trans. cooler inst. question?

[ullose2]

does anyone know which is the return line from the radiator to the trans? Is it the line near the top of the rad or the one near the bottom so that I can correctly hook up the cooler. Thanks.

[mrr23]

i completely bypasss the radiator when i do mine. might as well kill two birds with one stone. by not running the trans fluid through the radiator, the water is cooler going into the motor.

[mrr23]

i did a comparison of stock cooler vs external cooler bypassing the radiator.

i used a laser temp gun to get some readings of inlet temp and outlet temp. it ranged from 8-12* cooler. so, the radiator absorbs 8-12* of trans fluid temp. by removing it from the radiator, the coolant can now absorb that same 8-12* from the engine. remember, the trans cooler inside the radiator is on the side that goes into the motor. not the side that receives the water from the motor.

all the temp readings i took were sitting in park at the shop. engine temps 200*-215*.
cooler installed, radiator taken out of the loop. there was a 10*-15* drop in temps. this was engine temp at 215* sitting still in park on my lift at work. readings were in the 160* range for the tranny fluid temps going back to the tranny. while driving down the road, my engine temps were about 5*-6* cooler as seen on my scanner. so, killed two birds with one stone. no issue to be had with the not moving, not going through the radiator and no fans not cooling the fluid while sitting still theory. aluminum dissipates heat well. that's why radiators are aluminum now. used to be brass like the tranny fluid cooler you see in the pics. i'll try to take pics of my install tomorrow.