Who's near Madison, with a tranny cooler?
 

I really want to install one within the next few weeks but I don't want to screw it up. Anyone want to help?

- Rob

I would help you,but as you can see I am nowhere near you. It is not really that difficult,you should be able to handle it.

Yeah but people keep mentioning horror stories about when you change something it loosens some gunk up taht gets stuck on teh 'screen' in the radiator and overheats your tranny. :|

- Rob

Well if you bypass the cooler in the radiator, then you won't disturb it.

And, besides, if your tranny is in such precarious health that disconnecting a couple hoses and hooking them up to a better cooler kills it, then it was going to die anyway.

Here's the deal, Rob - it really is just this simple. Get a B&M cooler. Pull off your front bumper (the entire thing, not just the cover). Mount the cooler vertically in front of your AC condenser with the connectors facing to the left of the car. Make sure to use the pads it comes with so that it's not actually touching the condenser. Hook the OUT (from the tranny) to the top connector on the cooler and the IN (to the tranny) to the bottom connector.

You'll lose some ATF in the process, but not a lot. Warm it up and top it off. Put the car back together and drive away happy in the knowledge that you did your tranny a favor.

Now, I haven't yet hooked up my temperature gauge. But I can tell you that after driving the car in any temperature, I can reach into the opening in the bottom of the bumper and put my hand on the cooler without being burned. That sounds good to me, and is more than I can say for the stock cooler.

cooler
 

Put a gauge it if you're gonna do it. I think every car should have a good gauge regardless of how good the tranny is. That way you'll know what your temps are and how to control it and when to change your fluid.

You should be fine. Just be careful when removing the rad as not to crack the plastic. I'd suggest taking the top hose off where it attaches to the engine so you don't put pressure on the inlet hose on the rad.

Run it parallel so that if you're standard cooler clogs fluid will still go to the new cooler. I'd suggest putting it in front of the ac condensor but I have mine sandwiched between. If you put it up front you might need to use a smaler one B&M 16kgvw vs the 19gvw due to space but I'm not sure on that one.

Re: cooler
 

1. Why would he need to remove the radiator? I had mine out when I first put the cooler in, but that was only because I had other work going on. It's far easier to just remove the entire front bumper.

2. I absolutely agree with adding a gauge. I just haven't done it. :D

3. I think running the new cooler in parallel to the stock cooler is unnecessary and even a waste of time. The fluid is going to take the path of least resistance. If the stock cooler is that path, then the cooler you added is going to be useless. If the new cooler is the easier path, it's going to mostly bypass the stock cooler anyway. Plus the B&M coolers have multiple paths and there's a big fat path for cold fluid, so they're not going to get clogged very easily. The tranny would have to spit an entire clutch to clog up one of those things.

Re: Re: cooler
 

1. It is easier to do it that way then to remove the bumper I think. Besides, it gives you an opportunity to clean out the rad real good.

2. Of course its a good idea otherwise you'll never know if your tranny is staying cool.

3. I'm no fluid specialist but from everyone I talked to with knowledge on the subject a T splitter sending the fluid primarily to the new cooler and the 90 degree turn running to the other is the way to go. Not that the new cooler will get clogged but it allows for the fluid to cycle through further (i.e. more fluid, takes longer to overheat). If I drive my car ever this winter I'll actually block of the B&M as the system I have set up only allows the temp to reach 140. Barely normal op. temp. and it takes FOREVER to get there. Different strokes for different folks.:D