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What are your thoughts on a universal cooler versus the 6.0 cooler? Is the 6.0 cooler at its "pricey" price that much better over something else?
When I look at my Ford cooler it has metal 90 degree elbows, one end is male threaded into the cooler, and the other end is a barb to where a rubber hose is clamped on that goes to the hard lines. I guess most would come with a straight barb setup, no elbows etc.....?
OEM products usually last a bit longer than aftermarket. As many people think that the factory makes junk, I do believe their testing is much more than any aftermarket company can do. Having a universal cooler means you have to make those decisions if it will work for you [or not]. Many have a difficult time reading the fine print on all the data the aftermarket company may share. Usually that means people read what others have done. What others have done may not even match what you got.
I picked the larger Ford 6.0 cooler based on the size. I elected to remove the factory additional cooler and leave my aftermarket cooler. Mostly based on size. You know, bigger is better. Is that true? I do not know but with additional testing, I will know if it has made a difference and if I am right. I put in the cooler bypass pipe because of the reasons why Ford thought it was a good idea. The aftermarket companies that offer a delete usually justify that because the bypass is broken. They never share that if the cooler is plugged/restricted, that their eliminating kit would cause problems. Some of those eliminating kits remove the check valve for the rear line. That means your converter may drain down. People selling their wares rarely ever share the downfalls of what they are selling. It's up to you to educate yourself to do that.
What are your thoughts on a universal cooler versus the 6.0 cooler? Is the 6.0 cooler at its "pricey" price that much better over something else?
When I look at my Ford cooler it has metal 90 degree elbows, one end is male threaded into the cooler, and the other end is a barb to where a rubber hose is clamped on that goes to the hard lines. I guess most would come with a straight barb setup, no elbows etc.....?
i use an f150 and my radiator fittings failed when I needed to remove them so I bypassed the radiator entirely. The aftermarket cooler, decent but not huge sized, keeps it under 200 in the summer doing anything ive thrown at it.
But it wont be able to warm up in the winter without the radiator IF I DONT BLOCK OFF THE COOLER . And im only using an f150, not a f250 or f350
Last edited by AuroraGirl; May 29, 2024 at 09:49 PM.
Reason: there mark ;)
Why would removing a cooler prevent it from warming up in the winter? With only one cooler instead of two it will warm up faster in the winter.
Because without blocking it off I am immensely over cooling the transmission when its winter . I should have worded it to explain that context. weve had this conversation before lol, but I meant as a "one and done" thats the overall consequence of that change. kinda giving context to how much "cooling" an f150 with an e4od reasonably uses with plenty of headroom for heat upwards. Since the OP seemed to be trying to weigh whether or not he should use a combination of coolers or a bypass setup etc etc.
As the OP, just an update. So initially my concern was in 70 degree ambient, flat highway runs, no towing and exiting, etc I was running 200 to 210. Then hill climbs even at 45 ambient the trans mission was reading 220 to 240. The concern was what would that scenario do in like 90 degree temps and towing a toad as well, let-alone climbing any hills without towing or not?
I ended up taking two square openings on the front end of the frame rails and blocked them off. The air through the grill goes into these holes and basically dead ends up against the leaf spring brackets. I wanted the air going right to the oil cooler and radiator. Additionally I got some aluminum sheeting at big box stores and fabricated some hangars and brackets to use it as a heat barrier between the headers and the transmission.
Took it out on the same road same ambient 60 to 70 degrees flat highway and happy to report the transmission is 180 degrees down the freeway, and 185 after pulling over after a highway exit.
Then I took it up a notch, same ambient of 70 degrees, and same hill climb with the tow car behind me. I hit 210 max and it never went higher. Then I took it up a notch again and turned on the AC and it varied between 210 and 215.
You can run up to 220°F all day long with no issues. You can go up to 250°F for up to a half hour at a time without causing problems.
I do not recommend spending money on expensive pans. I do not believe they cool the trans at all. Have you ever measured the air temperature around the pan while the vehicle is working? I have, I used to be an automatic transmission cooling engineer at Ford. The air around the pan is hotter than 250°F. How will that cool the ATF?
So if 220 all day long, and 250 for half hour.....does that mean I can do repeated 250's until when? What about 230 all day?
Are we talking damage or just changing the fluid sooner as a result?
I certainly would not push my fluid that high. If it was at 220F, I would be searching for something to get that down. I would be pulled over way before 250F.
Right now, with my changes, the transmission fluid never went above 175F, towing a 10klb 5th wheel, going up a pass, full throttle, 2nd gear, 100F outside.
Agreed, you should all watch a few videos from Precision Trans about torque converters and heat
That heat starts bluing the metal around 230
He shows you some that have been cooked
Fun stuff (unless it's yours)
I run an expensive Hughes finned aluminum pan on mine
You can repeat up to 250°F after you cool it back below 220°F.
We are talking about damage to some of the plastic parts in the transmission.
okay, so Mark do you have insights on this?
What is the theory behind the radiator fans on a 1995 F53?
Meaning, do both fans spin together when they are on?
Or just one?
When do they come on? When the AC is on or when engine gets hot or both?
For example, slightly unrelated but not, my Honda CRV was getting hot and saw one of my two fans spinning. Thought to myself “is just one supposed to spin at all times until engine gets hot and then the second one joins in or what?
Turns out the unanimous answer was that they should both spin at all times when the ac is on. I switched out the one fan that wasn’t spinning and bam, no more overheating.
So I’m translating this operational theory to my F53. What did Ford intend as how and when the fans operate before I go digging?
When cars leave the factory, most of them are right. If Honda thought one fan was good enough and now it's not, you got something wrong and turning on the extra fan is just a band aide. Not a real fix. Sure, it could get you to your destination, but in my book, it's not fixed.
I looked into electric fans and there is just not enough room for me to do that in my application. If I did add fans, I would have them come on when needed. If I was using them to cool transmission fluid, I would have them come on at a certain temperature. Right now, my engine fan seems to work just right.
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