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Tranny Cooler

J-man

Sr. Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
568
Loc.
Holladay, UT
I'm going to run a rebuilt c4 behind a 351w an aftermarket champion radiator 3 core with tranny cooler in the radiator. 411 gears and 32" tires. Will this tranny cooler in the radiator be enough? Thanks
 

Bartonatl

Full Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
348
Loc.
Atlanta
You never know what is enough until you push it to the limit. An external cooler is cheap and easy to install. I have one and I say go the extra mile on this one. A no brainer.
 

DuneBuster

Sr. Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Messages
423
Loc.
Canton
Lot of discussion points on this one:

Do you have a tranny temp gauge?
It is acctually getting too hot? (~>250F)

1st thing I'd do is put in a cast tranny pan with a temp sensor installed so you can monitor how hot it is getting. (not to shill but I put in a B&M pan and it is great)

Putting in the pan is pretty easy, and since it's a solid aluminum casting it is way less likely to drip than the old stamped pan FoMoCo put in to begin with.
It has fins so it helps cool and holds another quart or so of ATF so your cooling capacity is improved. You can put in a drain plug with a magnet to see if you ever have any trans wear too.

Once you have that in you can go push it and see if the tranny is getting too hot or not.

Remember, trannys need heat to get water out of the fluid, and it runs better warm. You want that radiator combo and let it work for you, as it provides warm - but not over temp coolant to your tranny, so it gets to that good operating range.

The only reason to put in an extra trans cooler is for repeatedly going high load (Rocks, mud, or mountains anyone?) at low speeds where the normal radiator doesn't cool as much.

If you do put in an extra tranny cooler put it in before the line goes to the main combo radiator.
 

Viperwolf1

Contributor
electron whisperer
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
24,316
Additional cooling is always a good thing. I've never seen a C4 die from too much cooling but I've seen plenty die from not enough cooling.
 

70_Steve

Old Guy
Joined
Dec 13, 2002
Messages
8,317
Another consideration is how you use your Bronco. If it's just a mall queen, driving back and forth may not cause enough friction to overheat the fluid. But doing a bunch of low-speed crawling off-road below the stall speed will cause the torque converter to heat up the fluid.

Best advice is to install a tranny temp gauge and see what's what.
 

blubuckaroo

Grease Monkey
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
11,795
Loc.
Ridgefield WA
It depends on your car's use. Just don't eliminate the little liquid cooler in the radiator. It does a whole lot of cooling for its size and would be tough to replace by any air type cooler. When installing an aux cooler install it in series with the return line to the transmission. It's more efficient that way.
 

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
34,833
As stated several times, depends on how you use it. 4.11s and 32's should be good. If you are using it as a driver, the in rad cooler should be plenty. If you plan to exercise the bronco a bit, stuff that puts a load on the convertor for more then a few seconds at a time (rock crawling, snow plowing, dune running) then more cooler is good.

Now for plumbing, second cooler before or after the one in the radiator? I go for before. For one thing the Bronco is notorious for marginal cooling, using a seperate cooler to remove heat before it goes into the outlet of the radiator (even with the cooler in front of the radiator) will help with the engine cooling. Second it helps minimize overcooling of the trans fluid in cold climates. A listed location of Utah gives a huge variation of tempertures. Cold is not always the correct temperture.

So my take, in rad should be fine. If you want a little more a small one to take heat out before the radiator cooler is my prefered plan.
 

Bartonatl

Full Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
348
Loc.
Atlanta
X 10 on the "in-series" with the radiator cooler. The expanded pan is a great idea too with the extra capacity to disipate the heat. I don't rock crawl mine but I would venture to say my C-4 gets pretty hot sittin and "crawling" in this "Hot-Lanta" traffic in the middle of July. In my opinion, over kill on the cooling.
 

DuneBuster

Sr. Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Messages
423
Loc.
Canton
Yep, getting a tranny temp gauge tells you a lot about whether you need more cooling.

Then there is Phase II of C4 cooling: That involves a C4 Rebuild where you enlarge several coolant flow holes including the orifices where the coolant goes in and comes out so you have more flow.
 

buckintone

Sr. Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2010
Messages
493
Loc.
Carlsbad
The ideal temperature for almost all automatic transmissions is 140 degrees, that's where most fluids function best, at this temp ur tranny will work great and last an awful long time. It is hard to keep the temp that low in the real world though. The best way to hook up an aux cooler is AFTER the radiator trans cooler in series, ur thermostat(190) keeps the engine temp optimal, but leaves the transmission fluid temp too high. Run long lines to a remote aux cooler location, and then back into your tranny, (the long lines actually aid in cooling the fluid) its almost impossible to run the fluid to cool, maybe at the nrth/sth poles. 140 perfect world, 170(achievable)190 max, 230 shut her down.
 
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