tpi305

Hello everyone. I've been wondering about a few things with our cooling systems.

I was reading a post called Strawberry milk. In this thread, the radiator got a leak that leaked into the transmission cooler. How common is this? Should I be worried about this, or is this fairly uncommon. I don't know how old the radiator is. It doesn't look too old, but even after a quick home-done flush, the coolant is still cloudy. When looking down the radiator fill, it isn't "chunky" or anything like the radiator in my Eldorado was.

I want to install a transmission cooler with a gauge (gauge may not be necessary, but I think it would look cool mounted on the pillar). Will one without a fan be adequate? I've been told by numerous people that a cooler will extend the life of the transmission. I don't know by how much, but I have 108,000 on this one and I think that it would be cool if I could get it to last for a while longer (I don't know the life span of these transmissions). I have a 1986 Iroc-Z, so my 700R4 is lacking those improvements that were released in '87. It does have trouble at WOT going from 1st to 2nd, but I think that might be the governor. I have to release the gas pedal and stomp on it again to make it shift. The rest of the shifts are golden.

I appreciate the help that all of you have given me so far. I'm really pleased with the car so far, it's been a lot of fun. Thanks.

Rolling Thunder

Well its actually pretty uncommon. Ive never acutally seen or heard of this happening. The reason is yes the trans oil cooler is in the radiator yes but there 2 seperate sets of lines in the radiator so to get them to mix youde have to have a leak in both of them. Some motors may have a different set up that makes the contact of water and trans fluids more probable but on a typical camaro or trans am theres not much chance. Now as far as keeping the trans temps cool there is an ideal operating temp. Too hot is no good too cold is just as bad. So adding a cooler with out a fan is good adding one with a fan is better assuming it dosnt cool it too much.

tpi305

Thanks for the response. That makes me feel a bit more comfortable. I really don't want to have to do my radiator right now.

I found a Hayden aluminum 8-pass cooler with the installation kit. I think I'm going to go with it, but I'm just trying to make sure that it doesn't have to have a fan. I guess if it did, I could always pick up a small fan and get a thermo switch for it and call it good. I guess the cooler itself would make most the difference, right?

Rolling Thunder

Yea a cooler will make a bit of difference. Depending how its arranged you may get quite a bit of airflow through it. I look at it this way the factory set up will work fine but with the addition of anything kind of additional cooling just makes it even better. A fan would be a significant help but like i said earlier it works as is and its even better with a cooler so no matter what your good. The only thing is dont eliminate the factory cooler run it through both.