Another trans cooling thread...

[06 H3]

Wtf! Lol

 

[06 H3]

I have had no problems with my Ron Davis, and neither have 10's of thousands of others. I appreciate the experiences of some people, but we all know there are many factors involved in the success of an all aluminum rad, application, maintenance, and set up to name a few.

Anyhoo...first thing you should check is your fan clutch...you should be hearing a Roar from the engine when it starts getting to 211* or so - if not...start there.

If you can, when it gets that hot, turn it off and open your hood. With the engine off - can you easily turn the fan? If yes, it's a bad fan clutch, if not it's something else. When was the last time the rad was flushed and the fins cleaned?

I love the amount of knowledge here on this board and I am by no means an expert - but lets start with the simple stuff first...and move on from there.

Fan clutch is gone. No roar when the motor was above 211. turned it off and it turned easily....Gonna have to give Zach a call and get some parts.

 

[poncho1965]

Crawling the foothills today, 99 degrees and I saw a high tranny temp of 221. Get your fan clutch Chris?


Mike

 

[06 H3]

not yet. Realized it went out yesterday so I will order it tomorrow.

Today we hit 105 and I hit temps around 220 for the trans. I noticed throwing it in 3rd up hills helps a good amount. Once I get my cooler and fan clutch I am sure I can drive normally again.

 

[jakesz28]

Man I woke up to frost and a high in the lower 70's. Not sure what is better.

 

[06 H3]

Ill take that anyday...I'm sick of this weather already. He hit 101 today

 

[bebe]

Napa has them in stock.

 

[poncho1965]

Crawling the foothills today, 94 degrees and windy, didn't see above 195 on the trans temp. Most of the time I was in 4-lo


Mike

 

[06 H3]

good to go on the fan clutch....

What do u recommend? The H3 install I have seen was with this.

http://www.jegs.com/i/B-M/130/70264/10002/-1

but this one is bigger

http://www.dieselsite.com/specialordertru-cool4739transmissioncooler.aspx

I need 3/8 barb not sure if the dieselsite one is...couldnt find it.

 

[06 H3]

Im liking this one....

http://www.transmissioncoolers.us/4739.html

3/8 barb which is the right size for the 3. its plate and fin which is the most efficient kind. Has an external bypass valve. My biggest concern is it fitting, the B&M is only 11in long and this one is 22.

 

[poncho1965]

The install you've seen with the 70264, how does it perform, does he monitor his temps?


Mike

 

[06 H3]

Not sure never heard anything. I just know I need the biggest and most efficient type of cooler. I can pull the trans temp up to 200 easily in 65-70 degree weather.

Mudnyri said he used this for his H2 and saw 30-40 degrees cooler. It's just the space to put this in a 2 is much easier then a 3. I'm gonna have to start looking measuring for space

 

[MuDnYrI]

Im liking this one....

http://www.transmissioncoolers.us/4739.html

3/8 barb which is the right size for the 3. its plate and fin which is the most efficient kind. Has an external bypass valve. My biggest concern is it fitting, the B&M is only 11in long and this one is 22.

That's the 1 I have. Here is where I purchased mine from: http://www.dieselsite.com/specialordertru-cool4739transmissioncooler.aspx ($40.00 cheaper)They also have a link to PDF Install Instructions with or without Thermal Bypass

 

[06 H3]

so I have finally decided on a trans cooler! wow, I thought my radiator was going to crack and destroy the motor and trans before I made a damn decision. I havent ordered it yet but I am going to in the AM.

Its the derale 13503. I chose this as its close to the B&M cooler size that firesquirt did on the how to thread. I wanted the one MUDNYRI has but the size is so much bigger I may run into problems mounting the damn thing. So a comparison for size, the B&M is 11x6x1.5 the derale 11x8.75x1 where the tru cool that mudnyri is 8.5x22x1.25. For an H2 that may be ok but for an H3 your cramming that thing in there. Im sure if I took the brushguard, winch, bumper and grille all off just to measure I could fit it but with the derale I know it will fit without taking measurements.

The derale is plate and fin which is more efficent then the stacked plate design of the B&M. Ill throw in a bypass and use some adapters so I dont have to cut and flare the lines, they are about 10 bucks for the adapters.

I looked at derales quality and it seems to be good. So I am happy to finally get rid of the problem I have of bringing the trans temp up to 230+

 

[Paladine71]

06 H3, any updates? :corn:

 

[06 H3]

I will have one soon!

 

[06 H3]

I am beyond pist off for me dragging my feet on this project as I almost lost my trans yesterday and if I installed the cooler this would have never been a problem. This overheating thing has gotten ridiculous. I need to do something about it and will not be driving much until I do so. Yesterday was hotter then hell. It was 106 out at 430 when I left work. Traffic was bad on the freeway so I took the side streets, the side streets were backed up so the stop and go driving with the extreme heat just roasted the trans and the motor. I looked for a spot to pull off but there was no shoulder due to the construction. I lowered the windows and cranked the heat to help the motor cool off. The motor got up to about 235, and the trans hit 245 and then I lost drive. As I put my foot down on the gas I went no where, it had no power. So the temps jumped more it maxed out at 255. couldnt pull over. I threw it in first and left it in one gear to cool it down and it went back to 240 but had no drive. The trans fluid takes forever to cool down but the second I cranked the heat the coolant temp dropped immediately. Either way I am now on a mission to fix this problem.

I am honestly contemplating the 5 speed manual swap to get rid of all this bull**** OR just throwing in the cooler seeing how it does and then wait till this trans gets more tired then it is and rebuild it to the max so it can handle it. I still dont think the trans is terrible, its just the heat that kills it.

I spoke to my buddy as I am no expert on transmissions and said his grand cherokee hit ridiculous temps like that before and he added a fan and now he doesnt rise over 170. The reason for losing drive was that the trans fluid got so hot it broke down basically to water. Not sure if thats the case. He said I should be able to get drive back once its completely cooled off and I pulled a P0976 which is another destroyed solenoid so Ill replace that when I do the trans fluid.

Where is the trans temp read at on the scanguage? Just curious as I read some things during my quick research.

Maybe Ill add two of these ****in coolers since the trans gets so hot seeing its tough to fit one bigger one. Once I figure out the trans heat issue its time to go to the motor cooling.

I want to run the ac on full blast in 115 degree weather in traffic, thats the goal.

I'm ****in furious with this bull****....

 

[poncho1965]

Curious to see what you come up with. Was looking at a cooler rated at 14,400 btu, not sure if its enough. It's 110 today and I limit my driving to short in town trips. But I also don't rely on it as a daily driver.


Mike

 

[Paladine71]

Why did you choose the Derale D13503 over the D13502, which is slightly smaller?

 

[alrock]

Chris, I don't think your temps are normal and a trans cooler is just addressing a symptom, not the problem. Well, maybe normal if you were towing a boat up the Grapevine. It was 118 today and I never got above 217 on streets or highway.

You should be installing a cooler to help prevent future issues but not solely to fix these temps.

Have you cleaned your radiator fins, any muck in there? Mud and dirt are great insulators and will raise your temps.

Have you changed the trans fluid? Worn fluid may increase the heat buildup.

Has the thermostat been replaced? Maybe it's not working properly.

And here's an odd one: I had a mechanic swear that there was a design change in the cooling fan from the early builds. Early fans, he said, did not cool as well and he said he changed it on his brother's H3. Perhaps check your fan vs a later model and count the number of blades and look at their pitch.

 

[06 H3]

Alex, The same thing has crossed my mind. I dont think something is right...I will change the fluid again but I have cleaned the radiator and even my coolant temps run very hot. I hit 235 on the scan gauge for coolant and was at 7/8 on the stock gauge.

Thermostat has been replaced once before but I may check again. Its very weird, I know I dont have the lightest H3 around but it isnt the heaviest either! I still I run hotter then I should.

I spoke with bebe and Zach today. I may swap the trans as its getting tired. 110k miles, with no PCM tune so I really have 115-118k miles. Zach gave me a smoking deal but I may upgrade the trans to the raptor like bebe did.

Bebe and I have concluded that the fan clutch isnt totally gone but intermittent, thermostat is a concern, fluid is too. All that you mentioned.

All this has been high on my priority list now, especially seeing summer temps just started.

 

[06 H3]

Why did you choose the Derale D13503 over the D13502, which is slightly smaller?

not sure actually, I will look into it.

 

[Kyle]

Driving today on the freeway a/c on max i was between 3/4 and half. As soon as we got of into a canyon and started going up hills the temp gauge went to almost H, also the a/c was off when i went into the canyon and it cooled down to 3/4 but still, thats hot in my opinion, so im going to add a new bigger radiator, an external cooler for the trans, and electric fan(s) to move even more air passed the engine.


Sent from the top of a mountain in my h3

 

[bebe]

Chris, I don't think your temps are normal and a trans cooler is just addressing a symptom, not the problem. Well, maybe normal if you were towing a boat up the Grapevine. It was 118 today and I never got above 217 on streets or highway.

You should be installing a cooler to help prevent future issues but not solely to fix these temps.

Have you cleaned your radiator fins, any muck in there? Mud and dirt are great insulators and will raise your temps.

Have you changed the trans fluid? Worn fluid may increase the heat buildup.

Has the thermostat been replaced? Maybe it's not working properly.

And here's an odd one: I had a mechanic swear that there was a design change in the cooling fan from the early builds. Early fans, he said, did not cool as well and he said he changed it on his brother's H3. Perhaps check your fan vs a later model and count the number of blades and look at their pitch.

So many things to eliminate to diagnose this issue.

Starting with:

Clean Radiator - is it clean?
Check Fluid levels - Full?
Replace Coolant every 50K miles - is the fluid old?
Thermostat - they can go bad frequently, is it new?
Fan Clutch - biggest culprit IMHO - it should kick on at 210* ish (depending on speed and air flow

Like Chris and I discussed today, our rigs are heavy and are probably operating at the max end of weight capacity all the time. Our H3's (2006 I-5) are 4780 lbs with a max of 5870...my H3 weighed 6150 before I took off the roof rack, ladders and did the front end conversion. It's now around 5400lbs, which is still 600 lbs over stock.

We took several steps to fix the high temp issue. My truck never overheated, or went into limp mode, however, it ran at 3/4 often.

We did the following upgrades and changes in the following order:

External trans cooler bypassing the OEM internal cooler
Rebuilt Trans with Raptor Kit
Reduced weight
Developed and installed a Ron Davis Radiator
Kept external trans cooler and ran lines to internal cooler through radiator
Changed fluids
replaced thermostat
replaced fan clutch

It was perfect for about 18 months, and now the fan clutch seems to kick on at 206* and will stay on for a long time, even after the temps go back down to 200*, it stays on. So it probably needs to be replaced again.

Running the A/C while rock crawling a couple weeks ago was getting it hot, so we turned it off until we got back on pavement.

As our rigs get older maintenance will be more frequent.

If your rig gets up to 3/4 mark, it's a hot day and you are running your A/C, and you put your foot in it and the fan clutch doesn't kick on, it may not be working properly.

 

[06 H3]

where is the thermostat located? Is it easy to replace? Last one replaced was at around 49k miles IIRC, now I am at 110k. Back then the dealer did the swap due to warranty and a lack of mechanical abilities at the time.

Fluid was replaced at 100k.

fan clutch will be done asap.