if so what type did you use and was it easy to fit. It's got the 6 speed auto in it. thx
monaro17,
Oct 9, 5:11pm
Years ago I had a trans cooler put in our VE Berlina- granted it was a 4speed but it only cost something like $300 fitted. We are talking circa 2009, occasionally the trans used to smell a little like burnt toast at the top of the Lewis pass after dragging a 2T caravan up it. the trans cooler fixed that issue.
As a side note I traded that a year or two later on a SIDI SV6 sport wagon with the higher output motor and 6speed auto. Never smelt the trans in that and it performed waaaaaaay better especially towing. Considerably more grunt and the extra gears made a huge difference.
But I digress. So no I haven’t done one personally but they don’t cost a lot to have put in professionally
differentthings,
Oct 10, 7:12am
yea, it's not as easy or the same as the earlier ones unfortunately.
clark20,
Oct 10, 12:44pm
You sure it doesnt have one already?
jesus2000,
Oct 10, 2:36pm
They have a oil to water heat exchanger in the bottom of the radiator for transmission oil cooling. Though some people like to replace that out for a more conventional trans cooler in case the heat exchange unit fails and you end up with the oil and water mixing killing the transmission.
tweake,
Oct 10, 3:14pm
more common is they fit conventional trans cooler because the one in the radiator adds heat to the main cooling system and is known to overheat engines.
intrade,
Oct 10, 4:38pm
trans cooler is normally built in to the engine radiator on any automatic. the extra ones are just for extra cooling.
intrade,
Oct 10, 4:42pm
overheating is probably the same problem as on a astra opel Gm holdon thingo. they run 115 degrees not 86 and water at see level unpressuriesd turns to steam at 100°C So to prevent this the cooling system has to stay sealed at any time and antifreeze must be in top condition to also rais the boiling point of the demineralised water that has to be used as 50% mix . if one factor is out it will boil and overheat basically maintainance neglect is what the common problem is in real therms. pushing exessive trans cooler heat on a system like this does not exactly help . So external addon cooler i would fit one fan controlled if they exist.
bumfacingdown,
Oct 10, 5:24pm
" water at see level unpressurised turns to steam at 100°C " How many years have car makers been using pressurised radiator caps to counter this? A long way around saying nothing new intrade
differentthings,
Oct 10, 6:05pm
Yes it's in the bottom of the radiator. Just want to add a external one as well as I do a lot of towing. Going to run them in series with each other
skull,
Oct 10, 7:21pm
I wouldn't do that mate, just add the aftermarket cooler and forget the one in the bottom of the rad. You are getting rid of 2 potential problems that way not retaining them.
franc123,
Oct 10, 7:43pm
That is what is recommended by the cooler manufacturers. The air cooler can do a more efficient job if the radiator cooler is still being utilized.
differentthings,
Oct 10, 7:56pm
Yes that is correct
tweake,
Oct 10, 8:08pm
as mentioned above running them in series (radiator first) still means its adding heat to the engines cooling system which tends to cause problems. some guys run them radiator 2nd so it heats the gearbox oil up and removes a bit of heat from the engine., but that depends on cooler sizes.
i recommend just run the transmission cooler separate, which a lot of manufactures do. if your in super cold snow country you might want a thermostat on it.
differentthings,
Oct 11, 9:23am
Yes you should always run it though the radiator first then the seperate cooler
tweake,
Oct 11, 11:07am
no, you should always run them completely separate.
tweake,
Oct 11, 11:58am
i'll expand on this a bit.
technically going through radiator first gives best cooling for the gearbox. however it puts heat into the cold side of the engine, so your trying to cool the engine with hotter coolant. under towing conditions this setup removes some cooling ability of the engine which is not good. the hotter the gearbox the less cooling the engine gets which of course is putting out more heat due to being under heavy load.
if you go through radiator last it puts less heat into the engine. under light load conditions the radiator can help warm the transmission up a bit, especially if your running a really big transmission cooler. handy for those in colder climates.
the interesting thing is what happens at stand still when you have no air flow. i know a guy who tested this. had it in drive, sitting at idle parked in the driveway and it didn't take long before the engine started to overheat. gearboxes can put a huge amount of heat into an engine and its on the wrong side of the cooling system.
franc123,
Oct 11, 12:10pm
Lol you better tell the cooler manufacturers that then. I have never ever seen that advised in fitting instructions, the advice is ALWAYS run it through the radiator first then the air cooler, or else bypass the radiator completely. The primary goal here is to get the trans op temp down. If engine overheating is going to occur because of that you need to look at why the system is not keeping up. It's mostly because of insufficient radiator capacity or another fault which is keeping it from operating it correctly.
differentthings,
Oct 11, 12:16pm
if you look at any separate trans cooler instructions it always say they should be run in series with the radiator cooler. The correct way is to run it though the radiator first then the separate transmission cooler to get the best results.
tweake,
Oct 11, 12:44pm
correct, however thats from cooler manufactures and gearbox people. they do not give a crap if your engine overheats. thats your problem not theirs. radiator first gives best for gearbox, worse for engine. radiator 2nd or radiator bypassed completely is perfectly fine for gearbox and best for engine.
we all know there is plenty of vehicles out there that are prone to overheat when towing. if your going to the expense of fitting coolers you obviously want to take car of the vehicle.
differentthings,
Oct 11, 1:31pm
the VE Commodore has a very good cooling system on it. It is much improved over the earlier models so that is not a problem. The main problem is the trans lines use a push in fitting so somehow I have to change them over to a thread type or a barb type. I could just use a the aftermarket kit for AUD $275,(that uses barb fittings) but I have a near brand new cooler (barb fittings also) here from another car that got changed.
tweake,
Oct 11, 1:51pm
keep in mind it a good cooling system dosn't factor that much into it. thats because the trans cooler is in the cold side of the radiator just before the engine. ie its heating up the water your using to cool the engine with. same issue with the oil cooler in some vehicles.
fairly common practise is to fit a manual radiator (no trans cooler) and fit a good external trans cooler. with some makes/models the radiator trans cooler actually blocks the coolant flow. some of the aftermarket auto radiators have a smaller trans cooler in them than factory to reduce that problem. but its still better to get a manual radiator.
franc123,
Oct 11, 3:27pm
Which is why a radiator upgrade is a good idea if its available. Most of them fitted to passenger vehicles are only just adequate anyway, particularly on used imports.
tweake,
Oct 11, 3:41pm
its not really a radiator issue as such, its a case of adding heat in the wrong place. you also have to be somewhat careful with radiator upgrades. seen a few that are worse than the original plugged up radiator. even with aftermarket replacements there can be quite a variation in performance.
marte,
Oct 11, 5:07pm
Is it better to put the trans cooker behind the radiator so it warms up quicker from radiator heat, but still keeps the trans cooler. Or off to the side & just let it cool all of the time thru airflow without a fan.
I have one car where the radiator/trans coolers interface has corroded thru & dumped coolant into the trans at some point, and I'd like to seperate them on a different car of the same sort, that I intend to use for towing.
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