Using transmission fluid cooler as oil cooler

eshishlo · Jul 7, 2008

I have a 1994 Toyota Camry and have few holes in my radiator. I have gotten a replacement and have no need for the transmission fluid cooler that all aftermarket radiators come with. I have a car with a manual transmission so no need for a cool. I was wondering if I could use a sandwich adapter on my oil filter and run oil hoses to the transmission cooler to help cool the engine oil in the summer and heat it up quicker in the winter time.
By the way I have 191,000 mile on the car with a 4 cylinder engine.

Chris142 · Jul 7, 2008

No. The oil cooler and it's fittings are too small to carry engine oil

JohnBrowning · Jul 7, 2008

How do you figure they are too small? Yes you could do what you propose. It would work better at heating the oil up in the winter time then cooling the oil in the summer though. Transmission coolrs are not designed to deal withthe amount of heat engine oil see's so they are usualy fairly small number of plates compared to an oil cooler. Transmissions start to die an early death at 195°F your oil on the other hand is probably 240°-320°F inthe sump depending on how you drive and how far you drive. Now it will decrease the rate of flow though since it is smaller then would be ideal in terms of the diameter. So useing a thiner oil would be a good idea.

I personely would not recomend it but yes it could be done. I do not see where you will gain much. The huge down side of water based coolers is that when they fail you contaimanate your fluid with water and coolant. You also have more leak paths with the lines. THe sandwich adapaters are fairly reliable and tend to give youplenty of warning when they need to have new gaskets and o-rings but the lines do not always give much warning!

alanu · Jul 8, 2008

I've heard some mustang 5.0 guys using the transmission cooler to cool the power steering fluid. (I hope I'm recalling this info correctly). this is for track purposes.

IF YOU MUST I'd simply buy a B&M supercooler (typically made by a canadian company called "Long")it has all the adapters for whatever diameter hose required.

Realistically your wasting your time. Leave it be and drive your reliable car to the ground. A customer of ours just retired their 94 toyota with 390,000 KMs on it. If it ain't broke dont fix it.

alreadygone · Jul 8, 2008

Too small to do any real good, small inlet diameter would be restrictive. Bad idea.

Now as P S cooler, it'd be great.

Bob

Jim Spahr · Jul 8, 2008

My 1994 Chev Impala SS came with an external ATF cooler and a internal (to the radiator) engine oil cooler. After many miles, the internal oil cooler in the radiator failed which leaked oil into the coolant and Of course, turned the engine oil to a chocolate milkshake mush. When it failed, it required replacing the radiator and the plastic coolant reservoir. That was the easy part. It also leaked coolant into the engine oil. The hard problem was the chocolate sludge in the engine was very difficult to flush out. It took many engine flushes and changing of oil and filter. It was also hard to flush the chocolate sludge out of the engine block coolant passages. Therefore I would say -- if you add a cooler, use an aftermarket, external one.

NYEngineer · Jul 8, 2008

Not to hijack the thread, but if you ever need to flush oil out of a cooling system, use Cascade liquid for the dishwasher. Works really well.

Jim Spahr · Jul 8, 2008

Prestone makes a coolant Flush product. Is Cascade liquid as safe and effective?

eshishlo · Jul 8, 2008

I will probably leave the cooler empty. Now before I swap out the radiator, what should I do to clean out the cooling system to get it ready for the new radiator?

NYEngineer · Jul 8, 2008

Cascade doesn't harm the engine in any way, if that's what you mean.

Chris142 · Jul 8, 2008

Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
How do you figure they are too small?
Those lines sticking out of the radiator are only 5/16 I.D.

Much too small to run engine oil through. Would be too much restriction.

Tommyboy · Jul 9, 2008

I added p/s to my '77 Landcruiser. At first I boiled the fluid. Then I added a p/s cooler... using a transmission cooler. worked great.

Gary Allan · Jul 9, 2008

I can't seem to find what the cooler tank is rated as far as pressure limits. If you use a Permacool sandwich you should be okay, since it has a poppet relief valve built in.

Junior · Jul 9, 2008

Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
The huge down side of water based coolers is that when they fail you contaimanate your fluid with water and coolant. You also have more leak paths with the lines.

Every oil to water engine oil cooler I have seen fail, pushes oil into the coolant not the other way around. Engine oil is at 40-60pis while your cooling system is only around 15psi. (I suppose in automotive applications there is the case of low idle and the coolant may be higher psi. But, most diesel engines I have been around have a low oil pressure switch set at 25psi)

Over the years we have had several coolers fail on diesel engines. Usually one notices the coolant temp starting to rise. Replace the cooler and clean out the cooling system and you are good to go. But yes, it is a pain the get all the oil back out of the radiator and engine block.

Yes, I agree, I wouldn't run engine oil through a radiator trans cooler.

johnd · Jul 9, 2008

Quote:
I can't seem to find what the cooler tank is rated as far as pressure limits. If you use a Permacool sandwich you should be okay, since it has a poppet relief valve built in.

That's what I was thinking. Shouldn't hurt anything. I have a factory oil to water on my Camaro and I like it a lot. Warms up quicker in winter and stays cooler in summer.

Using transmission fluid cooler as oil cooler

Similar threads