Since I live in Chicago, the temps here are extreme. I have a lot of stop & go driving and am considering the Trans cooler. It will be on both cars, 97 Inifiniti Q45 and 04 Mercury. I've done some research and here are some of the thoughts I've come across…
"Take it from an ASE Master Tech that specialized in automatic transmissions for the last five years of his career, ATF fluid temperature is a critical factor and too cold is very bad for the clutches on most factory designs.
Manufacturers want to please customers with smooth shifting transmissions so they do things to make the shifts soft. One of the things they do is orifice the flow of fluid into the clutch piston/hub assemblies. That means they force the fluid through a small hole in the spacer plate, slowing it down so the piston comes down on the plates and discs slower. This means they're sliding some. The time spent sliding is critical, too much sliding and they burn up, not enough and grandpa brings it back saying it bangs. Colder, thicker fluid goes through this orifice a lot slower and this is why too cold is bad, very bad.
You may wonder why they don't burn up in the winter time and why they shift firm right out of the garage in the morning and its 10 degrees outside. It's because the computer knows the ATF is cold (from the engine temperature sensor) and compensates for it (until the engine warms up) with higher line pressures. But if you put on an extra cooler and the fluid temps get too low, don't complain if the tranny dumps third gear. The computer doesn't know the fluid is cold. It only assumes it's hot because the engine is hot.
My instincts tell me run the fluid through the auxiliary cooler first, then through the factory cooler, just in case it needs a little warm up from the A/C condenser and radiator. Even if the radiator is 195 degrees, that's actually a pretty good temperature for ATF".
OH, I'm going with the stacked plate design.
"The "stacked plate" design cools the fluid that is sufficiently hot and thin enough to pass through the plate. Cooler and thicker fluid will bypass the plate, which is why it's more suitable filtering fluid after the OEM system has done its job. All things being normal, the stacked plate does little work, but it adds a safety measure when things get suddenly unequal. It probably would be working full time in Arizona, but be very much at home in Illinois-Indiana
I was also told "I was told to run the aux on return line for warranty purposes cause the radiator acts as a heating core in the winter“. Should this be taken into consideration? It takes me 10-15 minutes to even get the car defrosted.
“Fresh air that passes through a tranny cooler will be heated in that process, and it will develop turbulence for the next cooler in line, resulting in hot spots. The radiator, A/C condenser and OEM tranny cooler follow that“. NEVER KNEW THIS! So how would this “Turbulence” effect trans performance?
So, what are you guys thoughts. Should a Tranny cooler be mounted before the OEM radiator or after OEM, before entering back into the trans.
Oh, keep in mind this is still for a daily driver and I like plenty of heat inside the car in the winter time.
"Take it from an ASE Master Tech that specialized in automatic transmissions for the last five years of his career, ATF fluid temperature is a critical factor and too cold is very bad for the clutches on most factory designs.
Manufacturers want to please customers with smooth shifting transmissions so they do things to make the shifts soft. One of the things they do is orifice the flow of fluid into the clutch piston/hub assemblies. That means they force the fluid through a small hole in the spacer plate, slowing it down so the piston comes down on the plates and discs slower. This means they're sliding some. The time spent sliding is critical, too much sliding and they burn up, not enough and grandpa brings it back saying it bangs. Colder, thicker fluid goes through this orifice a lot slower and this is why too cold is bad, very bad.
You may wonder why they don't burn up in the winter time and why they shift firm right out of the garage in the morning and its 10 degrees outside. It's because the computer knows the ATF is cold (from the engine temperature sensor) and compensates for it (until the engine warms up) with higher line pressures. But if you put on an extra cooler and the fluid temps get too low, don't complain if the tranny dumps third gear. The computer doesn't know the fluid is cold. It only assumes it's hot because the engine is hot.
My instincts tell me run the fluid through the auxiliary cooler first, then through the factory cooler, just in case it needs a little warm up from the A/C condenser and radiator. Even if the radiator is 195 degrees, that's actually a pretty good temperature for ATF".
OH, I'm going with the stacked plate design.
"The "stacked plate" design cools the fluid that is sufficiently hot and thin enough to pass through the plate. Cooler and thicker fluid will bypass the plate, which is why it's more suitable filtering fluid after the OEM system has done its job. All things being normal, the stacked plate does little work, but it adds a safety measure when things get suddenly unequal. It probably would be working full time in Arizona, but be very much at home in Illinois-Indiana
I was also told "I was told to run the aux on return line for warranty purposes cause the radiator acts as a heating core in the winter“. Should this be taken into consideration? It takes me 10-15 minutes to even get the car defrosted.
“Fresh air that passes through a tranny cooler will be heated in that process, and it will develop turbulence for the next cooler in line, resulting in hot spots. The radiator, A/C condenser and OEM tranny cooler follow that“. NEVER KNEW THIS! So how would this “Turbulence” effect trans performance?
So, what are you guys thoughts. Should a Tranny cooler be mounted before the OEM radiator or after OEM, before entering back into the trans.
Oh, keep in mind this is still for a daily driver and I like plenty of heat inside the car in the winter time.
