Aftermarket Radiator

[kezza170]

need some advice
I have a 2014 spanish D40 auto 140kw ive purchased an aftermarket radiator from protex even though i gave them my vin etc they have still sent me a radiator for manual not auto (no cooker in bottom of it) Question is if i were to buy an aftermarket cooler an put hoses to it instead of the radiator am i still able to use this manual radiator they have sent me since im using a different cooler i tecnically dont need one thats built into the radiator now

 

[Old.Tony]

That's precisely how I did mine. Deliberately purchased a "manual" radiator, because I'd already had an external cooler fitted.

There's a caveat to not having the transmission cooler inside the radiator. On cold mornings, you have to drive further before the transmission comes up to temperature and behaves "normally" - mine won't engage the torque converter clutch until the coolant temp (only related to transmission temp as an indication of having driven the vehicle for a certain amount of time) goes over 60C.

Otherwise, it's a good choice.

 

[kezza170]

Ok great thanks heeps for the feedback appreciate it heeps i was hoping it was going to be ok an not have to send back so did you just put lines straight to the cooler cause dont realy need bypass mod i guess hey, what type of cooler did you get as in size etc and im guessing wont need fan on it

 

[Old.Tony]

I don't know what brand of cooler I have specifically, I just paid a mechanic to do it (and ended up with two, the oil flows through one then the other then back to the transmission). They're mounted in front of the intercooler, the hosing just runs straight from the gearbox up to the coolers and back. No extra fans, nothing. Rather simple really, and no more concern about gearbox contamination by the engine coolant.

Just be sure to remind anyone that works on the system that you have a separate transmission cooling system. I didn't, and the idiot that I had work on my gearbox cross-connected the thing and cause my gearbox to fill with coolant. There was so much damage in just a week of driving that I had to replace the gearbox.

And yes, we also had to do a special intensive flushing of the coolant system as well. Lesson learned - make sure they pay attention and don't stuff it up!

 

[kezza170]

Luckily i do all my work myself long story short a so called friend all but rode my nav of in jan ive pretty much rebuilt the hole engine and car really myself in back yard should have the big girl back on road in 3 weeks