ASOG Forums

I recently purchased a 36 pass B&M tranny cooler.  ASEC has a how-to for the location, I checked it out and then I did research on more opinions.  I thought you could put it in very front (in front of the condensor & radiator, which would need bumper removal), but the how to says sandwiched between the condensor & radiator.  I read that the radiator could actually heat-up the tranny cooler.  What would you guys suggest as the best cooler location?

Dimensions?

I'm guessing 8"x16"... Put it in front of the condenser? .. on either side of the hood latch. (Beneath the latch) seems like lots of room there.. and you should be able to bolt to the rad support or the crossbrace.

mines about that size and I mounted it to the power steering cooling loop It's ifo the radiator but youd have to remove the bumper

also I'm hoping you mean 6 pass not 36 pass

No, he means 36 pass I think, the B&M has that many.  The place Bad Venge put it would work.  Under the hood latch there is no air flow.

Mines a B&M and its that size and is a 6 pass .... A 36 pass would require another GALLON of tranny fluid ....

Ok, I stand corrected!

I'm glad this came up, btw, becuase I'll have one soon.

Pass = times it goes across the cooler ... 36 passes would be a TON of tubing and require tons of fluid

I got my tranny cooler and I found out that I don't need to remove the bumper.  I'm not putting it between the radiator & condensor.  It's going up in front of everything, I just gotta find a passages to run the lines.  I'm not running it in though the radiator either, just straight to the cooler.  It is a 36 pass B&M #BMM-70268, that is 11" x 7.5", if I need more fluid - that's fine. 

Opinions?

I looked at the cooler again.  It's 36 pass, but very small passes.  Probably the best for cooling the fluid, more surface area per volume of fluid.

As for location, the best place would be in front of the radiator on the drivers side.  Not sure about mounting though. 
At least then you wouldn't have to run the lines very far.  Don't put it behind the crosshairs though, I think they would probably block a lot of the airflow.
I'm thinking you can run the lines underneath the transmission and tie them up to the center brace under the engine, then right up to the transmission.

Up in front of the condensor is the best place b/c it's most effecient there. 

The cooler doesn't say which side is "In" and which is "Out".  Anybody know if that matters? I'm guessing it doesn't and I can hook it up either way. 

Also once I remove the lines from the radiator do I have to block off the passages going into it, or just let them drain out?

Really, it might not be a bad idea to drop the pan, install a new filter, and put it fresh fluid all together.

If not, I see no harm in letting a little drain out when you do the change.

yeah, direction won't matter. and pull one line off at a time, it will drip out slowly.

I recently has my tranny pan dropped & filter replaced.  3 years ago my car's original tranny went ka-put, so I replaced it, that was after having 128K on it.  I'm gonna take REAL good care of this tranny.

This one was built by exile wasn't it?

i dont think it is. we would have known about it. i hope we would of at least.

I bought the tranny from a dealer.  Back then I didn't know about the Exile trannies, I would have bought 1 and installed it if I had.   The first tranny wasn't modded at all.   I think I'm gonna mod this one with just a 2500 stall converter, cooler, & Stratus gears.

...but this is a tranny COOLER topic, not a tranny one...

Since I've had this tranny I've put 30K on it, and I've done 1 fluid & filter change.  Now that I've got the cooler, it's about damned time I get it in there.  I've got the next 2 days off (Mon. & Tues.), I'm gonna try the install then.  I may make up for the difference in fluid by using Lucas or Seafoam.

Maybe put in the additive in its recommended dose then make up the difference with fluid.

...but there is no way even the 36 pass could use more than a quart.  The cooler is not that big, even though it says 36 pass.   If the internal tubing were the same as others it might, but not this one.

I dunno how much volume the additive will consume.  It's 36 SMALL passes, so no it wont take up to much fluid.  After the cooler, the extra tubing, and what was lost, you will probably be right around a quart.

EMERGENCY!!!  :o >:(  I installed the cooler, I added about 1/2 quart of Lucas and now my tranny is leaking fluid from the pan and main seal horribly!  WTF happened?

take it out. the pump may not be able to push it through the cooler.

But I think it's the same one that Exile used to sell.  It's a 36 pass B&M SuperCooler #BMM-70268. 

maybe  you have a kinked hose or a blockage. did you drive it for a while before it started leaking? if it were blcoked that fluid is gonna get hot fast. i would still hook it back up normal just to see if the seals still leak and to take a closer look at the cooler.
additives aren't really recommended but i can't see it causing this.

I checked for kinks - no links, and I only added about 1/2 a 24 oz bottle of Lucas tranny fluid (quart is 32oz).  Tomorrow I'm gonna try swapping the cooler lines to the tranny.  It may not solve the leaks now, but it may make the difference.

downer, you @#$%ing idiot! this morning I went out swapped the in/out lines to the cooler and it stopped leaking - DIRECTION DOES MATTER!!

Now I have to check for leaks from my whole tranny!

ok ok ok now dont get all pissed off because of him. it was a simple yet horrible mistake. everyone makes them. and its not his fault either mabe the man. of the cooler should label it so excrement like this doesnt happen


i noticed that when i type in this forum i just type out the word "e x c r e m e n t" . cause i know its gunna change it lol

it didn't matter on mine. don't get pissed off at me cause you can't read the fucking directions. did you ever think to look on the box or, for gods sake, the directions??

The cooler nor the directions didn't specify anything.  I looked at both twice checking for an "in" or an "out".  I even checked at the "how-to" at ASEC to see if they post which line out of the tranny was in or out.  Right now the after market cooler is totally disconnected and I've got a tranny specific shop looking at it.  I hooked up the OEM cooler lines so they wouldn't say it's the coolers fault.

"excrement!"

then it's not directional, you must have fucked something else up.

After it gushed fluid all I did was swap the lines to the tranny and it stopped.  I didn't make any adjustments anywhere else on the tranny or the cooler.  When I added fluid the first time, all I added about 1/2 a 24 oz bottle of Lucas.   Now it seems to work and everything seems to be fine, but I'm keepin' an eye on it to make sure. 

Relief.. ::).. that almost spelled disaster.

Totally off the subject, but I can recommend a degreaser called "Greased Lightning". It's in a white or a blue spray bottle.  It's not typically an auto item, but I use it at work around our pipe threading machine, and it's an excellent product.  It's sold at Lowe's and maybe other hardware type stores.  I'm not sure if Wally-World has it or not, but it's GREAT STUFF!!!  ;)   buy some!
 
I used it to clean my wifes engine, my engine, & my tranny (after it bled everywhere).

used it and loved it.

I have a question about the transmission additive. I was under the impression that additivies were bad for the a604. My trans has over 120k on it and I want it to last as long as darn humanly possible. I've done the trans fluid and filter twice, last one was right when it hit 120 K (literally, pulled into the shop as it turned :) ).

ok so im going to have to rebuild my tranny( already way to many problems with it) and when i am done im going with a tranny cooler since i know that heat is the killer to this tranny. Whats a good company and now that this has been disgussed pretty deeply whats the best place to mount it i saw in front of the rad on the drivers side which would be easy enough but is that the best place for it? Either way even there it should help a lot with temps for this tranny.

just having one is the key. in front of the rad is be easiest placement. i still think that's the best placement. sure it's heating the incoming air to the radiator a bit, but the cooling system is more than adequate to handle that. the transmission needs all the cooling help it can get.
just get a b&m cooler..and as long as you are rebuilding get the mopar diff pin brackets. i think i paid $10 for them from the dealer, and this is the cheapest time to install them.

and to AvengerNYC, i agree. i think additives are a waste. just keep good, fresh fluid in there. that is the fluid it was designed for.

ahh yes additives are junk. they are actually sometimes very bad as the seals and other components in the tranny or any other part of the car were designed to handle a certain chemical so tranny fluid in the tranny and brake fluid in the brake system, other wise (they used to put a spoonful of brake fluid in the tranny since it would stop leaks before they saw that the pressue was tearing trannys apart) it can cause the seals to either swell or get smaller and if they do either they cause stress on the system. and in general doesnt play nice with the other parts in a system that wasnt designed for them.


a common term now in auto service is KISS keep it simple stupid...fix it right the first time and it wont come back.