anyone using their old ac condenser as a trans cooler?

[knightowl73]

my uncle bought a truck a long time ago and they had did it. i did it once, but dont know if it lasted since i sold the truck 2wks later. was wondering if anyone else had, none of my buddies know it of being some old trick or anything.

[babyJay]

Sounds scary to me. Not a chemist, but not sure the residual refrigerant lubrication oil wouldn't contaminate the trans fluid.

[nbpro]

this has been done many times in the past . many of the street/drag cars in the late 50's & 60's did that with good results

[knightowl73]

oh i flushed mine through with brake-kleen first. was just wondering if anyone had done it and di it cool as good as a real tranny cooler. i have a real cooler i am going to use , and regardless going to be putting my ac back real soon, was just wondering. i have a spare condenser im sure i could make work if it were to some advantage coolingwise. i drive pretty hard, and dont think overkill is possible or is it?

i just rebuilt my trans last night and put it back in this evening. i drove about 25 miles or so doing the speed limit and everything was lovely till i exited. i didnt smell anything but was slipping pretty bad when i pulled out, and a nice lil white cloud of smoke came from under the cab that quickly went away.it straightened up, no slipping about a mile through town, and i got it home and let it cool off and now everything seems fine again.

my truck has always ran at 210 and i think my trans was overheating because of it. no probs driving it like this for a year, but something is wrong and im going to get that temp down, even though ive tried alot of things before with no luck. it runs at 210 no matter what thermostat i put, right now it has a 160 in it.

[allengator]

You live in houston and will drive without AC???
Maybe I'm just getting old

[Locked1]

This is also very common in rock crawling, as auto trans gets hot at 4-8 mph. These work great for dramatically dropping trans temps, again clean them out well.

[63chevyll]

I use ac condensers in my demolition Derby cars
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[knightowl73]

hmmm sounds liker i learned something. might even doit on the truck now since its not overkill

[SiCk_DiAbLo]

Sounds like it would be a great idea, since it's sitting there anyway!!!

[goatwrangler]

hmmm i may try this as well...cant hurt anything. if you do it, post pictures.

[spudz]

Yes it can hurt something if its contaminated. I would never do it. trans coolers are cheap... used ones in junk yards are cheaper./ If it was to plug up it would burn up the trans in a few miles. Just saying... I wouldnt do it. Unless it was a field car or something.

[knightowl73]

yes im goin to pull my grill out tommmorrow and take a look to see what im working with. also looking at putting a factory temp sensor and extra temp guage where my clock is just to be able to keep tabs and still look factory. think its possible?

[496 BB]

Mine was like that when i bought it. No issues at all. Personally though if I had to get one I would buy a B&M as Ive had in that past. Got at Jegs and its less than $40.

[Dru]

Originally Posted by knightowl73

i just rebuilt my trans last night and put it back in this evening. i drove about 25 miles or so doing the speed limit and everything was lovely till i exited. i didnt smell anything but was slipping pretty bad when i pulled out, and a nice lil white cloud of smoke came from under the cab that quickly went away.it straightened up, no slipping about a mile through town, and i got it home and let it cool off and now everything seems fine again.

my truck has always ran at 210 and i think my trans was overheating because of it. no probs driving it like this for a year, but something is wrong and im going to get that temp down, even though ive tried alot of things before with no luck. it runs at 210 no matter what thermostat i put, right now it has a 160 in it.

If your newly rebuilt transmission is slipping, then I would probably imagine something isn't correct inside of it, assuming that you had the fluid full.

I dunno how hot is is in Texas right now..cant imagine its too warm, but 25 miles with an engine at 250+ wouldn't be causing your transmission troubles.

Also, assuming your temp gauge is correct, you shouldn't be running normally at 210. Possibly a clogged radiator, or sediment in the engine block.

[knightowl73]

yes I am definately concerned with the engine temp, my father says its normal but I still just dont like it, would rather it run say 180-190 most of the time for assurance. can I check myself for a clogged radiator?

as far as the trans problem, maybe it was overfull and puked some? ive been driving it around and it seems just fine. but im definately adding a cooler, this is my first truck without one, i seemed to remember i had to have one on my blazer in high school cus of the stall converter and being 3" off the ground in the texas heat. it did make my trannies last alot longer back then, so im puttin one. would like a factory guage tho. what are my options on gauges from the factory besides trying to use a factory water temp gauge? did the c60 trucks have trans temp guages by any chance i could put where my clock is now?

[knightowl73]

i doubt something would be wrong inside the trans, ive built more than 10 350s and about 4 400s over the years with no probs at all. my dad taught me and he actually was there during this build too since i did it at his house. hell it took me so long to rebuild it becuase he is so slow and careful lol. i can do one in about 2 hours with a full kit, i have all the special tools for it too

[bmchevy1979]

Wish this had come up before I trashed mine in the blazer I think it's a good idea just make sure it's good and clean.

[496 BB]

As for temp throw on a new radiator cap and throw in a 160* t-stat. I got one and it runs fine. Swap it for winter though but you shouldnt have to worry about that. If it still overheats I would take the radiator to a shop and have it tested or just buy a new one as they are not too expensive.

Flush it all out before you do anything. Flush out heater core also.

[knightowl73]

i just put in the new heater core about 2 mos ago, i think my radiator might be clogged. i do have a 160 thermostat in it now, and radiator cap is new also. unless something is truly wrong with my motor, which could be the case, i will be diagnosing all of this very very soon. ive always thought this truck should put down more power, and it has some predetonation issues i have never truly been able to resolve. it seems to run fine according to everyone else, and drives just fine like it is now. it is my normal dependable DD to anywhere i normanlly choose even tho i think something is wrong. it will get a upgrade in the near future tho, ive had plans for it, but if it needs a full rebuild then ill just build another motor and keep driving on this one till i make the swap.
IF its just a radiator id be lucky , but id still most likely change the heads and maybe go to a better cam that still sounds as good as this one but is nicer to my brakes and has a lil better vaccum

[spudz]

Im all for being cheap.... but this is not worth it...

[knightowl73]

well i couldnt wait to get a look so i jacked up the truck and took a look under there and it would be alot easier to just use a trans cooler, id like to get the biggest one that i could fit, i have 2 of them somewhere and my buddy has one off a 88-up HD truck so ill prolly just use the HD one. ill feel alot beeter about my trans then, but still like to add a gauge that doesnt look outta place. want somethin that fits in.

[63chevyll]

Oh yeah, my race truck in my avatar has had one for 4 years. Same trans the whole tme
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[knightowl73]

it must seem to cool better than a normal trans cooler with it being so big huh? or the temp difference isnt a noticable drop?