{"id":74891,"date":"2020-09-10T15:42:42","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T22:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=74891"},"modified":"2020-09-14T08:17:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T15:17:35","slug":"earls-transmission-coolers-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/earls-transmission-coolers-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Earl&#8217;s Transmission Coolers Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-74891-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Cool-1-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;74894&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Earl\\u0026#8217;s Transmission Coolers Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Transmission Cooler&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Pound on an automatic-equipped hot rod (drag car, street-strip machine, etc) for any length of time and you\\u2019ll quickly learn that heat can kill the transmission in a heartbeat.\\u00a0 Stir in more power and add more street driving and the problem amplifies.\\u00a0 It\\u2019s the classic case of a car with a lot of horsepower, a small (sometimes slipping) torque converter and often a steep rear axle ratio.\\u00a0 Engine RPM goes up across the board and the automatic builds heat.\\u00a0 And a lot of it.\\u00a0 Factor in the load and couple it with stop and go traffic and the level of heat increases even more in an automatic transmission.\\u00a0 \\u00a0Don\\u2019t forget too that the same scenario applies to trucks. Add a load, pull a trailer (or both) and the transmission temperature skyrockets.\\n\\nFair enough, but how hot is too hot?\\u00a0 Most transmission shops will tell you the ideal operating temperature for automatic transmission fluid is somewhere between 175 and 225\\u00b0 F.\\u00a0 At approximately 240\\u00b0 F, important additives in the AFT begin to barbeque.\\u00a0 This results in the formation of varnish inside the transmission.\\u00a0 At approximately 260\\u00b0 F, internal transmission seals (which are often manufactured from a polyacrylate material) begin to harden (lose elasticity).\\u00a0 When the seals harden they leak.\\u00a0 Those leaks can be internal or external. Once the temperature reaches roughly 295\\u00b0 F, transmission clutch plates begin to slip due to oil breakdown.\\u00a0 After 315\\u00b0 F, seals and clutches effectively burn out.\\u00a0 Carbon forms in the ATF. The automatic is junk.\\u00a0 Typically after a few thousand miles (or less) with temps exceeding 300\\u00b0 F, the transmission will die.\\n\\nIt should be common knowledge that the typical automatic-equipped car has a built-in cooler taking up residence in the bottom of the radiator.\\u00a0 Unfortunately, the performance of that cooler is marginal at the best of times.\\u00a0 Sure an in-the-rad cooler will reduce the heat of the ATF but it\\u0026#8217;s also influenced by the engine coolant temperature.\\u00a0 Simultaneously, ATF heat can influence engine coolant temperature.\\u00a0 Here\\u2019s how that works:\\u00a0 Let\\u2019s assume the car in question has (for example) a thermostat that opens at 195\\u00b0 F.\\u00a0 \\u00a0Once the engine is warmed to operating temperature, the transmission cooler will have a tough time (most likely an impossible time) of reducing the heat of the ATF below 195\\u00b0 F.\\u00a0 Should the transmission be overworked, it can easily spike the operating temperature of the ATF to 250\\u00b0 F or more.\\u00a0 This quickly transfers to the engine coolant side of the equation.\\u00a0 The next thing you know, the car boils over.\\n\\nThere\\u2019s a simple solution.\\u00a0 Add an external cooler (the proper name is actually a \\u0026#8220;liquid to air heat exchanger\\u0026#8221;).\\u00a0 But before you rush out and buy the first cooler available, here\\u2019s something you should really consider:\\u00a0 It is almost impossible to overcool an automatic transmission \\u0026#8212; especially one in a high-performance application.\\u00a0 Obviously, this might not necessarily apply to vehicles running around in sub-zero conditions, but that has no bearing on a hot rod.\\u00a0 In the photos that follow we\\u2019ll share some photos of a great cooler combination.\\u00a0 And watch for the next part in this series.\\u00a0 You might be surprised.\\nClick Here to Begin Slideshow&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Cool-2-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;74895&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Earl\\u0026#8217;s Transmission Coolers Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Transmission Cooler&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;While this is a stick shift rad, it\\u2019s the same dimensions as an automatic transmission example.  With an automatic, a couple of cooler fitting (ports) are added to the rad.  The transmission cooler is essentially part of the radiator.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Cool-3-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;74896&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Earl\\u0026#8217;s Transmission Coolers Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Transmission Cooler&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Essentially, there\\u2019s a separate fluid passage inside the rad and it circulates the transmission fluid through a portion of it (there is none here).  Basically, this arrangement has an effect upon both transmission and engine cooling capability.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Cool-4-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;74897&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Earl\\u0026#8217;s Transmission Coolers Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Transmission Cooler&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;The best solution is to incorporate a separate, external transmission cooler such as this example from the folks at Earl\\u2019s Performance.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Cool-5-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;74898&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Earl\\u0026#8217;s Transmission Coolers Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Cooler&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;There are a number of different cooler configurations and sizes available. We\\u2019ll get into those next issue.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}]\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Pound on an automatic-equipped hot rod (drag car, street-strip machine, etc) for any length of time and you\u2019ll quickly learn that heat can kill the transmission in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":74898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,5008,17,11,3470,4879,5012],"tags":[4008,281,41,4764,8022,321],"class_list":["post-74891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-engine","category-guest-column","category-how-tos","category-news","category-slideshow","category-transmission-clutch","tag-guest-column","tag-how-to","tag-news","tag-tech","tag-transmission-cooler","tag-wayne-scraba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cool-5-min-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-jtV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74891"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74908,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74891\/revisions\/74908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}