Stock Trans cooler vs. an upgrade.

[SHOOFF508]

i just picked up my first gen III last week and i was poking around a few things and i noticed what appears to be a fairly sizable cooler unit in the front bumper. i know the stock coolers have been described to me as just a simple tube, what i have is a rather large finned unit that runs along the length of the bumper cover in front of the a/c condenser with 2 1"(aprox) hoses going in one side and 2 1" (aprox) hoses going out the other side. I'll see if i can snap a photo when its daytime. the car needs a trans anyway but i just thought id ask.

 

[luigisho]

Snap a pic. I forget what the GenII SHO trans cooler looks like but it might be that.

 

[SHOZ123]

Does it look like this?

 

[hawkeye18]

A lot of people like to use the Gen2 coolers; apparently they're better. I wish I had known this 4 years ago when I threw out my cooler for, basically, a second (tranny) radiator.

 

[SHOZ123]

With the G2 cooler, radiator cooler bypassed and the steel OEM lines in the garbage the only problem may be over cooling in the winter. But then again this is only a problem when the temp gets below 10F and you don't do any stop and go driving.

 

[SHOOFF508]

pretty sure it doesnt get that cold where i live. close but not that bad.

 

[Silvapain]

It definitely gets cold enough in Massachusets to overcool the transmission.

 

[SHOZ123]

It depends too on the roads you drive on. For me I am in a rural area and any driving is almost always at highway speed which does not allow the fluid to warm up much. So the TC will not lock up when the fluid is very cold. If I stop and turn the car off to reboot the PCM after driving 5 or 6 miles then the TC will start to lock up.

If you do mostly city driving before the highway then I don't think the TC not locking will be a problem even at 10F or less.

 

[SHOoff3]

It depends too on the roads you drive on. For me I am in a rural area and any driving is almost always at highway speed which does not allow the fluid to warm up much. So the TC will not lock up when the fluid is very cold. If I stop and turn the car off to reboot the PCM after driving 5 or 6 miles then the TC will start to lock up.

If you do mostly city driving before the highway then I don't think the TC not locking will be a problem even at 10F or less.

You seem like you got a handle on things. I live in chicago, where it gets cold as ****. Below zero at times.

You still think I should get the gen 2 cooler? I want this car to last a long time, so I want to do all the mods necessary to keep her going. Is there DIY on this as well?

 

[SHOZ123]

The need for a G2 cooler or any extra cooling is based on your summer driving. It's just that I have found the G2 cooler to be the best.

All G3 SHOs need better tranny cooling than what comes on the car stock unless the ambient temps never get above ~70F IMHO.