transmission cooler installed

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Sep 21, 2006 | 03:08 PM

nubwon

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transmission cooler installed

I have a 2001 F250 with the power stroke, 4R100 transmission.
While on vacation in June, pulling an 8000# travel trailer, just out of Houston Tx. bright and early on a Sunday morning, i pulled off the interstate for fuel. Lost the trans. When i looked at the tranny gauge, it was 185 degrees. When I got it rebuilt, i asked them to install another tranny cooler. After we got back on the road, i noticed it didn't run any cooler at all. but we never had any other problems with it. Last weekend while servicing my truck, I checked to see how it all was routed and noticed that the lines ran in this order. Out of the trans. into the factory cooler, then into the radiator cooler, then into the new cooler, then back to the transmission. I would have thought it should have gone to the radiator cooler first, then the factory cooler, then the new cooler. I got on line and was searching and found that a guy had installed a new cooler on an F150. He routed his the same as they did at the trans. shop. old cooler, radiator, new cooler. Is this the proper order? Please give me ya'lls thought on this. Thanks in advance.

Sep 21, 2006 | 04:09 PM

wlihntr

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Joined: Jan 2004

Posts: 4,758

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From: colorado

from the factory it goes to the radiator first than to the air-to-oil cooler. when i added mine i put it after the ATO cooler, that should give you the best cooling.

Sep 21, 2006 | 04:09 PM

aklim

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Joined: Jan 2006

Posts: 7,308

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From: Hartford, WI

Why did it break? Was it the diode? Mine just stopped going from 2 to 3 and felt like someone had hit the e-brake.

Sounds like he had it right. What cooler did you use? 6.0? 185 degrees. What was the ambient temp? You might run about 80 over ambient. I run about that for heavy towing but I ahve a 6.0 cooler and a BTS trans.

Sep 21, 2006 | 04:16 PM

John7894

Cargo Master

Joined: Jan 2002

Posts: 2,079

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From: LA and CO

185 isn't hot for the tranny. I don't think whatever broke was heat related.

Also, Can someone tell me what the "diode" in the tranny is? I hear you guys refer to the diode form time to time....

Sep 21, 2006 | 05:37 PM

aklim

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Joined: Jan 2006

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From: Hartford, WI

Quote:

Originally Posted by John7894

185 isn't hot for the tranny. I don't think whatever broke was heat related.

Also, Can someone tell me what the "diode" in the tranny is? I hear you guys refer to the diode form time to time....

Yes and no. My fluid was burnt when my diode locked up. It was at 180 tops. HOWEVER, that was just the fluid temps in general. At the point where it locked up, it was way higher than that. By the time it got to the sensor, it cooled off some.

The 2001 Models built for August 2000 to March 2001 are the ones with a mechanical diode, all other models have a 34 element sprag from the factory. All Monster Boxes, irregardless of year are built with the 45 element sprag assembly. A mechanical diode is one form of a one way clutch. When the E4OD came out in 1989, it had a sprag one way clutch on the top of the direct drum, and it worked great for 12 years. So Ford in 2001 changed it to the mechanical diode, which didn't work great and after literally 8 days, they realized it was not going to work. The only problem was that all the tooling for the original sprag was destroyed already and it took Ford 6 months to get new machines to go back to the way that they always were. The units built during those 6 months are the diode units. The diode has a different clutch plate pattern, different direct drum and an integral race. To replace one with a sprag, you need to replace all these parts.

Sep 21, 2006 | 06:09 PM

fordfaninIL.

Senior User

Joined: Aug 2006

Posts: 363

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From: east dubuque, il.

The idea of an aux. cooler is to cool the fluid below the temp. of the radiator. The lines should run from the tranny to the radiator, then to the aux. cooler. If it runs from the tranny to the aux. then to the radiator, you will be defeating the purpose of the aux. cooler. The radiator should cool to around 185-195. An aux. cooler should get you 5-10 degrees cooler.

Sep 21, 2006 | 09:59 PM

John7894

Cargo Master

Joined: Jan 2002

Posts: 2,079

Likes: 11

From: LA and CO

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

.........

The 2001 Models built for August 2000 to March 2001 are the ones with a mechanical diode, all other models have a 34 element sprag from the factory. All Monster Boxes, irregardless of year are built with the 45 element sprag assembly. A mechanical diode is one form of a one way clutch. When the E4OD came out in 1989, it had a sprag one way clutch on the top of the direct drum, and it worked great for 12 years. So Ford in 2001 changed it to the mechanical diode, which didn't work great and after literally 8 days, they realized it was not going to work. The only problem was that all the tooling for the original sprag was destroyed already and it took Ford 6 months to get new machines to go back to the way that they always were. The units built during those 6 months are the diode units. The diode has a different clutch plate pattern, different direct drum and an integral race. To replace one with a sprag, you need to replace all these parts.

Thanks aklim,

Now just need to call that original owner of my truck back and see if the trans has been rebuilt or changed. My truck was built in early 01 and has 242K miles on it. So either it's been lucky or has been changed a long time ago......