If my coolant temp runs around 185, how does the the radiator help to cool the transmission fluid if it goes to the radiator after the tranny cooler?

 

The cooler in the radiator is meant to temper the fluid, and keep it within it's engineered operating temperature range. It keeps the fluid from getting too hot, or too cold.

 

That's totally wrong.

The radiator COOLER cools the ATF before it goes to the air to oil cooler, not after.

Also, the coolant is not 180°F in that side of the radiator, it's cooler than that. The radiator cools the coolant, that's why you have a radiator. The trans cooler sees coolant that has already been cooled by the radiator, so it is cooler than 180°F. After this cooler the ATF goes to the air to oil cooler to be further cooled.

This COOLER never, never warms the ATF. Never. Under no conditions. Never. Doesn't happen.

 

Mark,
Thanks for the clarification. My thought was that Ford would not design it to "heat" the fluid. I stopped at one garage yesterday to ask if he could install my 6.0 cooler. He told me that even if the bigger cooler cooled it, it would be heated when it went through the radiator.

 

Not even early on ? I monitor my coolant temps and the trans temp. The coolant gets up to ~ 185 pretty quickly but the trans temp takes a lot longer to warm up.

 

Nope. Never is an absolute.

Stewart

 

Is your trans cooler inside the engine or inside the radiator? I've only seen trans coolers in the radiator, never in the engine. Have you ever looked at the temperature in the radiator, in the tank AFTER it's been cooled? It is NOWHERE near 185°F. In cold ambients the water temperature near the trans cooler is outside temperature, plus or minus about 5 degrees. So in 0°F outside temps the cold side of the radiator will stay at about 0-5°F near the trans cooler. How well will that heat the transmission?

Never means never. It doesn't mean when it's convenient.

 

Another wives tale down the tubes.

 

wellll, you got a good point there. Didn't think of it that way. I guess it's a good indicator as to how well your Radiator is working too...
In driving in 105F weather in town (not too many stops, it's a quiet area) the trans takes a while to get up to around 170F. Coolant around 185.
Driving freeway, mostly flat , in about 105/110 weather it gets up a bit higher, 180, and the coolant temp is around 190/195

 

Thanks, good info.

Ironwood

 

It's a no brainer that no part of they system is going to add heat to the trans oil when the whole objective is to keep it running cool. Things like radiator thermostats etc only bring the engine up to operating temperature a little quicker but nothing is going to add heat to anything that doesn't need more of it.