Put Non-Automatic Radiator into Automatic Bronco 2

[wildbill23c]

Any harm in putting a radiator for a Ranger or Bronco 2 for a manual transmission truck into one that has an automatic transmission? Only difference I can see is the manual radiator doesn't have the ports for the transmission cooler lines, who cares. I have an external cooler installed already.

So is there any reason I couldn't put the manual transmission radiator into my Bronco 2? Current radiator is leaking.

 

[Doofy]

Probably should work. During cold weather I would assume that the radiator cooler would help warm cold transmission fluid. Not sure if needed in your neck of the woods.

 

[wildbill23c]

Probably should work. During cold weather I would assume that the radiator cooler would help warm cold transmission fluid. Not sure if needed in your neck of the woods.

I'm not really sure that warming up the transmission fluid is that much help, it heats up quick enough on its own LOL.

I'm going to look around and see what I can find, the only other thing is, once the radiator is swapped I'll have to closely check the transmission fluid and top it off if I go either way with the radiator, I'm going to lose the fluid that is in the old radiator LOL.

Looks to me like either one would work fine, just the manual version doesn't have the integrated cooler for the transmission. Not really sure if that actually does anything but I would think that having the aux cooler would be good enough, if not better, not trying to cool transmission fluid with a hot radiator...that never made any sense to me.

 

[Doofy]

I would assume that the temperature of the coolant in the lower portion of the radiator would be cooler than the transmission fluid circulating thru the cooler. You are probably correct that a stand alone cooler would cool better with proper air flow.

 

[wildbill23c]

I may give the manual radiator a try then and see how it goes. But I was looking around online last night and not much difference in price so I may just stick the automatic radiator back in. Just have to see how things go and what is in stock.

 

[Mark_88]

As long as you have the stand alone cooler it is fine. The cooler is to reduce the heat of the transmission fluid especially when towing or putting extra load on the transmission...

Overheated transmission fluid breaks down and stops doing what it is intended to do...

If you are not towing or doing a lot of stop and go driving then the cooler will work on it's own fine...especially where you are in the winter.

I drove my sidekick with the transmission lines connected together outside of the rad for about 5 months one winter...until I could find a proper rad...no problems with overheating in the winter.

I found this site while researching the question but forgot to post it earlier...

http://transmissionrepairguy.com/transmission-cooler/

 

[Slammin Sam]

As fragile as the A4LD transmission is, I wouldn't risk it to save a few dollars. Use an auto radiator and you won't have to worry about plugging the transmission cooling lines.

 

[wildbill23c]

As fragile as the A4LD transmission is, I wouldn't risk it to save a few dollars. Use an auto radiator and you won't have to worry about plugging the transmission cooling lines.

So I need 2 automatic transmission coolers then? Thought that was the reason to have the auxiliary transmission cooler installed in front of the radiator was because the radiator's transmission cooling capacity was laughable at best.

 

[adsm08]

So I need 2 automatic transmission coolers then? Thought that was the reason to have the auxiliary transmission cooler installed in front of the radiator was because the radiator's transmission cooling capacity was laughable at best.

The cooler in the rad is more to stabilize the fluid temp. It keeps the temp from going too far in either direction, because heat will kill an auto, but running too cold will keep things from working correctly.


As said, the A4LD is fragile. I would put the proper rad in it, and add another aux cooler.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Water is much better at transferring heat than air.

It will take a much larger oil to air cooler to do what a oil to water cooler will do.

That said I have two big coolers on my C5 and I haven't fried it yet, your results may vary. FWIW my F-150 also has a tranny cooler incorporated into the radiator.

 

[wildbill23c]

The cooler in the rad is more to stabilize the fluid temp. It keeps the temp from going too far in either direction, because heat will kill an auto, but running too cold will keep things from working correctly.


As said, the A4LD is fragile. I would put the proper rad in it, and add another aux cooler.

I have an aux cooler already that replaced the small aux cooler that it had when I bought it. I found a new radiator with the trans cooler in it for $50 online so I'm going to order that here really soon. Found out I need new tires, surprised I didn't have a blowout or several, tires are separating .

I've been wanting to add a transmission temp gauge so now may be the time to do so since I can't drive it right now due to the tires anyhow LOL.

Can I really have too large of an aux cooler with this transmission? Especially since the fluid will run through the radiator.

Also what temp should the transmission fluid run at when at proper operating temperature?

 

[wildbill23c]

Water is much better at transferring heat than air.

It will take a much larger oil to air cooler to do what a oil to water cooler will do.

That said I have two big coolers on my C5 and I haven't fried it yet, your results may vary. FWIW my F-150 also has a tranny cooler incorporated into the radiator.

Thanks, I have 1 aux cooler on it which is larger than what was originally on it when I bought it...I plan on adding a transmission temp gauge and depending on the readings I may add another cooler.

I do not tow or haul with the bronco 2, its just a daily driver. But after $2400 to rebuild the A4LD I don't wanna blow it up anytime soon...or at least if it does it needs to do it within the next year while its under warranty LOL.

 

[adsm08]

That is another thing to think about. If you put the manual trans rad in it and it fails you can be the trans shop will void the warranty faster than you can say "voided warranty" due to insufficient cooling. I'm not interested in arguing the finer points of if that is right/honest or not, but they will do it because just like everyone else in this economy, nobody wants to lay out money they don't have to.

 

[wildbill23c]

That is another thing to think about. If you put the manual trans rad in it and it fails you can be the trans shop will void the warranty faster than you can say "voided warranty" due to insufficient cooling. I'm not interested in arguing the finer points of if that is right/honest or not, but they will do it because just like everyone else in this economy, nobody wants to lay out money they don't have to.

Good point with the warranty. I thought about getting a radiator from the pick a part but I got to thinking if I do that, if there's gunk in that radiator cooler and it comes loose and gets into the transmission it can cause a failure as well. Better to just do it right and buy a new radiator with the cooler in it and be done with it.

Now for a new question, looks like the current radiator is only a single row, I wouldn't mind getting a larger radiator if it would fit, I think the 4.0 engines had the 2 row radiators, any harm in ordering the radiator for the 4.0 engine? Looks like there should be enough room to do so.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That is another thing to think about. If you put the manual trans rad in it and it fails you can be the trans shop will void the warranty faster than you can say "voided warranty" due to insufficient cooling. I'm not interested in arguing the finer points of if that is right/honest or not, but they will do it because just like everyone else in this economy, nobody wants to lay out money they don't have to.

Most transmission rebuild places require the cooling system to be replaced with the trans for the warranty. Kind of odd they didn't do it when they did the trans.