Zf External Trans Coolers...

[kris]

hey all, thinking about bypassing the heat exchanger with a pwr trans cooler to avoid the "milkshake" that happens with the trans fluid and radiator fluid...

have spoke to a few workshops about doing this mod and have had mixed reviews.. some say do it, it works fine but you might feel some shifts when the cars cold, then when operating temp is reached, all is good..

others have said they wouldnt do it because they have heard of cars that have blown their zfs because the trans cooler kits restrict the flow of the trans fluid (apparently because of the oil feed lines)

basically curious to know how people who have changed to the external cooler are rating this mod, and how they are going after doing 20-30-40-50,000ks with stock power and increased power..

any feedback would be great guys.

cheers.

[kris]

is everyone having good success with the external trans cooler?.. no problems after racking up some good Ks?..

[jasfg]

there has been much debate about this subject , now that the zf tuning has came things may be diffrent .

I have my external cooler sitting here for that very day .

[kris]

would be nice to here from peeps who installed these...

[cobramad]

Im sure if you dig a bit you will find a few members who have undertaken the oil cooler bypass surgery. Im about to do the same simply as insurance against the possibility of destroying the ZF with coolant contaminated oil.

Remember, as the vehicle warms up, the coolant actually warms the trans fluid, helping it up to correct operating temperature quickly. Later, the trans fluid temp exceeds the coolant temp, so it then acts as an oil cooler. Even though there is only a small difference in temps between the two, there is still some cooling effect. The biggest thing you must take into consideration is this:

Am I prepared to do without the trans fluid warm-up that the factory heat exchanger provides, in order to maximise the additional cooling provided by an external cooler?

I believe each application needs to take their own circumstances into close consideration, for example if you live in sunny and often under-water Queensland, your needs will be markedly different to those glorified public servants in frigid Canberra, just for an example (Nothing against either Banana-Benders or ACTerritorians.. }

Its a personal call I guess, but I tend to err on the side of caution and saving my hardware from premature and inadvertant death.

Mal K

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

I started to plan out the install last week.

I was going to put it behind the passenger side fog light, but decided against it as the fan (thermostat switched) will probably be blowing hot air into the F6 secondary snorkel (bad).

I'm going to put it behind the drivers side fog but I'm concerned about the longer length of the hoses I'll need.