Aftermarket transmission oil coolers, worth it?

[94cutlatized]

At Advance Auto Parts they have these transmission oil coolers, their pretty big, and look nice, will they do their job and run the tranny cooler. Or are they not worth the 30 to 50 bucks?

[1990lumina]

I will do the job....and apparently for every 20 degree the tranny runs coller, that doubles the life of it, but I dunno...

 

I know those things will help, they defiantely won't hurt imo.

[94cutlatized]

Nice, they also look fairly easy to install, all you need to do is mount it somewhere and hook up the two line right?

[Robby1870]

Nice, they also look fairly easy to install, all you need to do is mount it somewhere and hook up the two line right?

 

Yup....there should be a stock one on your car, however

[1990lumina]

Yeah, so you could run both your stock cooler and this other one....or you can disconnect the stock cooler and just run the after market one.

[94cutlatized]

o ok, Thats an even better idea, but where does flow, well, flow?

[19Cutlass94]

I was gonna say these cars should already have a cooler, although its really just the lines. You can see em in the picture below, but is that it to the stock cooler? or is there something else Im missing? Cuz Im trying to think, if the cooler is the size im thinking of, there wont be very many spots you could put it where it would get max. air

 

[94cutlatized]

That is the transmission oil cooler, but if i buy the aftermarket one, that line right there will be cut and the lines would be extended to the front of the car, where it would get air. It would need more fluid tho, probably about 2 more quarts.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

The "stock" cooler is built in the radiator, and really doesn't do much. Some 3.4s did auxillary tranny coolers I think. But think about it.. hot engine coolant in the rad to cool the tranny? It's not enough. I put a $60 kit I bought at Canadian Tire the cooler is about 6x11. Not that big but it can get friggen hot to the touch!! The kit comes with all the hardware needed- I put mine in front of the rad by the passenger side. I connected it to the line going out which is the line coming from the top of the rad. It's helping keep mine alive! LOL

[pitzel]

Lots of 4T60's go 300k+ miles no problem if they aren't abused. They are a very solid transaxle, very reliable. Temperature affects the rate of fluid viscosity loss, but the modern Dexron III-H and the new Dexron formula, mostly synthetic, are significant upgrades over the old fluids.

 

 

1990lumina, SK is the last place on earth one needs an aux transmission cooler. Uncrowded roads (so minimal hold times), few hills, cold weather, etc. A tranny cooler might actually be somewhat counterproductive in our climate as the fluid will not reach operating temperature as quickly and end up causing more wear.

[DaveFromColorado]

... that actually is NOT the transmission cooler IIRC - I believe that's the power steering fluid cooler. You'd need to get a picture fron underneath the car looking up at the trans between the trani. and the radiator.

 

if that IS the trans cooler then it's gotta run over the top of the trans to get to that location, right under the exhaust, which would really just overheat your trans fluid.

 

anyhow, it's always* a good idea to run an aftermarket trans fluid cooler, because it's going to help extend the life of your fluid and your transmission.

 

--Dave.