TAhawk69

Today was the first hot day (80+ degrees)of spring. Anyway I had a Yank ST3200 and B&M trans cooler instaled about two months ago. The trans temp was always under 180 degrees, but today it went over 210 degrees varified by autotap. The B&M cooler is vary little, I think it may be the 13,000 -16,000 gvw. If i installed the 19,000-24,000 or their race series would that help drop the trans temp? Which one should I get? The tech told me that the trans temp will be only as cool as the coolant temp since they are connected. He said to get the 160 t-stat and a fan switch.
What should I do?
Thanks
Marco

mjf454

Where did you mount the cooler? It should be in front of the ac condenser so the fans can pull air through.It should only get that hot going uphill with the converter unlocked or excessive idling or very slow speeds like bumper to bumper traffic.

Sparky

Is that the temp you're getting after a 1/4 run or just driving around??

DenzSS

The fan switch and Tstat should cure your problem..unless your cooler isn't mounted in a good location.

Dope

iTrader: (2)

I'd recommend the larger one. I use the 24,000 and I don't see higher than 180.

Dope

OBSSSD

Get the 24,000 and get a DEARLE trans pan from JEGS.COM

The pan has cooling tubes and holds extra fluid. You'll be just fine then. I love this combo on my car. BTW, I run 3.23 with a Super Yank 3500....

Ragtop 99

iTrader: (7)

16,000 GVW should be plenty if you mounted the cooler where it gets air, especially when the fans are on.

Like your mechanic suggested, if you run the through the stock radiator cooler, you won't get much cooling with a stock T-Stat. a 160 T-Stat (and matching fan speeds) will help. Also make sure the B&M cooler is on the return line so the hot fluid goes through the stock cooler first, then to the B&M cooler and back to the tranny.

OBSSSD@work

Actually 99, I talked to Mike Senia at Yank and he said to put the cooler in before the radiator cooler instead of the return line. I thought the same think as you for the same reasons but he told me different. I am a little perplexed by it but I did it per his instructions nonetheless.

OBSSSD

99,

Could you explain how the thermostat for engine coolant is a variable in affecting the dedicated part of the radiator for the tranny fluid? Are the vacuum pressures related in any way?

BTW, I have a 172 thermostat and fan temps set at 196/210 instead of the 194 - 210/230 combo from the factory.

Ragtop 99

iTrader: (7)

The stock tranny cooler has the fluid circulating in close proximity to the coolant flow, so it is effected by the temp of the coolant. Besides operating at a lower coolant temp with a 160 T-Stat, the fans tend to come on sooner (my fans are set for 175/184). This blows air through your B&M tranny cooler if it is mounted on the condensor.

Ragtop 99

iTrader: (7)

OBSSD:
I'll have to slap Mike around a bit on that one. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> The advantages to doing that are it reduces the heat load on the radiator and it allows the trans to warm up sooner in very cold weather. With a 160 T-Stat, it is not as big an issue but with a stock T-Stat that routing could send 200 degree fluid back to the tranny.

gwj

Ditto on what Ragtop said about putting the cooler on the return line for max cooling. Dunno what Mike was thinking???? My B&M 24000 is mounted in front of the condensor and works great.

schultzsj

iTrader: (1)

As has been mentioned, running the fluid through the radiator last would have the effect of keeping the tranny fluid temperature closer to that of the engine coolant. Since the engine coolant temperature is maintained by the thermostat and fans, this would yield a more consistant tranny fluid temperature which is probably generally good.

Depending on your stat temp and fan settings, putting the cooler before the radiator would generally result in warming your tranny fluid to the engine coolant temperature which would be above where it would be with the cooler after the radiator (although not higher than your fan settings - call it 220 degrees max).

While this may be bad in the worse case (hot temperatures and stock fan settings) it may more often be good because in colder weather the tranny may not ever heat up to operating temperature with the cooler after the radiator. In real cold weather (sub-freezing) the tranny may never work properly and may have shortened life due running 40 degree fluid temperatures all the time.

I would give Mike the benefit of the doubt on this one if I lived in colder climates. I live in Phoenix where heat is always a problem and so will probably install the cooler AFTER the radiator when I get a converter.

Steve

OBSSSD

Alright guys, I just checked the way we hooked the cooler up. The bottom line going into the rad is not tapped. The top line coming out is tapped, run through the cooler (which is mounted on the other side of the radiator from the driver's side fan DIRECTLY in front of it) and appears to be the return line to the cooler. It appears we did hook it up the right way as I live in the D/FW area and it gets hot as hell! Our initial intuitions were to hook it up that way and I just want to confirm that the top line is the return line. It certainly appears that way.....

gwj

Yeah, top line is return to trans.