I have a 2005 supercharged monte ss....My motor mounts went bad and caused a leak in the line that goes from the transmission to the radiator. Leaking right where the line enters the radiator, and causing from what i can see, a tranny leak or a coolant leak. So i was thinking of putting in a Transmission cooler, in hopes it will actually fix both leak issues without dropping a grand to replace my radiator again (past Dexcool issues). So i was curious if anyone here uses a transmission cooler, and what would you suggest me to do?

 

A transmission cooler never hurts at all, I run two, have a tranny temp gauge and can see with a 160 degree engine t-stat my tranny fluid never gets hotter than the 160. Most of the time in cooler weather I can get the tranny readings of 120 degree's sometimes down to 95 degree's.. Heat kills your tranny, so help it out. We use the Derale stacked plate version. But anything is better than nothing. Then run a DEXRON VI fluid, really takes heat abuse very well.

 

Is it leaking where the line screws in, or just close to their? If it's leaking at the fitting, take the fitting loose and try wrapping some teflon tape around the fitting, then re-insert it and tighten it back down.

If you want a transmission cooler, then you can always go for that too. I don't see where it would harm anything, and should certainly do more good than bad.


However, I don't buy into this whole 160 thermostat business. You can't hardly re-heat a hot dog on a 160 engine!!! Yes, heat kills transmissions, but do you ever think of why a lot of engines run worse when they're cold? They need a certain amount of heat.


Someone posted a chart somewhere about cast iron wear rates at different temperatures. Most engine wear occurs during engine warm ups. Past about 180, you have virtually no engine wear, and after about 210, it starts increasing exponentially again.



I had a 180 in my Torino at one time, and it had some idling/traffic overheating issues. A 195 thermostat, which allowed the water to stay in my radiator and cool down longer, took care of these issues. It hasn't been over 205 since that day!

I know on these engines with electronic fans, you can control the temperature the fan comes on, but still, I just think anything cooler than a 180 isn't warm enough. That engine needs to be hot enough to burn the fuel!!

 

^^ what he said.

i had issues with my last trany where if it got to 190* it would slip... so i figured i would bypass the trany cooler that was built into the radiator and run only my external cooler. it is a nice large cooler... well it worked only for short trips... i would stay cooler longer, but when temps got to 190 they would just keep going! previously they never went over 195 but without the 185* engine coolent heling to cool the trany fluid temps went north of 205*!

if the fitting is leaking try teflon tape like mentioned. if the radiator is bad, replace it.

the best setup i have found for running a trany cooler is to have the fluid pass thru the factory cooler in the radiator then thru the external cooler back to the trany.

 

well, according to the shop, the pull of the engine has broken the area where the tranny line goes in the radiator, and the only way to fix it is to replace it. I had to replace the radiator before because of dexcool, and that was around a thousand dollars. So if i can get around not replacing it at the moment, that's ideal. So if i go to the transmission cooler, then the area on the radiator where the tranny line goes, gets closed off correct? this is the only spot i can imagine the radiator is also leaking. im putting new fluid in the radiator about once a month.

 

the engine moving will not break these connectors or radiator unless the radiator lines were cut crazy short... which means someone F@#$ it up.

you say your putting fluid in the radiator???!!!!??? if your leaking radiator fluid, then moving to an external trany cooler will not fix that leak. if your leaking trany fluid then its prob more of a SPRAYING trany fluid and you need to park the car till its fixed. and i hope your not putting trany fluid in the radiator!!

if you bypass the trany cooler in the raditor, there is really nothing you "need" to block off. personally i would use the stock fittings and cut them to make a loop.

 

no i am not putting tranny fluid in the radiator....all i know is that the radiator starts running a little warm, then if i don't address it right away my tranny will start to mess up. So from my under standing, if the radiator is getting to warm it could also be "cooking" the tranny fluid. So going to a transmission cooler would keep that from happening as well. i know i definitely have a leak from that connection joint. As far as the engine pull causing it. I figured cuz my mounts are shot it would pull more, so the mechanic saying that seemed plausible.

 

the trany lines are a pain to put in and pull out. seems to me the mechanic who charged you 1000! to swap it broke it putting it in.... the lines clamp to the body and there is slack in the trany line too. and even more so, the lines come out of the bottome of the trany where even if you had no upper mounts, it wont move much cause it is so near the lower engine and trany mounts.

how hot is the coolent getting? it has to get really hot for it to cook the trany fluid. how much coolent are you adding/ leaking?

 

the coolant isnt getting hot...it gets low. then it will start to run warmer and warmer in idle, and soon as i drive it goes back to normal cuz the low amount of fluid starts to circulate....

 

so your leaking engine coolent then... which means no mater what you do with the trany cooler, you will still be leaking coolent.... you need a new radiator or try and patch this one...