180*.... I also have an aftermarket WATER temp gauge, so that's how I know it's temp in relation to the trans temp.....

In the winter time, my trans will barely get over the 100* mark... Even towing in the winter time, the trans temp will not get over 165*... The water temp is still it's thermostatically controlled 195*......

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Mitch,

I'm gonna play devils advocate for a moment. If running the tranny fluid through the radiator when not towing, aren't you just heating up the fluid more than you need to if the radiator temp is higher than the trans temp? I could see the argument for taking the radiator out of the loop and putting it on its own cooler providing that the cooler is large enough on its own to handle the heat capacity of the tranny. What is your take on this. I would like to add a tranny cooler but time won't allow right now. I only tow about once or twice a year as it is. I hope to increase that soon though.

Just a thought

 

HI!... There actually isn't much tranny fluid running through the factory rad at one time. When my factory rad got a hole in it, I decided to tear the end tanks off to see how they routed the tranny cooler through it. All it was, was a huge brass tube (1-1-1/4 in diamter) that ran the length of the driver's side rad end tank. That's it. It probably holds less than a liter of oil. This is on the 2" thick rad and I have the tow packaged on my truck. I installed a PERMA COOL 10" X 14" aluminum tranny cooler with 10" electric fan *PLUS* the factory stacked plate trans cooler.

 

heh my dads gettin me a radiator off one of the generators. their about the size of the ones on hte power strokes. so imma use that for a tranny cooler.

 

Running a trans without going through any type of cooler? Consider:

If stopped in traffic, or moving slowly up Mitch's 7% grade with no or low airflow, what is cooling the fluid if the radiator is bypassed?

Solution: better get one of Mike Troyer's rad. coolers with built-in fan or you have trouble. Even if the rad. temp is 195 - 210, better some than none?

Just my $.02.
Curt

 

The water temp at the driver's side of the radiator is much lower than the passenger side. That is why Ford put the tranny cooler lines on that side.

Contrary to the popular opinions most seen here, it isn't better to have the tranny fluid cold. The transmission is designed to work within a range of temperatures, as is the fluid.

I have seen write-ups by Ford that detailed the life expectancy of a transmission, based on it's operating temperature. The tranny that had the longest life was the one who's fluid stayed around 165*.

All of that being said, I would still install an additional cooler, especially if I was going to tow.

I installed Gregg Evans tranny cooler on my '04 Lightning. In Florida, in any months outside of December, January and February, it stays between 150*-160*. If I do an hour or more of high-speed driving on the interstate (75MPH and up) it will creep up to the 170* mark. As soon as I slow down, it comes back down to the 160* area. Coincidentally (or not) this is the thermostat temp I have installed in the engine.

I know some automatics have a thermostatically controlled valve to divert fluid to the tranny cooler when it is too hot. The fact the they have this capability at all tells you the engineers want the tranny at some temperature while it is operating.

It is like the oil in your engine - it works best when it is at the right operating temperature.

As far as using a "radiator" for a tranny cooler, you better be sure you don't insert too much restriction to the flow in the cooling lines.

 

i have by-passed every thing i have owned in the past as far as the radiator goes when it comes to tranny coolers...in drag cars you never see one run thru the radiator...it has its job to cool the tranny by its self...remember HEAT is a transmissons WORST enemy...my turbo diesel dump has its own tranny cooler without the radiator involved...my old F-250 had the original tranny cooler fail and without involving the radiator the mix i installed a aftermarket cooler and never had a problem...by-passing the radiator is a good thing...you never have to worry about tranny fluid in your cooling system as the same in reverse...my '66 falcon has its own cooler as does my '89 grand marquis..NEVER a problem...zap!

 

I have the factory aux trans cooler, so I have two trans coolers including the one in the rad..... Works for me and the Ford enginneers seem to think it's necessary too.....

Since I also have a trans temp gauge and a water temp gauge (not the stock POS either) I can monitor both temps so I'm confident with the factory setup......

WVtrucker,

Well, my water temp is always 190*-195* for the most part... My trans temps vary from Winter to Summer. Winter time, it'll barely get past the 100* mark running down the highway. Stop and go traffic, it'll get to 150*. Summer time, it will get to 180* towing or not.

If the rad is warming up the trans fluid, I'm not seeing it.... If it was, it would be a lot hotter in the winter time.

The time I see the rad cooler as being a benifit is when the truck is not moving in the summer time. At least it's still being "cooled" in the sense that if it's hotter then the coolant, then it will pull some of that heat out of the fluid....

Like I said, I've got the gauges, so I know what it's doing temp wise... One thing that will raise the temp the fastest I've ever seen is backing up the trailer!! It'll go up to 195* in a matter of minutes! When that happens, I put it in neutral and let it idle for a couple of minutes... The temp will go back down to around 180* or so. I've since started putting it in 4 lo to backup the trailer at home (gravel driveway, so no binding)... The temp does not rise at all then...

Mitch

 

Thanks for the input guys. I towed my dad's camper this past weekend up and over some mountains that range anywhere from 7-10% grade with no problem. I can't say for sure what the trans temp was doing because I don't have a trans temp gauge but the stock water temp gauge never budged. The truck didn't seem to struggle with it really at all. I just went ahead and let it kick down to 2nd gear when it started to fall off bad and we topped the mountains anywhere from 45-50 mph. I am still trying to find the trailer weight so I can give a good comparison but it is a 16.5 ft "Go Tagalong" built in 78 and let me tell you it's not the lightest thing I ever pulled. When my dad used to pull it on that same route with his 91 F150 302 auto we topped the mountains at 30-35 mph in passing gear so this is much improved. Long story short right now I tow 1-2 times a year and until that changes I will just live with what I have. I will eventually get around to a tranny cooler but I just can't justify the time and expense right now.

I also took some pictures and am preparing a little right up for the towing board on how to convert your non-towing wiring stuff to include the brake control and how I mounted everything. I thought it might be usefull because I looked all over the place for just such a thing and couldnt' find it.

Thanks again!