Hello Everyone - first post and fairly new Excursion owner here - took ownership late 2014. 2000 XLT model (early build - late 1999) 2WD with V-10 - optioned pretty well with leather. 61K miles now on the clock - bone stock - basically an extremely clean garage queen from the southern states . Very happy new owner - through the help and posts of this forum I just recently got all the electric door lock cylinders working.

Looking for thoughts and help on transmission cooling upgrades/options. This will be a primary tow vehicle - The Ex will be near towing capacity pulling an older 26' Wellcraft twin engine boat on an aluminum triple axle trailer with disc surge brakes - easily 9 to near 10K towing weight. Bit of a distance from the water - tows will be primarily interstate. Those familiar with Virginia - toughest pull will be Afton mountain on I-64 on the return trip. Not a speed demon - careful while towing - **** with maintenance - also never cooked a transmission.

Done my homework with lots of reading on this forum and other areas of the internet. Being an early build - this Ex is like other 99 Super Duty trucks - the stock V-10 trans cooler is what is currently doing all trans cooling - no lines to the radiator - been under the truck 100% verified. It is a long 7 or 10 row trans cooler than runs horizontally across the entire bottom of the radiator. Have not removed the grill yet - but I can see it shining a flashlight down through the hood latch area. Much larger than the stock trans cooler on my '97 Expedition XLT 4x4 with 5.4 for what that is worth.

I know all about the 26 and 30 row 6.0 diesel trans coolers - everything sounds great except the $300 plus price tag I see them going for brand new.

I also know about Ford's TSB for these early Excursions and Super Duty's - suggesting a new radiator with auto trans cooling lines - when owner's experienced high trans temps or issues.

http://www.thedieselstop.com/faq/949...les/002404.pdf

A good quality radiator replacement with automatic transmission cooling is cheaper than a 6.0 cooler. The radiator on the vehicle is not leaking or having any issues - but it is original and 15 years old. The coolant and trans fluid look good - very particular former owner who kept it serviced and rarely used it for towing. Before putting this Ex in service as a tow vehicle - all fluids are getting changed - including the transmission with a new filter.

I am leaning strongly towards the radiator change and following Ford's TSB to the letter and sticking with the current trans cooler. The part numbers are long out of date for the necessary items in the TSB - so any thoughts or tips on where and what to order for the radiator connections and lines are welcome.

What would you do or recommend? Not pinching penny's - if the general consensus is that I need to install a 6.0 cooler and add trans cooling from a new radiator - that's what I'll do.

Thanks for reading all the details and sorry for the long first post!

Fred

 

Just adding the radiator with a trans cooler will make a huge difference. I'd just do that. If it runs hot like that it is easy to swap in the 6.0L cooler later.

 

WELCOME to the world of XXX's

 

Thanks for the welcome and replies - Mark I have read many of your posts and was hoping you might assist with an answer.

Soon as the temperatures get just a little warmer - I plan to get to work on this project.

If there are any reviews or suggestions on a replacement radiator that has done well on a V-10 with the transmission cooling outlets (my current one does not have) - they would be appreciated. The Motorcraft YC3Z-8005-BA listed in the TSB appears to been superseded or discontinued.

Fred

 

Welcome to the forum!
As always Mark has offered very good advice and I agree totally based on my experiences. Our EX has the setup you are looking to upgrade to, radiator coil and stock V-10 trans cooler and we regularly pull our 11k travel trailer all over the East. Even in the heat of Summer we have pulled through WV's mountains and the steep slow grades in VT and NH and the highest trans temp I have seen yet on a stand alone digital gauge was 206. That was while topping out at the summit of a steep 1.5 mile grade in VT that we climbed from a stop at the bottom, the temp dropped back down to 190 as soon as we hit the flat area at the top. Our typical temps are in the 180-190 range when pulling in 80-90 ambient temps.
I may be upgrading to the 6.0 cooler at some point this year, I had an issue where my cooler and AC condenser were in contact with each other and rubbing. The condenser lost that battle but the cooler does show some wear in one spot, so I am thinking about replacing it before it decides to cause trouble. RockAuto.com has a replacement 6.0 Doorman cooler for $159.79 (Doorman part #9182016).

 

I have a 31 row cooler on my excursion. 2001 V10 with the 4r100. Truck has 160k, trans was rebuilt by ford at 40k and they put in the larger 10 row cooler then. Both factory and the 10 row coolers are worthless in heat while towing.

I just bypassed my radiator cooling on Monday because it keeps leaking and it was just easier than continuing to spend time on it. The radiator coolers do very very little and will not help for towing much.

I am running Royal Purple ATF and with the 31 row install I went for hitting 220 down to 190 on the same hills. I am out in AZ so we are always dealing with the heat but it made a huge difference. Just switching to the good synthetic ATF helped but nothing like that 31 row cooler.

I can now run without any concerns for heat on the trans even towing heavy in 115 degree weather.

Install was simple. It bolts right in and then you just have to find a 3/8 to 5/16 (I think) adapter. I used se from ebay. Here's an example-http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=201282506720&alt=web

Thee are a few great write-ups in found from a few of the diesel guys. I found my cooler from a guy locally but did see that dorman makes one in the $100 range. Not sure on quality but you could replace it 3x for the OEM cost.

Overall after all my ramblings... Do it. The 31 row cooler is massive and you will not regret it.

 

Of course I didn't see your reply before disagreeing with you. How much benefit did you see on hot climate testing? I could not keep mine cool enough with the 10 row 'upgrade' and internal radiator cooler. Maybe I am not letting it get hot enough? To me 200 is a concern, over 210 is critical and 215 you better pull over.

You are the most knowledgeable by far in this area.

 

I strongly disagree with this statement. I ran many, many instrumented cooling tests while at Ford and I found exactly the opposite.

To me 220F is where you need to start watching carefully and 250F is where you need to pull over and let it cool while idling (or even better fast idling) in neutral or park.

 

Well you certainly are far more qualified than I. It seems like I keep finding the worse times to leave and have to hit highway hills that are 10+ miles are ambient temps are 115. I can pull those now with it staying around 200 whereas before I've even hit 230+.

To me, on an older truck and trans I want to give the components every fighting chance I can. I am not going to hammer down up hills, but want to be able to get up it without bogging down.

I also got my 31 row for free so that helped...

 

"It seems like I keep finding the worse times to leave and have to hit highway hills that are 10+ miles are ambient temps are 115. I can pull those now with it staying around 200 whereas before I've even hit 230+."




What do you do in the SUMMER ???

 

I also have an early build 2000 2WD without the radiator cooler. So far, the stock cooler has been adequate for me. Towing my 7500 lb trailer, the highest I ever saw was 219 up in the mountains in a stop and go rough construction zone that was a pretty steep grade and up around 9000 ft altitude. Outside of that one time, it's never gone over 200. Normal towing it runs 80-100 over ambient.

You might be trying to solve a problem you don't have. While your boat is heavier, it's probably not any harder to pull than my lighter TT due to aero differences. I'd suggest investing in something like a Scanguage and monitor your temps.

As an aside, it runs cooler in OD, as much as 15-20 degrees cooler.

 

Again - responses appreciated. The scan guage is something - I have considered having on board while towing.

Have not done as much research on these - but posts I did find (seemed dated) - shared disappointment of some units not showing trans temp and mentions were made of upgrades on the horizon. Being a 2000 Ex - my instrument panel does not have the Ford trans temp indicator either. Also did not see as much on their use with early model V-10's verses the 7.3 PSD.

The Wellcraft Nova II has not been pulled yet by the Ex. Boat is a somewhat new purchase & project also. My father and I picked it up in June (in Maryland about 200 miles away) and took it for it's maiden voyage late last fall - using his older F-250 (1994?) - 2wd automatic with upgraded trans cooler - 7.3 IDI diesel - non turbo. His truck is very well maintained and honestly looks like new - but with 185 hp - you know the boat is behind you. The grade I mentioned in the first post - we were topped out at 40 to 45 MPH in second gear on the trip home from the water - but this predecessor to the Power Stroke never skipped a beat.

The reason I am looking to address this issue now - when what Ford supplied for trans cooling on my Ex might be fine - my username references my trade - working a busy retail swimming pool store. Late spring and early summer is a little crazy - therefore I would prefer to have a transmission operating at acceptable temperatures when I need an escape to the river! Time and my 42 year old patience is also better this time of year for projects like this.

Fred

 

HEY VP Check this out VIA Tom :
I am using GlowShift MaxTow series gauges, I like the combination of 270 degree sweep needles AND the digital readouts on a single face.


They come complete with everything and are priced affordably.


Both of the ones I have were $68 each.
<!-- / message --> <!-- sig --> __________________

Tom 2005 Excursion XLT V-10 4X4, '04 SD 18"s, Modded X/B's, 35" Nittos, 4.88s.
'08 Mirrors, Hellwig, Ultra-Gauge, Banks Headers, 5 Star Tunes, GlowShifts, Ranchos.
ASPEN GREEN (Jolly Green Giant) Grey Cloth Interior, WeatherTech Mats.
'89 SeaRay 220CC 325HP Mercruiser Alpha, Full Camper Canvas, 11' Achilles 8HP Merc.
'14 Jayco Eagle Premier 338RETS TT, Hensley Arrow, Prodigy P3, TST 507RV TPMS, 61'.


I'M ORDERING MINE NEXT WEEK

 

Update on my progress.

A new radiator was installed this weekend with new coolant. All went well - ended up using a Murray brand from local O Reilly Auto. No fit issues and everything hooked back up easily with no leaks.

Now I have the to make up lines and use the new radiator's transmission cooling ports - per Mark's suggestion I will route the trans fluid through the radiator first - then to the factory V-10 cooler.

Being an early 2000 Excursion - there are metal lines coming from the transmission to the front of the motor. These lines are rust free and still in very good condition. The factory cooler connects to what appears flared ends of these metal lines with rubber hoses and a single Ford factory clamp at each connection.

I now need additional hose, fittings for the brass female threaded inlet/outlet ports on the new radiator, and a coupling with some additional hose to extend the inlet line of the factory cooler for connection to the radiator.

If anyone has suggestions for sources of these items - appropriate hose, fittings, and the diameters of each needed - they are welcome.

I will also be draining/dropping the transmission pan for a Motorcraft filter and fluid change when these steps are done. This 2000 model should have the torque converter drain plug making this task easier. 5 quart jugs of Motorcraft Mercon V have been located and will likely be the fluid choice.

Fred

 

If you drain the pan and torque converter and only have 5 quarts on hand you'll be WAY short on fluid. You'll need about 16-17 to completely fill it. When refilling add 12 quarts, then start the engine. Let it run for ONE minute then shut it off. Add three more quarts and restart it. Once it warms up set the level with the dipstick.