Seeing as the vast majority of us here have auto trans and many can't (for whatever reason) do a manual conversion, one of the best mods is an auto trans cooler.

I found this on the Autospeed website; A DIY article.

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109772/article.html?popularArticle

a bit late..... another auto has just biten the dust :P

a bit late..... another auto has just biten the dust :P

Lol somehow, I don't think that was a cooling related issue :)

he has had a trans cooler sitting around just never gotten around to fitting it...infact he was asking Mal when he could have it fitted just the day before it packed up

yeah, after mostly manuals before the diamante, when i felt the front of the box after a drive i was amazed how hot she got! fitted a cooler in series ($5 for an aftermarket one off a mitsi legnum) and now feel alot better when stuck in traffic of going through slow winding hills stuck behind a truck. i felt the cooler and it gets hot, so its got to be good getting all that heat out of the fluid.

Best bet for a third gen is retro fitting a second gen trans cooler

Approx cost?

Best bet for a third gen is retro fitting a second gen trans cooler

is this a straight fit?

all these threads on 3rd gen and trans coolers are scaring me considering i use the tippy quite a bit (coz i miss manual).

is the 3rd gen gb that bad? i've never heard of this being that much an issue in any other car and admittedly this WASN"T very high in my planned mods list?

I have a mountain of Condenser and Evap. coils sitting outside my office window.
Seems like i have a new project.

If you mount on the RHS one of the bolts line straight up with the rad support, you will need to make a bracket for the 2 lower bolts, I also use the second gen metal lines, reshape them to go over to the LHS and then you have only a small amount of rubber hose to use

I dont think the box is "that bad" , the lifespan of any auto comes down to how well it is serviced and a trans cooler is one way to lenthen lifespan. i have had my 4speed for 2 years nearly and i drive it hard about 40% of the time and have had no issues. By hard i mean some high rev changes and footdown takeoffs. I have seen people who do stupid things like rev it in neutral and drop into drive and manually shift it down to early (re-a mate of mine in his accord) and this will drastically shorten the lifespan.

actually i have a question i just remembered..

for those of you that already have a tranny cooler installed, do you also have an oil pressure gauge and if you do have you noticed any significant oil pressure drop.

because on Honda's (where oil pressure is important for vtec operation) we had to open up the spring on the oil pump to shim it to add spring pressure due to a noticable loss. Although oil pressure is more important for vtec engines theres was still a noticable drop.

can anyone provide input on this?

actually i have a question i just remembered..

for those of you that already have a tranny cooler installed, do you also have an oil pressure gauge and if you do have you noticed any significant oil pressure drop.

because on Honda's (where oil pressure is important for vtec operation) we had to open up the spring on the oil pump to shim it to add spring pressure due to a noticable loss. Although oil pressure is more important for vtec engines theres was still a noticable drop.

can anyone provide input on this?

Edit: The fact that the 3rd gen auto boxes dont run an oil filter, is there cause for concern of foreign objects being pumped around?

If you mount on the RHS one of the bolts line straight up with the rad support, you will need to make a bracket for the 2 lower bolts, I also use the second gen metal lines, reshape them to go over to the LHS and then you have only a small amount of rubber hose to use

Yep bracket is required...Here is an example of how I did one recently... (http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1105816&postcount=34)

Edit: The fact that the 3rd gen auto boxes dont run an oil filter, is there cause for concern of foreign objects being pumped around?

not the answer i was after but i just realised my stupidity... got the tranny cooler mixed up with engine oil cooler so my question is void anyway.

yeah I was unsure how you meant considering the gearbox has it's own oil I cant see how it would affect engine oil pressure. Hehe you got me confuzzled too

fitting one in a fortnight to the 380

Getting a power flush and fitting a PWR 8 cyl cooler

My slush box will be so happy

I have guys using these heat exchanges to cool there OC Pcs in a nearby pool crazy stuff

If you mount on the RHS one of the bolts line straight up with the rad support, you will need to make a bracket for the 2 lower bolts, I also use the second gen metal lines, reshape them to go over to the LHS and then you have only a small amount of rubber hose to use

Mal,

By any chance do you have a picture of the metal 2nd gen lines that you have re-shaped?

Going to pickup a 2nd gen cooler in the next week or two, noticed the metal lines with the threaded nut end to bolt onto the transmission.

Just wondering how you ran the lines, planning on by-passing the rad-warmer aswell.

Next question is, is there a specific 'in' and 'out' on the trans cooler/gbox?

Mal,

By any chance do you have a picture of the metal 2nd gen lines that you have re-shaped?

Going to pickup a 2nd gen cooler in the next week or two, noticed the metal lines with the threaded nut end to bolt onto the transmission.

Just wondering how you ran the lines, planning on by-passing the rad-warmer aswell.

Next question is, is there a specific 'in' and 'out' on the trans cooler/gbox?

Hi Ers,
I know you directed this question to Mal, but when I did mine, you can see from the pictures in the posts above (link) I simply cut the 2nd gen lines just past the cooler, and attached the 3/8 hoses from there. On the first picture if you look carefully you can see the hoses I attached juts to the side of the picture.

The original 2nd Gen pipes still bolt on as you can see in the picture.

I did not by-pass the rad warmer... Just disconnect at the bottom of the radiartor where the rubbber hose link is, and attached the trans cooler outlets to these.

To work out the in and out lines from the Trans, start the motor up for a minute or so, change gears a few times, and then switch off... the warmer line from the trans is the "out" and the "cooler" line is the "in".

Hope this helps.

Might be a dumb question, but when installed does the transmission oil cooler replace the one in the radiator or do you connect them up in series (ie. 2 stage with oil going first to radiator then on to oil cooler then back to transmission).

You can do either, but the manufacturer of mine recommends" in series".

heres one I prepared earlier :)

http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm329/grelise1/Tranny%20cooler/DSCF0510.jpg
Forget what the top line says, as I've done mine as a stand alone, but the lines marked are off the tranny.

I connected my two 2nd gen coolers in series using the other ends of those metal lines. (I do a lot of towing).
Made a massive difference to my tranny.

I'm thinking of adding an oil cooler to my TJ and wasn't sure if keeping the cooler in the bottom of the radiator in the circuit would be a weak point.

Some people have mentioned the possibility of corrosion in the radiator allowing coolant into the oil cooler circuit, but then to bypass it altogether would require a bigger external oil cooler. I have a friendly fabricator with a laser cutter and brake presses so getting brackets made up ain't a problem.

I'm also wondering if including an external oil filter in the circuit would be a good idea.

Hmmm, a service manager at a Mitis said theres no real benifit from a trans cooler (speeking from a mitsubishi point of view),..my 2c worth.

Hmmm, a service manager at a Mitis said theres no real benifit from a trans cooler (speeking from a mitsubishi point of view),..my 2c worth.

Well he obviously has no idea what he's talking about then. :wtf:

Well he obviously has no idea what he's talking about then. :wtf:

Recent gearbox improvements lessen the need for tranny coolers, but towing large loads, increases in hp, will definately help.
I've seen and smelt a burning tranny after towning a large tralier.
I'm with you disciple, perhaps this guy in service is thinking of his monthly quota over the next few years.

Well I can only go off personal experience. My old mans Hilux transmission was totally different after fitting a tranny cooler. It would shift smoother, and hold gears longer when going up hills.

seems simple to me, if your running it in series and the ideal temp is around the same as the coolant (guessing here), then keeping it stable at this optimum temp will make it perform at its best, every degree of heat above is going to reduce the fluid viscosity etc and make it less effective. the extra cooler helps keep a stable temp.