Did a 1998 Ford Ranger 4.0 V-6 come standard with a automatic transmission cooler? Mine has a hole in it. Would it hurt anything if I by-passed it and went without one?. I'm not doing any towing - just toodling around town.

 

yea they are standard, yes it will do stuff. you can get a new cooler at napa or autozone for $30. the cooler the fluid, the longer your trans lasts. id never suggest bypassing it.

 

Thanx for the feedback. I'll follow your advice and replace it.

 

are you positive they are standard? or just for the tow package factory equipped trucks? Ive always heard the tow package called for the cooler...maybe im wrong

 

ALL automatic transmission equipped vehicles have tranny coolers in the rad...they require it...but an aux. cooler was optional on rangers

 

I don't see how they can call that a tranny cooler.
Take a rad apart and all there you will find is a tube going from the inlet to the outlet in the tank.Nothing runs through the fins in the radiator.

 

better than nothing...the engine coolant takes the heat away from the tranny fluid

 

If I knew for sure it was an option for the tow package, I would bypass it. Any more opinions?

 

why would you bypass a trans cooler.

trans coolers are pretty standard. my truck had no hitch, and has a trans cooler.

Transmissions dont run at coolant temp, they run MUCH hotter. that cooler is the only thing keeping your transmission from cooking itself. you'll blow the clutch packs, overheat the torque converter and burn the valves. I'm considering putting a bigger trans cooler in my truck actually.

if you wanna put a new transmission in the truck, by al means bypass it. but with cool fluid, your gonna get alot of life out of it.

 

They don't run much hotter then engine coolant temps but cooler most of the time. Anywhere from 50-120 over air temp is what most people will see. With a cooler that is. Without a cooler expect trans temps to run up to 230*F if you're working it even without a load.

 

The trans in this truck is weak, heat kills them. With the rad cooler only you will warm the trans with engine coolant long before it needs to be cooler, then when hot it will climb even in normal driving. Once the fluid hits 215 it begins to break down and should be replaced. If the rad has 190-200 degree coolant in it you will not have much room for thermal exchange.

Replace the cooler, hell bypass the crappy radiator and run a bigger cooler.

 

As usual, I got excellent feedback thanks to the convenience of the forum. Thank you all! You have convinced me that the wise and prudent thing to do is to replace the auxiliary cooler....... End of discussion, on this question anyway - thanx again!