To answer your question, yes it will be enough cooler for that converter.

 

I wouldnt run it with the stocker. Why would anyone want to run their hot fluid through an even hotter radiator before going to the true cooling source while at the same time increasing pressure?

Some can argue being in a cold area of the country you need to have it hooked up to the stocker so the fluid WARMS faster. I live in CT also and I dont have it running through the stocker. I let it warm for a few min. before driving it on a colder day. Havent seen any issues yet.

 

Because the radiator is not always hotter. Trans fluid temp, when driven hard in hot weather, can easily exceed coolant temp - especially if your fan settings have been reduced.

I've always run mine this way, with stock and higher stalls. Never had an issue with pressure reduction (at least nothing that ever effected life nor operation of a transmission), and the instructions that come with the B&M stacked plate style coolers even recommend doing it like this. If doing so caused any sort of critical issue with pressure drop, then I'm sure I would have seen a premature failure after ~15 years of doing this on several applications.

I don't deny that many people have seen good results using ONLY an aftermarket cooler (this is how my Nova is, since the car was originally a manual and never had a factory cooler), but I disargee with the concept that this is the *only* right way to do it.

 

Stock coolers attempt to equalize the two temps. Saying they cool or warm is only relevant to the actual current operating temps of the coolant and trans fluid. With a stock "cooler" hooked up my trans would be at 170-180 (pan temp) within a short amount of driving time. Without the stock cooler, it only reaches that temp during hour long sits in traffic or continued very hard runs at the track. Most of the time it likes the 130-140 area.

 

So I still haven't seen any definite answers. Since I live up north and it's only hot here 2 months outta the year can I get by using the one I have with the stock cooler?

 

If I lived up north I would use the stock cooler. Without it and 30-50 degree temps, my trans struggles to get to the 120 mark. This may be a little too cool for normal operation. I'd be interested in hearing a builders take of what is too cool for normal operation.

 

Temps never go below 186f in my radiator and thats only in the winter on the highway. My trans temps without the stock trans cooler stay below 180f and let me also say that this is reading from my pcm which supposedly reads 10f above everyones aftermarket trans temp gauge in their pans. So in my experience theres never been a time where I can say my trans temps are hotter than the radiator. Only time I can see this happening is if the cars coolant is operating at way below (160-170f) normal range.

 

My trans temps here in the north get up to 130f even when I decide to take it out for a ride on a 32f day. I let the car warm before driving it on these cold days.

 

In my experience, the PCM reading will be higher than a pan gauge, not lower.

 

Oh man good catch yes thats right. Thats what I meant to say my error. Ill edit my original so its correct

What kind of temp difference have you seen comparing pcm readings to aftermarket sensor? I have heard its 10f.

 

I don't have a pan gauge on my current cars, but in the past I remember seeing as much as a 10-20° spread. I think ~10° is probably more the norm if you're using a standard trans pan, but the spread can certainly get bigger at cruising speeds if you go with a deeper and/or finned pan for increased cooling and/or capacity of the fluid in the pan.

 

So if my trans temp says 190f from pcm then I should feel comfortable that it WOULD read 180f if reading from aftermarket sensor correct?

This is always something I wanted to have confirmed because my trans temps have always been higher than everyone elses. So if this is really true then I have my answer why

 

you cant really be sure of anything, the pcm reading is pretty close. the best way to read temperature is shut the car off with key on look at the gauge or scanner or whatever. the cooled fluid entering the transmission while its running will change the temp reading. with the engine off the fluid flow stops so you know exactly what your temperature is at that point.

aftermarket gauge is best but unless you have suspicion that you are overheating the ATF then i wouldnt worry with it especially if you are showing 190° via the TFTS with the car running.

 

PCM temp sensor is in the pan as an FYI.

 

I basically agree with Lee12609 above, you can't really make a definite statement because of some variables, like where different people may put their aftermarket sensor, what type of pan they're using, how good the quality is of their sensor, under what conditions they're comparing the readings, etc.

I don't know exactly where the stock probe is located, but if you use a deep aftermarket pan with cooling fins, where you would tap for the aftermarket probe generally ends up being lower and closer to the fins than where any stock probe would read from. The cooling fins obviously work best at cruising speeds, and this probably exaggerates the difference between the temp readings.

 

Yes it is but from what I gather the stock sensor is higher than where most guys install their gauges...?

 

One of the builders can correct me if I'm wrong, but to my understanding there is some type of PND switch on the bottom side of the valve body that relays the gear selection to the computer (so it can know what gear you have selected) and the probe is located within this electrical assembly. If I could guess why temps would show different between aftermarket junk and stock junk....variances in equipment i.e. sending unit/sensors.

 

This may be sort of a dumb question but would putting an aftermarket temp into the pressure port above the gear selector give a more accurate reading because it's reading the internals of the trans rather than the fluid in the pan?

 

I found this from the archives...https://ls1tech.com/forums/7412061-post4.html

I forgot Frank posted that.

 

Thanks for the link Joe. So basically it says as long as temps are down I'll be ok...I'd like to keep it under 190ish to be safe. I'm not going to be taking the car to the track anytime soon but I'll do the occasional burnout/hard driving but not often at all. when I pulled my old transmission the fluid was burnt to **** and I dont want that to happen to my new one.