i have an 03 f250 superduty with the 7.3. my trans started heating up while hauling up a steep mountain. i bought an aftermarket cooler with a fan. i have had two people advise me to install it in two different locations. one says to install it infront of my a/c condenser but i dont like the idea of having the hot air comming off the cooler blowing onto my condenser. the other says to mount it along the frame near the transmission on the outside of the frame to avoid the exhaust. i like this idea best but am worried about road dirt and water. has anyone put one of these on their truck and if so where did you install it?

 

Welcome to FTE.

Which cooler did you get? Link?

 

Mishimoto Heavy Duty Transmission Cooler With Fan MMOC-F

 

I think you would be a lot better off with a 6.0 trans cooler from a '03 to '07 PSD. That cooler looks kind of small to me.

EDIT: If you already bought that cooler, I really don't know where I would mount it.

 

Mount it back in the box and return it for a 6.0 cooler and have no worries. Granted, it took me 7 hours to put mine in, I’ll remember that day until I die but that is for another discussion, but the 6.0 cooler is a better install and should provide you with the cooling you need. The 6.0 cooler is a bit more money but well worth it. If you decide that we are FOS, that’s OK as well and I have seen some of these styles mounted under the truck to the frame rail but I am not sure how long they would last. Out here in SOCAL they may last for a long time but back where you may actually have a change of season, I would think in a year or two it would be toast. Just my .02 cents.

 

Gotta admit that its a good brand name and the fan might make up for its smaller size. No mention of its cooling power though. I would mount it in the front, I doubt it will have any adverse affect on your AC, plus the trans cooler lines are already right there.

 

Here's a pic of a 6.0 cooler. Much bigger and more efficient. Put it in the stock location. Less worries less hassle. Only downside is the cost. Where I live the trans cooler with a fan under my truck wouldn't last a year.I also wouldn't want to put a hot trans cooler in front of my AC but it would be better than under the truck.

 

thanks for the info! im gonna keep the one i have with the fan but am totally going to a junk yard near my house for the 6.0 cooler. i'll flush it thoroughly of course. i saw my stock cooler while looking for a location for my new one and though it was on the small side. is that why the 6.0s had less issues with dropping transmissions?

 

G'day Fellas,

Out here in Aussie it was very difficult to get a 6.0L Cooler. But I could get the 02 V10 Cooler which I think is a Tru-Cool??.
That V10 cooler has exactly the same mounting brackets as the pissy little OEM cooler on these SD 7.3 trucks but about twice the size.
So I pulled the small OEM and mounted the V10 in it's place (very easy).
I then mounted the original OEM up in behind the big Bull Bar (bumper).
It being narrow was also very easy to mod the brackets and fit it up under there and the fluid lines are right there .
These two added together are very close the the same size as a 6.0L.
I also mounted 3 x 4" 12V Fans on the original OEM before fitting it in place.
They are the fully water proof fans fitted to Motor Bike coolers. Put in a relay and a switch on the dash wired off ignition so as they can't accidently be left running. When I see 165* I through the switch.

I tow heavy and in very hot Aussie Outback conditions and haven't had an issue since doing this.
I'm in no way saying this is the way to go; just putting another option.

With the little I know about Thermodynamics those 'Tube Coolers' are no where near as good a "Heat Exchanger'" as a 'Plate' type cooler, even if you add a fan.
However they are simple to make and therefore cheaper. And probably in most cases would suffice (just).

Cheers,
Reg .

 

The smaller 7.3 cooler will restrict the flow of fluid with your new cooler and does almost no good at idle (as told to me by BTS). Get rid of the 7.3 cooler. Do not install the mishimoto. just put in the 6.0 per instructions on this site. The engine fan will pull so much air through the 6.0 that the transmission will never heat up because of the cooling system.
If the transmission goes bad it is because of some internal failure.

Have you changed out your fluids and filter on the transmission?

 

That's a tube and fin cooler. Can you get your money back? I would NEVER install that on one of my vehicles.

Stacked plate is the only way to go. Less restriction and more cooling.

 

DAMN, thats a big cooler. Pics of them on c-list, give NO justice.

 

You think that's big. It is the 25 row there is also a 26 row and a 31 row. The difference between the 25 and 31 is almost the size of the stock 7.3 cooler.

 

I agree, the more you can thin out and slow down the fluid the cooler it will get. Running the fluid threw a single tube back and forth will do hardly anything, the fluid just flys threw the cooler dissipating nothing.

 

think'n out loud here, but with more "surfaces" for the fluid to cover, which results in supposedly more cooling, butt hen, wont the fluid in tranny be get'n warmer, since the "flow" is less. By the time the fluid reaches back to tranny, wont it be warmer, then to have it "flashed" with a burst of cool air, and returned to tranny quicker?