Bought a 2001 Winnebago Minnie 31C. Bought a 2003 Saturn Vue for a toad. My mechanic is suggesting adding another transmission cooler or replacing the stock one with a larger one. This rig is based on the Ford E450 with the V-10. It has a Class III trailer hitch rated at 3500 lbs. The Vue is 3100 lbs. Good suggestion or an attempt to get more money out of me?
How a trans cooler works.. The hot fluid comes out of the trans and goes into the trans cooler inlet goes thru the cooler and comes out the outlet..(Well you all knew that) It then goes into the cool slide tank of the radiator.. At this time if the fluid is still hotter than the engine coolant in is cooled down some.. If it has cooled down to much coming out of the trans cooler, it will be heated up by the hotter engine coolant. As you can see that trans fluid tank inside of the cool side of the radiator either cools the fluid if needed or heats it up if needed.... Back in the old days many of motor homes would run hot at times.. Running a thermostat controlled engine oil cooler would help keep engine coolant temps down. Which would help keep the cool side of the radiator down helping the engine and the trans. Ed
Stock trans coolers are very good at what they do. I would not replace but if you need more cooling, you could add another one to it. You might want to install a temperature gauge so you know whats going on. You don't want to over-cool (continuously run under 140 degrees) the fluid either because it needs to run warm enough to cook off moisture in the fluid.
