My friend had me come to his house today to look at his 2002 Ford Ranger Edge 4.0.. He said someone told him the water pump or the transmission cooler was leaking, When i checked it out it was a big hole in a water hose that come straight up from his water pump to around his intake about 6 inches long..

well I took that off but I noticed the water was oily pink really bad, and so is the inside of the radiator...

what i need to no is the transmission lines are running different then anything i have seen before.... one metal line is coming from the transmission and going into the top part of the side of the radiator, the bottom metal line at the radiator for the transmission line is going to a installed small transmission cooler attached around the front grill.. and then on the other side of the cooler that line is running straight back to the transmission.... There has to be a crack in the radiator part that the trans fluid goes into... So can i just do away with the radiator part all together and just feed one line into the front cooler and the other side of the cooler the return line back to transmission? that way will not have to worry about buying a new radiator? thoughts please would be appreciated.. Thanks

 

No, radiator trans cooler servers two functions, it cools trans fluid when its above 180degF, but it also keeps it above 170degF when its cold outside, so it acts like a heater

Trans fluid should be kept between 180-200degF for best operation and least wear.

Its cheaper to run separate trans cooler, so automakers would do that, but its just bad for the transmission long term, which is why they use the radiator trans cooler.
Adding a separate trans cooler is ALWAYS good to do, doesn't cool it too much but really helps when temps get close to 200degF

Replace radiator AND drain and flush transmission fluid after you do, because there will be coolant in transmission now and it WILL cause problems since it will vaporize instead of lubing internal parts, just like it does if it gets in engine oil

 

could you give me the best ideal of how to go about flushing out the transmission please?

 

Drain it, leave filter in
Refill with cheapest ATF that works in your transmission
Drive it for a few days
Drain it, change filter
Fill with good ATF
Done

That should get most of the coolant out