Manual Transmission Oil Tempatures

[theCRANKwalker]

i'm looking into doing an external oil cooler for my AWD manual tranny. i would also like to hook up a temp guage so i know if the cooler is working, where the temps are and when...

the only problem is i don't know a base tempature of a manual tranny so i don't know what tempatures the guage should range from.

has anyone ever hooked up a temp gauge to your mannual tranny, if so, what does it read?

thanks,
jerry

 

[Sleepr DSM]

I'm really curious about the above as well. Anyone done this?

 

[eyebrowski]

why do you want a tranny cooler on your 5spd?

 

[Sleepr DSM]

There is a tuner named DRE, who runs a custom transmission cooler on his manual GSX. He may be the only person doing it.. but, he has an engineering degree and makes 430 WHP with a green.
I assumed that other DSMers would have heard of the reasoning behind this and tried it. Is he the only one?

By the way, I have read that your tranny lube should stay under 150 degrees at 70mph.

 

[Defiant]

Complicated job for little or no payoff. You'll need a pump of some sort besides the cooler and piping. Check at Summit for differential coolers, they'll probably have someting you can adapt.

But why do you want to do this?

 

[eyebrowski]

Dre was breaking teeth off of his 4th and 5th gears after hard high way pulls. he installed a $250 cooling system and has not broken any teeth since. are you experiencing the same problem with broken gear teeth? if not the money can be better spent elsewhere.

 

[theCRANKwalker]

guys thanks for the replies, i'm expecting to make around the same power as dre so i decided to do the cooler before i start breaking things to prolong the life of the tranny for highway pulls etc

i paid $225 for my cooler setup used...it came with tilton 12V pump, cooler/radiator, -8 stainless steal braided lines, hose end fittings and a filter...new these parts would have cost me well over $400 so to me it was worth it, install was easy, you can see photos on my website in the projects section

i did not mount a cooler as i didn't really have time to find a spot to mount the sending unit on the tranny and i had to do other things to get the car running

 

[sunflashx]

Link to Dre's tranny cooler page.

http://www.teamnabr.com/ubbpub/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000012

 

[kpt4321]

Just install the gauge first, and drive around with it for a few days, then install the cooler. That way you know specificially how your car works.

....Kyle T.

 

[theCRANKwalker]

can't just install the guage, there is no where to mount the probe or drill a hole in the tranny and if you do find a place to drill a whole, i wouldn't chance having some of the metal shavings falling into the tranny

the tranny cooler is paid for and mounted on the car, the way i see it, whether it works or not it's going to be used and can't hurt...

 

[Sleepr DSM]

What do you guys think of this idea?

The transmission has a drain plug. Could a hole be drilled and tapped through the center of it to insert a temperature sensor?

Would that work?

 

[theCRANKwalker]

yes you can do that but not run a cooler at the same time...

for the cooler both dre and i used the drain and fill plugs for the coolers in and out, thus you cannot run a gauge, check out the pics if you don't understand and you'll be able to see what i mean

 

[Sleepr DSM]

Then I would do this. To avoid removing my transmission...
I can run a hose from the fill plug to the drain plug. I'll insert a pump.
Then I could T in the temperature sensor. For my own curiosities sake that would allow me to determine the operating temperatur of the gear oil.

Once I have that base line, I can then add the cooler to the circle and find out what kind of difference it makes.

What do you think?

I know it may be a waste of effort to get a "Before temperature".... but I love playing around with stuff like this.

Just need to keep enough gear oil in the tranny with the addition of the hose and pump running from top to bottom to avoid any problems.

 

[Sleepr DSM]

Then I would do this. To avoid removing my transmission...
I can run a hose from the fill plug to the drain plug. I'll insert a pump.
Then I could T in the temperature sensor into the coolant hose. For my own curiosities sake that would allow me to determine the operating temperatur of the gear oil.

Once I have that base line, I can then add the cooler to the circle and find out what kind of difference it makes.

What do you think?

I know it may be a waste of effort to get a "Before temperature".... but I love playing around with stuff like this.

Just need to keep enough gear oil in the tranny with the addition of the hose and pump running from top to bottom to avoid any problems.

 

[theCRANKwalker]

i am the same way when it comes to testing things

as for the T, to get the best temp. you'd have to be at the bottom of the lines with the sensor, the only problem there would be the lines being fairly close to the ground...my lines are close to the ground as is, adding a T would probably put the lines in danger, being a little more heavy, plus more pieces to get wiped out...i also did research and couldn't find a T to hold the temp sensors, only FP sending units...

as for keeping enough oil in the tranny with the addition of the pump, i just poured 2 quarts in, ran the pump until the oil came out of the other end of the lines, then topped off the tranny, so you should have a little more then 2 1/2 quarts, or is it 3 1/2, i forget exactly what the tranny takes stock, figure another 1/2 quart to fill the void of the cooler

 

[omegis13]

Link to Dre's tranny cooler page.

http://www.teamnabr.com/ubbpub/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000012

Could you possibly copy and paste this onto this forum? Your link didn't work, and I don't have access to team nabr's forums (((Nor do I really wish to be affiliated with them, as I feel that anyone that get's that picky over n00b questions and bad spelling needs to get off of their high horse))).

Thanks,

Greg Heineken

 

[JOEY A]

Ive been thinking about doing this also