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Picture the scene. It's the first bank
holiday of the year, the forecast's good and
hot so you squeeze the happy family and all
the associated luggage into the car, hitch
up the boat/caravan and set off for a
relaxing weekend at the coast/in the
country.
Twenty or thirty miles down the road you are
stopped beside a busy dual carriageway with
smoke rising from your now motionless car,
having left a trail of oil and smoke on the
road for the last mile or so. The now
decidedly unhappy family looking accusingly
at you as if it's all your fault
because you said "it will tow it - no
problem".
The garage arrives and declares the
Automatic Transmission
a write off and you are left wondering if
the repair bill is going to be more than the
car is worth. The family holiday in the
Algarve is on the line and there are
mutterings about selling the boat/caravan to
pay for the repairs.
Not a pleasant scene is it? But it can, in
most cases, be avoided by fitting a
supplementary transmission cooler. |
Transmission overheating will cause Gearbox
Failure. Oil Coolers are proven to reduceoil
temp 25% - 30 % when towing.
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"But my car already has a transmission oil
cooler", you say - "it shouldn't need
another one". With the exception of some
four wheel drive vehicles, that have
substantial oil cooling as standard, all
cars will need an extra cooler to prevent
transmission overheat when towing.
Why does it get so hot?
If you were to tow with a manual car you
would expect to wear out the clutches much
quicker due to the extra effort required to
get the car moving/up motorway gradients
etc. with the increased weight. In an
automatic all the extra effort is done
mainly by the torque converter. This is the
primary heat source in any automatic
transmission and the effects of towing
increase the heat produced dramatically. It
is not at all uncommon for a car in the
above situation to literally boil the oil in
the torque converter, causing it to blow oil
at any convenient point. Even if the oil is
not getting as hot as this it will still be
running much hotter than both it and the
transmission were designed to. The effects
of the transmission running hot is to harden
the multitude of seals and O rings within
the unit - leading to pressure loss and very
premature transmission failure.
What about the Standard Cooler?
The standard cooler fitted to most vehicles
for the last twenty years or so is the
tubular oil to water type, fitted generally
in the bottom tank of the radiator. When the
radiator is new the cooling capacity of this
type of cooler is adequate for solo
motoring, but does not provide sufficient
cooling when the vehicle is towing. With the
engine having to work harder when towing so
the temperature of the water in the radiator
increases, exactly the opposite to what the
cooler needs. Once the vehicle gets to be a
few years old with several thousand miles
behind it then this type of coolers
efficiency drops to the point, in some
cases, where it is doing virtually nothing
at all. This is due to silt build up in the
bottom of the radiator - all radiators
suffer from this to some degree, and you
don't need much in the bottom of the
radiator before the cooler efficiency starts
being compromised due to the restricted
water flow around the cooler. It is not
uncommon to find the cooler completely
buried by this silt - hence no cooling.
So what is the answer?
To fit an additional transmission oil cooler
that is designed specifically to address
these problems.
Above: An example of some of
the cooler radiators which can be supplied
and fitted.
Our nearest member
to you will be more than happy to advise
you, oil coolers are proven to reduce oil
temperature 25% - 30% when towing.
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