Turbo coolant through auto trany cooler in radiator

WFOVR4 · Jan 26, 2005

Has anybody tried this to help lower water temps? I have new stock radiator in my vr4 and it has an inlet and outlet for an automatic trans that I am thinking about runing the coolent coming out of the turbo through before it goes back into the motor.

Defiant · Jan 26, 2005

How many times you plan on asking the same question? The answer won't change.

scottr126 · Jan 26, 2005

Hmmm this seems interesting, it is the first time ive seen this brought up. Im guessing the water is a no go, if it cant be ran through than why not? What about engine oil? Could it be used as a oil cooler?

Scott

WFOVR4 · Jan 27, 2005

Defiant, we heard you, looking for someone who has tried it (and know what they are talking about) thanks anyway.

Mackzero · Jan 28, 2005

I would assume that since the water is being cooled by the radiator and usually stays around 190*F than no matter if you add the other cooler or not, the water will stay around that same temp. Circulation is controlled by the thermostadt anyway. I would think it would be a complete waste of time.

scottr126 · Jan 28, 2005

What about engine oil? Could the ports be used with engine oil? I mean tranny fluid is meant to go through there, not too much of a diffence.

patsevo8 · Jan 28, 2005

The two hoses coming out of your radiator are going to SERVE YOU NO GOOD. Coolant is not going to flow in or out of your radiator. If you hook it to your turbo NOTHING is going to happen.
Good luck to you.

WFOVR4 · Jan 29, 2005

patsevo8 said:
The two hoses coming out of your radiator are going to SERVE YOU NO GOOD. Coolant is not going to flow in or out of your radiator. If you hook it to your turbo NOTHING is going to happen.
Good luck to you.

What the heck do you mean nothing is going to come in or out. Correct me if I am wrong but the radiator has an inlet and outlet for automatic transmission fluid to go through to get cooled down (that is what a radiator is for if I remember corectly). To the other posts, don't turbos run around 1500 deg??? If coolant that is 195 deg gets run through this 1500 deg thingy don't u think it is going to pick up some heat (like alot)? So then run this super heated coolant through the rad, cool it down, then back into the motor?? Am I missing something?

scottr126 · Jan 30, 2005

Coolant is not going to flow in or out of your radiator.

:laugh:

:thumbdown

Morphius · Jan 30, 2005

EDIT - Senseless late night sleepy reply.

scottr126 · Jan 30, 2005

Thank you for a good explanation. What about for engine oil though? If I bought one of those 90' Air to Air oil Cooler setups could I ditch the stock cooler and hook it up these ports?

ChicagoGSX · Jan 30, 2005

Morphius said:
This would NOT be a good idea.

The coolant flow in your engine is as follows:

Water pump is drawing cool coolant from the bottom of your radiator. It is then pumped through the block, then the head to the water neck on the trans side of your engine. t then returns to the radiator via the top radiator hose.

Your turbo is already drawing cool water off the water pipe feeding the water pump on the input side. That coolant then travels through your turbo to the cylinder head and out the water neck outlet to the top of the radiator. Again, irregardless if you cool that coolant before it's fed back into the head, it won't make it any cooler because the temperature is regulated by the thermastat.

Well what he would do is run the feed line down to the radiator then back up to the turbo. It would be cooled slightly by travelling through the radiator again but I bet the difference would be negligible.

WFOVR4 · Jan 31, 2005

Morphius said:
This would NOT be a good idea.

The coolant flow in your engine is as follows:

Water pump is drawing cool coolant from the bottom of your radiator. It is then pumped through the block, then the head to the water neck on the trans side of your engine. t then returns to the radiator via the top radiator hose.

Your turbo is already drawing cool water off the water pipe feeding the water pump on the input side. That coolant then travels through your turbo to the cylinder head and out the water neck outlet to the top of the radiator. Again, irregardless if you cool that coolant before it's fed back into the head, it won't make it any cooler because the temperature is regulated by the thermastat.

Are you positive that the water coming into the turbo is being drawn from the water pipe that feeds the water pump? If this is the case then my idea would be senseless, I thought the water going into the turbo was comming from the water neck (pressure side) on the head. Thanks for the info

hellotbone · Feb 1, 2005

Your rads tranny cooler also will restrict engine oil to much and have a huge flow problem. You just can't flow enough oil though it most engine oil coolers are like 1/2 NPT fittings most trans fittings are 1/4" or less. To much restriction for engine oil. I was told this when I wanted to use my auto trans cooler when doing my 6 bolt swap to use as my oil cooler just not enough flow.

WFOVR4 · Feb 1, 2005

OK, I just went out to my street galant and took off the turbo coolant hose at the water neck to find out exactly what the direction of the flow is. It was the way I thought it was, the coolant flows out of the head, through the turbo (where it gets heated up more) and back into the water pipe that feeds the water pump. So the water that goes through your turbo just recirculates through the motor and never goes through the rad. On a drag or street car I guess this would not be too much of an issue, but on my race car where we run anywhere from 4 to 15 minutes flat out, almost always in the turbo, I can see this really heating things up. I know what I am going to now.

patsevo8 · Feb 1, 2005

The reason I say that nothing would happen is because those two lines are made for a AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION and not a turbo. How do you plan on hooking up the two lines anyways?

WFOVR4 · Feb 1, 2005

The trany cooler is cooler, ATF gets hot and is under a higer presure than coolant so it won't restrict flow. I am going to cut my lower steel line coming from the turbo to the water pipe so it is a straight shot comming out of the turbo and into the water pipe, weld a bead on the ends to help keep the hose on, and run a short piece of Areoquip blue push lock from the turbo to the cooler and the cooler back to the water pipe, simple! May not be ideal but its better than the stock set up (I hope).

patsevo8 · Feb 2, 2005

Sounds like a bullet proof plan. Just make sure you hook up the right coolant tube
It sure would suck if you hooked up a "in" line instead of a "out" line.

Morphius · Feb 4, 2005

WFOVR4 said:
Are you positive that the water coming into the turbo is being drawn from the water pipe that feeds the water pump? If this is the case then my idea would be senseless, I thought the water going into the turbo was comming from the water neck (pressure side) on the head. Thanks for the info

I must have been asleep when I replied..... it was 2am or so. OMG

I think I must have been thinking of another engine I have setting here.

Anyhow, you are correct. It's fed off the high pressure side on the water neck. Your idea would work in a sense, but the delta in water temp likely wouldn't do much.

blue1 · Feb 5, 2005

??? i missing something here! Which part of the radiator is cooler! Regardless whether you put it though the normal cooling system or the A/T system it is going to end up the same temp! Think about your water temp in the radiator is 190 degrees whether it goes through the tranny cooler or the radiator! wheres the gain!!
Engine oil through the rad' watch the pressure an auto cooler can take, the pressure from an auto is a shitload lower than engine oil pessure. i have no idea what the trnny cooler is capable of handling? after market tranny coolers u can use push on hose and a clamp. Engine oil cooler us AN type fittings and different hose!

Morphius · Feb 5, 2005

blue1 said:
??? i missing something here! Which part of the radiator is cooler! Regardless whether you put it though the normal cooling system or the A/T system it is going to end up the same temp! Think about your water temp in the radiator is 190 degrees whether it goes through the tranny cooler or the radiator! wheres the gain!!
Engine oil through the rad' watch the pressure an auto cooler can take, the pressure from an auto is a shitload lower than engine oil pessure. i have no idea what the trnny cooler is capable of handling? after market tranny coolers u can use push on hose and a clamp. Engine oil cooler us AN type fittings and different hose!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the temp sensor for the water on the water neck? Which measures the return water coming from the motor?

The water being pulled in by the water pump is not 190. It is cooler. The thermostat is there regulating the water, by keeping the temp of the engines internal water temp at 190. The water is still cooled by the radiator.

blue1 · Feb 5, 2005

Hi Morphius
All that i am saying is whether it goes through the rad' or the auto cooler which is in the rad' its going to end up the same Temp! as the cooling medium allows it to be cooled too.
Paul

pneumo · Feb 6, 2005

I think you know this after investigating, but I'll say it anyway. Doing this mod should help lower your coolant temps IF you start to overheat. Under normal conditions your coolant will be regulated by the thermostat so it stays above the T-stats rated temp.

Also, the drivers side of the radiator tends to run cooler since it's a longer coolant path, so you might want to route the hose coming from the turbo into the passenger side, and have the coolant line from the drivers side of the radiator going back to the water pipe. At least that's how I think you'll get the coolest coolant.

Have you thought about doing anything with the coolant line that goes into the water cooled oil cooler?

pneumo · Feb 6, 2005

I just thought of a side effect of doin this mod. It might take slightly longer to warm up, and if you drive in cold weather it might lower the coolant temps below the T-stat rating slightly. At least that's my theory. And in theory, theory and reality are the same. In reality they aren't!

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