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Transmission cooler lines which is which?

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Old Oct 21, 2006 | 12:08 AM
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Default Transmission cooler lines which is which?

Hello,

So from what i could search it seems that the top tranny line going into the radiator is the return line back to the transmission and so the bottom line is the flow from the trans to the cooler.

But what if those two lines were disconnected and "mixed-up"? Is there an easy way to tell which line is which just by looking at them?


thanks!
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Old Oct 21, 2006 | 07:29 AM
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as they lie natraly ya can see where they go. if not i wont hurt to mix them up. the tough part is making sure they dont move ,hit or rub
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Old Oct 21, 2006 | 07:50 AM
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they are preformed to fit both lower and upper
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Old Oct 21, 2006 | 08:12 AM
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Bottom is the drain line, or too the radiator. Top is fill, or from the radiator.

If you put them in the other way around, the top line most likely will not pull fluid out to the radiator.

Your trans is not 100% of trans fluid, it is close, but not 100% so no suction to pull out fluid from the top.
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Old Oct 21, 2006 | 02:55 PM
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Thank you very much gentlemen! Your posts are most appreciated.

A little more detail. The tranny lines were disconnected to bypass the radiator and hook up to an external oil cooler. Earl's Temp-a-cure brand.

I bought a second bigger cooler (same brand) and noticed that it has a directional flow arrow between the two fittings. So I started wondering if the lines were hooked up in the right order. Since I was going in today to put in the bigger cooler I could easily fix it if I new which line was which.

Good thoughts on just seeing where they are preformed or naturally line up from the factory.

Golden Eagle- just to confirm are you saying that the line going into the top of the radiator is the flow FROM the trans to the radiator and the line at the bottom is from the radiator TO the trans?

thanks!
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Old Oct 21, 2006 | 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Dr. Pham
Golden Eagle- just to confirm are you saying that the line going into the top of the radiator is the flow FROM the trans to the radiator and the line at the bottom is from the radiator TO the trans?

thanks!

Dah I though you were talking about the trans connections. Let me go look at mine.

Edit: NO. The way mine is set up from the MN6 trans; bottom out of the trans into the bottom connection on seconday trans radiator ( cooler). This way any air bubbles are pulled or suck out of the radiator to the trans pump in the right rear wheel well and back to the transmission or when filling the lines and trans radiator I have the return line drain into an empty bottle to make sure the lines and trans radiator are full.

Pump in right rear wheel well


Radiators
( left) trans (back) AC condensor ( right) oil cooler [ old pick - no AC condensor now ]




I do not recoment a t-stat, but a manual switch to turn on the radiator pump. t-stats have been known to fail at high temps and you want those coolers running well before it is too late.



I do not use the trans cooler on the street, what little time the car spends on the street, but when I leave the pits I turn on the trans pump. Son of a gun is almost too loud, until I step on the thottle then I dont hear it.

Last edited by AU N EGL; Oct 21, 2006 at 04:10 PM.
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Old Oct 21, 2006 | 04:36 PM
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Thanks Nice set-up!
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Old Oct 22, 2006 | 11:23 PM
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The line to the top of the radiator is the return line to the tranny....this is where you should be splicing in your cooler !!!!!!

And if you cooler has a directional flow ...... IN would be from the radiator and OUT would be towards the tranny.

Got it ??? ..... you know I know


DH
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Old Oct 23, 2006 | 12:01 AM
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I thought the guy from Dewitts said that you should put the trans cooler on the feed line, his thought was to cool the trans fluid and than warm it back up to your 170 degree temps. He said that if you put the trans cooler on the return line it would probably cool the trans fluid too much.
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Old Oct 26, 2006 | 03:38 AM
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Howie! Oh I know you know! I am actually bypassing the radiator completely and just running it through a good size cooler. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...410ERL&FROM=MG

Once I crawled under the car figuring out which line went where was pretty obvious. Everyone was right the lines are preformed in a was so you know which is the top and which is the bottom. They were originally disconnected and run through a smaller tranny cooler so I was worried I'd have a hard time figuring them out since they weren't connected to the radiator...but no worries...thanks for the replies guys!

So now 've got a much bigger cooler in there with a 10 inch puller fan. The lines are running like you said Howie! The bottom trans line runs into my cooler and then back out to the tranny. I noticed a directional flow arrow on the cooler so just thought to play it safe, besides I was also trying to wire in a temp sender so teh fan only comes on at a certain temp.

Right now I need to find a 12v signal to trigger the relay to the fan that is only on when the engine is running.

As for cooling the trans fluid too much...I have a Yank 3200 SS converter and (without the fan hooked up yet) temps got up to 196 after about 45 mins of "spirited: driving and stayed there. Though to be fair I didn't end up in stop and go traffic which is where the fan would have really helped.

I'm going to add to another previous post about trying to find a 12v trigger. So if any one knows...please fill me in

thanks!
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Old Oct 26, 2006 | 09:14 AM
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I'll need to find this information this winter for mods
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Old Oct 26, 2006 | 05:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Dr. Pham
Howie! Oh I know you know! I am actually bypassing the radiator completely and just running it through a good size cooler. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...410ERL&FROM=MG

Once I crawled under the car figuring out which line went where was pretty obvious. Everyone was right the lines are preformed in a was so you know which is the top and which is the bottom. They were originally disconnected and run through a smaller tranny cooler so I was worried I'd have a hard time figuring them out since they weren't connected to the radiator...but no worries...thanks for the replies guys!

So now 've got a much bigger cooler in there with a 10 inch puller fan. The lines are running like you said Howie! The bottom trans line runs into my cooler and then back out to the tranny. I noticed a directional flow arrow on the cooler so just thought to play it safe, besides I was also trying to wire in a temp sender so teh fan only comes on at a certain temp.

Right now I need to find a 12v signal to trigger the relay to the fan that is only on when the engine is running.

As for cooling the trans fluid too much...I have a Yank 3200 SS converter and (without the fan hooked up yet) temps got up to 196 after about 45 mins of "spirited: driving and stayed there. Though to be fair I didn't end up in stop and go traffic which is where the fan would have really helped.

I'm going to add to another previous post about trying to find a 12v trigger. So if any one knows...please fill me in

thanks!
Looks like a good sized cooler. As long as you keep the temps below 200 you are golden......


DH
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 11:16 AM
  #13  
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This is a picture of a typical 4L60E, the Corvette lines are the same.
Attached Images  
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Old Oct 27, 2006 | 11:39 AM
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Which line would be better to add a tranny temp gauge: return coming into the tranny or the send coing out of the tranny?

Keith
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