Trans cooler mounting

[fullthrottle]

Is there any limitation on where a trans cooler can be mounted?
- vertical
- on its side
- up high

The reason I ask is that I could swear mine might have an air bubble in it, at the top return loops of the cooler and don't think the trans pump can push it out.
Might be the old trans cooler lines are a little clogged and was thinking of blowing them out.
Could try lying the cooler on its side, let the trans pump a bit and the bubble might pop out.

After a long drive I can feel a lot of heat coming from the center console area, which never used to be there??

[kbjj]

I know a guy who brought a Safari cheap as the tunnel area was getting hot and owner suspected auto was going to fail, turned out to be an exhaust leak. I would of thought you would have heard it. Just thinking out loud
Some auto cooler info here

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 44#p370544

Not sure about the dash light, but here is the official service bulletin released from Nissan.

They say clean it according to their directions and it will be fine! Maybe more economical than an aftermarket cooler.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/pathfinder/ ... EANING.pdf

Jeremy

[wjw]

Put a new one in the truck last week, the guy at the shop said I could mount it any which way, didn't matter as it will get pumped round, just make sure there are no kinks in the hoses

[Dirtydog]

mine gets warm in the tunnel, thats because ive got a leak in the exhaust flexi (and everywhere else, try not to back into banks )

may aswell pull the system out and replace it with 2.5......

[fullthrottle]

Cheers for the advice guys.

Just for peace of mind and after reading the Nissan bulletin I'll try disconnecting the return hose from the cooler and place it in a bucket.
Then fire her up and see if the fluid is being pumped out. At least it will show me the trans, through cooler and out again is clear and working.

Have found also that having the cooler in front of the radiator does cause the engine to heat up more. Can't really find another good place to mount it as its a V8 trans cooler. So I'm going to make up an ali airbox and place over the back of the radiator, all sealed up and then cut a new electric fan into it.

[wjw]

Cheers for the advice guys.

Just for peace of mind and after reading the Nissan bulletin I'll try disconnecting the return hose from the cooler and place it in a bucket.
Then fire her up and see if the fluid is being pumped out. At least it will show me the trans, through cooler and out again is clear and working.

Have found also that having the cooler in front of the radiator does cause the engine to heat up more. Can't really find another good place to mount it as its a V8 trans cooler. So I'm going to make up an ali airbox and place over the back of the radiator, all sealed up and then cut a new electric fan into it.

I have spaced the trans cooler an inch of the aircon rad so as not to get any heat transfer

[suzolla]

the guy at the shop said I could mount it any which way, didn't matter as it will get pumped round,

Don't agree with that, depends on what type, if the flow is a through a single pipe that goes back an forwards then yes it does not matter as the air wil be forced out if there is good flow.
But if it is one with 2 headers and several parrallel paths then the IN and OUT need to be on the top or the side and if on the side flow should be from bottom to top so the air is purged out with the flow.
Hope that makes sense.

Cheers
Tim

[Dirtydog]

the guy at the shop said I could mount it any which way, didn't matter as it will get pumped round,

Don't agree with that, depends on what type, if the flow is a through a single pipe that goes back an forwards then yes it does not matter as the air wil be forced out if there is good flow.
But if it is one with 2 headers and several parrallel paths then the IN and OUT need to be on the top or the side and if on the side flow should be from bottom to top so the air is purged out with the flow.
Hope that makes sense.

Cheers
Tim

Any easy way to know which ones in, and which ones out?

[suzolla]

Any easy way to know which ones in, and which ones out?

On the cooler does not normally matter, just need to know which pipe the fluid comes out of the transmission, this goes into the cooler.
Cheers
Tim

[tweake]

the guy at the shop said I could mount it any which way, didn't matter as it will get pumped round,

Don't agree with that, depends on what type, if the flow is a through a single pipe that goes back an forwards then yes it does not matter as the air wil be forced out if there is good flow.
But if it is one with 2 headers and several parrallel paths then the IN and OUT need to be on the top or the side and if on the side flow should be from bottom to top so the air is purged out with the flow.
Hope that makes sense.

Cheers
Tim

+1
on plate style coolers the outlet needs to be at the top.

[mudlva]

the guy at the shop said I could mount it any which way, didn't matter as it will get pumped round,

Don't agree with that, depends on what type, if the flow is a through a single pipe that goes back an forwards then yes it does not matter as the air wil be forced out if there is good flow.
But if it is one with 2 headers and several parrallel paths then the IN and OUT need to be on the top or the side and if on the side flow should be from bottom to top so the air is purged out with the flow.
Hope that makes sense.

Cheers
Tim

+1
on plate style coolers the outlet needs to be at the top.

Ok i understand the principal of air and heat moving upwards no problem with that
But.......
What about the standard engine raditor, hot in the top and drawn out of the bottom, goes against all principals apart from heat raising thus it will be drawing the cooler fluid

Has me confused

[suzolla]

Hi,
Since I made the comment I better keep going.

What about the standard engine raditor, hot in the top and drawn out of the bottom, goes against all principals apart from heat raising thus it will be drawing the cooler fluid

Yes you are quite correct, and some older cars that did not have a water pump relied on this, they had tall radiators and relied on the thermo syphon effect, hot water is less dense than cold water, so when the hot water in the radiator is cooled it is "heavier" than the hot water in the engine so the radiator water falls and the engine water rises and thus you have natural circulation, the greater the temp difference the faster it flows. So it is using the temp difference to drive the water around.

With a trans cooler it is pumped so the thermosyphon effect is not really necessary, more important to make sure all the air is out than worry about a very small thermo syphon.

In fact some radiators are horizontal flow eg Commodore and so rely on the pump only for circulation.

Cheers
Tim

[tweake]

transcooler position is nothing to do with heat, simply that air bubbles to the top and can be pushed out the outlet by the pump.

they still use thermosyphon effect for water cooled turbo's as the water pump doesn't do anything when engine is off.

[mudlva]

Alrighty then
It may explain why my trans cooler doesnt seem to cool as good as others that ive seen in similar set ups
I will reverse the flow on my next set up
Cheers

[wjw]

so is this ok? both top feed?

[mudlva]

working on suzolla fine ideas i would say yes (unlike my rad' fitting of side ways and pushing it the top and pulling out the bottom)

Q, does it work?

[wjw]

Q, does it work?

Seems to, comes in to the one on the left and out the one on the right. roasty on entry, cool on exit. interestingly the only hose that fluid comes out of when disconnected is the return.

[tweake]

so is this ok? both top feed?

yes

[fullthrottle]

OK, a verdict for you...

I tested the inlet and outlets to the cooler and there is so much pressure being produced by the trans pump, no air bubble would remain inside it for long.

I also spoke to the experts at Hutt Automatics and they said the single tube coolers can be mounted anyway. The plate or tube types should have the inlet at the bottom and outlet at the top so any bubbles inside the tubes will rise and be pushed out fairly easily.