Tow vehicle trans cooler

Mazda Jon

Mazda Jon

Well-known member
1998 Ford E-350 box truck with a 7.3 Powerstroke auto trans towing a 28' enclosed trailer, box truck contains all spares and tools, trailer has car, grill, 400lb M/C, bed, coolers etc, think around 20K lbs. The truck has a trans cooler, 6"X13"x1" plate style cooler but I would like to add another cooler or a larger cooler.

Whats better, plate style or tube style?

Temp is ok except when slowed down or in traffic. Should I add a fan?

I have an Edge setup and can see trans temp and have gauge on cooler exit. Driving down the highway out of trans temp is around 190, in temp 150-160. As soon as I get off exit or stop they both go up to around 200. Not bad, but I would like to see lower.

With the roof air deflector I picked up almost 1 MPG, working on more aero and an intercooler for next year.

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Thanks,
Jon
 
Trans temp may go up due to torque converter unlocking (or remaining unlocked) during slow speeds - and there may not be anything you can do about that (unless you can flash the trans computer). No idea on the other stuff.

Kendall
 
What is a plate cooler? Don't recognize the terminology.

Do you have an engine oil cooler?

Would not recomend a front spoiler, under the front bumper, too much drag.
 
200 degrees is where conventional trans fluid begins to break down - breakdown gets progressively worse as time at 200 degrees continues. Go to synthetic. Use the largest trans cooler that will fit but not at the expense of engine cooling. Might get some ideas from Trailer Life, Trailer Boats or Truck Trend magazines. Also try www.apexspeed.com/forums.
Your deflector is a good start but needs to be extended between the clearance lights (hard to tell without a side photo) to mask as much of perpendicular (to air flow) surfaces as possible. Might look at aero for your mirrors. Might want to try a vacuum breaker (spoiler that channels air into the space behind the truck) worked on my cab-over camper however the trailer might be a problem. I have also seen some vortex generators at the trailing edges of semis and trailers that work to break up air drag - thought I had a URL but can't locate it.
FWIW
 
Lower and airdam willpick up some MPG. The air cant tell if it is a car or a truck.
Lower helps a lot, 2in may show 1 solid MPG .
 
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