if I dope style a B&M cooler, I am sure that it will keep my new 3600 cool, but is there a point where you will cause damage if its cool? I know that they ran the cooler thru the radiator for some reason right ?

 

They ran it through the radiator for ease of operation and no extra hardware...You should be fine...

 

you should have no problem unless your in and exstemely cold climate

 

The pcm will not allow the converter to lock until the trans fluid has reached a certain temp. If memory serves me, it's around 70*F.....you'll be fine.

 

My B&M didn't quite keep my 3500 cool enough when mounted dope style. I now run two coolers, the B&M dope style and then a Hayden 10 X 16 inch mounted on the radiator. Now it stays real nice and cool for the 4000. I have a temp gauge and whens it cold outside, the temp takes a LONG time to even register. You can't get too cold, just make sure it keeps thing cool enough.

 

skip the factory cooler, and yes, try not to go too far below 175*.

 

I've been driving my 3600 vig stalled car 40 miles a day striaght through the chicago winter. drove it when it was below 0*F for almost a week straight with no problems. temps barley reach 100 deg and that is with the stock cooler and a hayden cooler on the radiator. It didn't skip a beat. Even in the foot of snow we are had/still getting the thing work great.. lol. so if there was too cold a temp for a tranny I think I would have crossed it now.

 

As long as you stay above the temp needed for lockup to occur you are fine its around 120 f but from test seems to vary

 

i believe it's more around 70 degrees. My car will usually start locking up between 70 and 100. I'm nto sure because my gauge starts reading at 100 degrees. In this cold weather my fluid will usually run around 110 degrees. only did I hit 150 in stop and go traffic.

 

You want to be above 120 degree on the trans fluid temp. The PCM uses a setting to determine if the trans is too cold for TCC lock up (I forget what it is at the moment) and it also needs to be in closed loop operation (Engine ECT above ~140 degrees). The reason why GM routed the OEM cooler inside the radiator is to have the engine and transmission at similar operating temps. Much like in racing, you want consistent temps to evaluate your results and be able to repeat them. So the radiator will help the trans warmed up at a similar rate as the engine. By itself it will not warm up as the OE would like. Another point is that if you mount the cooler in front of the radiator, it is in direct path of airflow used to cool the radiator. This is good, as it will also cool the trans cooler, plus when the fans kick on they will also cool the trans fluid. Otherwise the cooler will sit with no airflow and start to saturate and warm up while not moving (or slow cruising).

 

well, my fluid still runs very cool even in hotter months. I guess goes to show that me still using the stock cooler with an external 24,000 works great

 

How many people use fans on their tranny cooler?? That way you could mount it dope style and have the fan come on at a certain temp so that you would know that it was heating up to the desired temp for sure...

 

the situation I am at is that I have a 160* thermostat and I program my fans to come on way early, my coolant never gets over 185, so I figure that I can use the stock cooler to provide a failsafe so if the tranny gets hotter than the coolant, the heat will migrate to the coolant 1st, then to the air with a cooler

 

Yep, at steady part throttle mine locks at 140* ECT on the scanner, first mark on my stock gauge.