Hey all - did a quick search first, found a lot of posts about people wanting them and getting them, but no answeres to what i want to know!

ok

i purchased an external trans cooler the other day for the KL AWD, im still get to get it fitted.

been getting conflicting advice as to the radiator trans cooler,

some people say that i should just delete the radiator transmission completely from the system and just use the external cooler only, others say that i should run both in line,
dad says to run Trans -> ext cooler -> rad cooler (to heat up again apparently?) -> back to trans to continue to cycle.

i do a bit of highway cruising at constant speeds (cruise for the win), and im concerned that running ext cooler ONLY will result on the highway of getting too low trans fluid temps then back into the trans, surely this cant be good for the transmission.

people i talk to, seem to be 50/50 split against both VS external cooler only.

thoughts please?

EDIT - the trans cooler i got, is a larger capacity one suitable for V8 and V6 according to the box, i thought the extra fluid capacity would be a good investment to have running through the transmission on its own

The instructions with mine [Drivetec] says trans > rad. cooler > ext. cooler >trans..........my Ford is the same.

The instructions with mine [Drivetec] says trans > rad. cooler > ext. cooler >trans..........my Ford is the same.

did mine the same.

I have mine running through the cooler only and have no problems. However if I had a towball (I don't) and was towing then would have run it in series.
I haven't had any prob and when I had my tranny flush nothing was said of it.

doddski mine was run in series and no issues at all :)

There isn't really any disadvantages to having both running is there? and its probly easier to install that way.

I run mine in series aswell, as did on my KE and BJ31OS TF.

cheers

from the general consensus here, i will run it in series with the radiator one :)

thanks :)

Just bought mine from RPW who recommended running it in series. The instructions that came with it, as noted above say the fluid should go through the rad before the ext cooler.

Had some fun mounting it though. My KJ has a metal bar running down in front of the rad, right in the middle, so you can't just mount it to the rad as normal. Ended up making some large spacers (about 3 inches) so that it sits in front of the bar, and using cable ties to give it some extra support. Not that pretty & it probably would have been better to make up some brackets, but it's secure enough & I'll keep an eye on it. I'd be interested to know how anybody else got around this?

Apparently (search of forum will confirm), the 2nd Gen cars had an external trans cooler - and some have used this on 3rd Gen.

IIRC some early cars (TE maybe) had the mounting points - so a 2nd Gen cooler bolted-up direct, but then Mitsi deleted the mounting points.

Very clever of Doddski (or his dad) to think of the warm-up effect of having the trans cooler thru radiator. Glad to have read the opinions here and know how to run a cooler if I fit one!!

Apparently (search of forum will confirm), the 2nd Gen cars had an external trans cooler - and some have used this on 3rd Gen.

IIRC some early cars (TE maybe) had the mounting points - so a 2nd Gen cooler bolted-up direct, but then Mitsi deleted the mounting points.

Very clever of Doddski (or his dad) to think of the warm-up effect of having the trans cooler thru radiator. Glad to have read the opinions here and know how to run a cooler if I fit one!!

only the TE / KE AFAIK had the holes in the metal to mount the 2nd gen external cooler to, later 3g's missed out on that :(

talked one of the guys at work into fitting it up for me tomorrow using the work hoist.
is there anything else that i should look at getting done - while the front bar is off the car?
my mate wants to take the front bar off, so he can mount the cooler in the optimum location for max cooling efficiencey (ie not hiding behind the bar itself, more in the lower grille.
no-one can think of any other things that might need cooling? coz hes only going to take the front bar off for me once - a second time might require more convincing to do for me!

oh - i never really realised how cheap the mitsu genuine trans fluid is - got a 5L bottle of the stuff, for 35bucks - delivered to me at work on the day i ordered it!

Ok so everyone is talking about deciding between running it series or by itself. What about running it in parallel? I figure it would create a bit of a hassle but would there be any advantages to doing it this way?

Just bought mine from RPW who recommended running it in series. The instructions that came with it, as noted above say the fluid should go through the rad before the ext cooler.

Had some fun mounting it though. My KJ has a metal bar running down in front of the rad, right in the middle, so you can't just mount it to the rad as normal. Ended up making some large spacers (about 3 inches) so that it sits in front of the bar, and using cable ties to give it some extra support. Not that pretty & it probably would have been better to make up some brackets, but it's secure enough & I'll keep an eye on it. I'd be interested to know how anybody else got around this?

Mine fitted to the rad fine with the supplied ties;
http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm329/grelise1/Tranny%20cooler/DSCF0516.jpg
It was a bitch to cut the excess off.

i didnt use the ties. i made brackets etc and bolted it on. didnt think that the ties were safe. (just a personal thing)

In series as described earlier will give highest amount of cooling. Have some foam on hand to wrap around the hoses that may rub against the bumper etc. That's about as hard as the install was. Did mine about 5yrs ago.

only the TE / KE AFAIK had the holes in the metal to mount the 2nd gen external cooler to, later 3g's missed out on that :(

talked one of the guys at work into fitting it up for me tomorrow using the work hoist.
is there anything else that i should look at getting done - while the front bar is off the car?
my mate wants to take the front bar off, so he can mount the cooler in the optimum location for max cooling efficiencey (ie not hiding behind the bar itself, more in the lower grille.
no-one can think of any other things that might need cooling? coz hes only going to take the front bar off for me once - a second time might require more convincing to do for me!

oh - i never really realised how cheap the mitsu genuine trans fluid is - got a 5L bottle of the stuff, for 35bucks - delivered to me at work on the day i ordered it!

:eeek: Problem is 5L isn't enough to do squat. You'll need 3 bottles of that stuff for a proper flush.

:eeek: Problem is 5L isn't enough to do squat. You'll need 3 bottles of that stuff for a proper flush.

yeah i know that, need approx 8.3L for a drain and refil + flushing etc
im fitting the cooler up, topping it up - then one day in the nearish future, im sending it to mitsu to get a trans flush and refill.
this is just so i have it in the car, il worry about a flush later - had a flush done approx 15 - 20ooo km ago, so im thinking about doing it again anyway.

I think I used almost 10L last times I flushed mine. When you've got the whole front bar off and the transmission hoses off you mayaswell flush it then!

Doddski, taking the front bumper off isn't hard, Do it yourself once or twice and you'll be pro at it in no time, Then next time the bar has to come off, you'll be like, easy as...

dont know about 3rd gens but i just removed the grill to fit it. plenty of room.

;1054925']Doddski, taking the front bumper off isn't hard, Do it yourself once or twice and you'll be pro at it in no time, Then next time the bar has to come off, you'll be like, easy as...

the front bar has been off my car twice in the last 8 or so months - by my work, so they should be able to whistle and itl jump off on its own.
i cant do a lot of the mechanical stuff on my own car anymore coz of my stuffed back, i cant go climbing under around over or thru engines, or twist myself into tight spaces anymore.
this is why i have to talk other people into do that stuff for me - and why i dont do a lot of the work myself.
i do know how to do it (most things - not all i admitt) but i just physically cant do it anymore.

the front bar has been off my car twice in the last 8 or so months - by my work, so they should be able to whistle and itl jump off on its own.
i cant do a lot of the mechanical stuff on my own car anymore coz of my stuffed back, i cant go climbing under around over or thru engines, or twist myself into tight spaces anymore.
this is why i have to talk other people into do that stuff for me - and why i dont do a lot of the work myself.
i do know how to do it (most things - not all i admitt) but i just physically cant do it anymore.

Sorry mate, Totally forgot about your buggered back......my mistake

Transmission cooler has been fitted :)

car allready feels like it likes the extra fluid - and it shifts muuch better now (not that it was ever a harsh shifting trans)
water/engine temp guauge, seems to be reading lower as an instant change, car feels very nice to drive right now too :)

EDIT - will be getting the transmission flushed by mistu in the coming week or so, as the fluid was not BRIGHT red like it looked in the new bottle.
only spilt a little on the workshop floor as well at work!

the front bar, was apparently easy to get off, but getting it back on - that was the difficult part - the 4 main bolts that attach the front bar reo / front bar to the chassis rails... i only have 3 in there right now, coz we got the ****s with it not going back in!!!!
will try again tomorrow afternoon when we are rested and refreshed.
my back is killing me right now tho - and i didnt even do that much, only helped line it up and workmate did the rest - front bars are heavier than they look!!!

Glad it has improved. What order did you end up fitting it? Also with the guage, is that just the normal temp guage you are reading or an aftermarket guage? I just picked up a new cooler (280x180x20) canadian made for $41. Will be fitting it soon.

Glad it has improved. What order did you end up fitting it? Also with the guage, is that just the normal temp guage you are reading or an aftermarket guage? I just picked up a new cooler (280x180x20) canadian made for $41. Will be fitting it soon.

just the standard temp guage - thought about hooking up a temp sender to the inlet of the trans cooler, but thought nah, dont want to clutter the dash / a pillar with guages - and really, its a little bit of wank factor coz really i have no need to monitor trans fluid temps its not like iv increased the power output of the engine...

i think its in series - trans (hot) -> rad cooler -> ext cooler -> trans (cool)

Hey doddski,

did you fit it behind one of the two "grills" or the lower airdam area?

Hey doddski,

did you fit it behind one of the two "grills" or the lower airdam area?

its mounted half down on the drivers side of the car to the condensor - a bit of it is in the lower airdam and some is behind the solid part of the front bar

doddski, what did you use to fix it in place? Cable ties or custom brackets? Mine is the attached one.

doddski, what did you use to fix it in place? Cable ties or custom brackets? Mine is the attached one.

mines the same as that by the looks - cept mine is silver not black (i guess the black goes with the colour of your car better!)

just used the supplied almost cable tie things to do it

the guy at work did most of it for me - i know he released the top of the radiator to be able to get in behind the condensor to cut the excess off the supplied ties.

i got about 1m of hose too - and i still have most of it left, didnt use much hose at all really to run it into the system.

if you plan to go UNDER the radiator to get to the cooler lines (instead of around it - would result in longer cooler lines) you will at least need to take the front bar splash tray off to get enough sprace to swing the hoses - it appears that the easiest way was taking the front bar off to do it IMO tho

Seems odd the start of thread said 50/50 for against running in line with std radiator cooler but the responses to thread were nearly all to run in line with radiator cooler.

The transmission workshop I went to recommended not to as more line connections are involved increasing risk of leaks. The workshop owner said a major problem with Ford and Magna built in radiator coolers is that their design allows a lot of crud to build up there potentially contaminating trans fluid and the radiator coolers tend to corrode internally over time causing transmission problems.
He sited a number of occasions where people had repeatedly had bad transmission problems because although they got the trans serviced or rebuilt at other workshops, they had neglected to replace the radiator and the existing radiator coolers were recontaminating the trans fluid. He said when they fixed them and changed to an offline cooler the problems dissappeared permanently.

He mounted mine with fixed brackets.

Personally I use the second gen coolers as they are an awsome cooler and if mounted properly you only need to make one bracket as the top one mounts to a bolt hole already there

As for the post above, I agree but also disagree. The line that runs through the radiator is actually a copper line, this does not generally leak. In some of the older ford ones these were known to crack and you would get oil contamination in the coolant and coolant contamination in the trans, have seen this a few times

This generally does not happen in the second and third gens keeping in mind that the first and second gen use the rad cooler as well as the external as a factory set up

On a personal note, I prefer to just have external only due to the fact I think it is better, I also use a Magna Cooler on my XT as well with the rad one bypassed

I fitted and connected up my transmission cooler yesterday...was a bit fiddly, mainly because I did it without taking off the bumper bar, but was easily done. If I were to do it again, I reckon I could install it the same way in half the time. Most of the time was taken up fabricating the brackets, installation by removing the TL/KL grills was not a problem. Taking the bumper off makes the install easier, but I couldn't afford to have my car off the road, so I did it in stages with the bumper still on.


Hey doddski,

did you fit it behind one of the two "grills" or the lower airdam area?

I fitted mine just below one of the grills (passenger side) about 1 inch still showing behind the grill the rest hidden behind the bar.


doddski, what did you use to fix it in place? Cable ties or custom brackets? Mine is the attached one.

I fabricated my own brackets, one bracket runs from the radiator support directly across to the other side (bolts both sides). The second bracket down below runs from lowest bolt on the radiator support to the cooler.




He mounted mine with fixed brackets.

Yep with the fabricated brackets it allows better air flow around the cooler.

The hoses run under the, radiator, there are gaps there, and are protected by the lower part of the bumper bar. I also covered the hoses with heat tubing (the stuff plumbers use for copper pipes) to protect it from any sharp edges etc...

I too was recommended to run my cooler seperate from the factory, which I have done, for the very reason of too many lines, causing a possible leak.
I'm also looking at repositioning mine to a fabricated bracket as its using the supplied fittings fixed to the radiator.

Some pictures of how I installed a 2nd Gen Magna Transmission Cooler to a 3rd Gen KF Verada...The tricky bit was fabricating the bracket...


http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt18/gtvi1/Other/IMG_3929.jpg


http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt18/gtvi1/Other/IMG_3930.jpg
http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt18/gtvi1/Other/IMG_3931.jpg