Transmission cooler for E4OD i

[Thor3650]

I have a 36 ft 1997 Thor Residency with the 460 engine and E4OD transmission. We usually take short trips and tow a 1995 Jeep Cherokee behind the RV. The MH runs great but the transmission temperature has me concerned. The orignial owner had replaced the transmission twice before I bought the MH. The two replacements were in the first 30k miles. The RV now has 36k miles on it and I added a transmission gauge to keep an eye on things. During freeway driving the temperature will slowly climb and run between 210 - 225 degrees. If I hit traffic it will cool down to around 200 degrees. I've already added an additional electric fan to the transmission cooler, but that only seems to help at low speeds.

My thought is that I need a bigger/better transmission cooler. I've searched the forums here and that seems to be the case. My question is can I just replace the original one or should I run a second one in line with the original? If I did the in line method, is there enough pressure to run through both?

Any recommendations on a good transmission cooler? Should I also add a deeper transmission pan and switch to synthetic fluid?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Skip426]

I'll hazard a guess that you are operating at the max weight that this particular transmission will handle.
Additional fluid in the system ( deep pan ) will be of some help , as will the addition of a second cooler, if the tube size of the cooler is a match to the existing unit , then there should be no reduction of flow through the cooling circuit.
Where is the existing cooler located ? In front of the A/C condenser or between the condenser and the rad ?
Rad cleaned out ? Thermostatic fan hub operation checked out ? Any sign of missing shrouding , between the fan and the rad or between the rad and the firewall ?
Many members with Workhorse chassis , report better cooling , after adding jap closing material that forces all the air that comes through the grill through the rad.

[2 Stroker]

Originally Posted by Thor3650

I have a 36 ft 1997 Thor Residency with the 460 engine and E4OD transmission. We usually take short trips and tow a 1995 Jeep Cherokee behind the RV. The MH runs great but the transmission temperature has me concerned. The orignial owner had replaced the transmission twice before I bought the MH. The two replacements were in the first 30k miles. The RV now has 36k miles on it and I added a transmission gauge to keep an eye on things. During freeway driving the temperature will slowly climb and run between 210 - 225 degrees. If I hit traffic it will cool down to around 200 degrees. I've already added an additional electric fan to the transmission cooler, but that only seems to help at low speeds.

My thought is that I need a bigger/better transmission cooler. I've searched the forums here and that seems to be the case. My question is can I just replace the original one or should I run a second one in line with the original? If I did the in line method, is there enough pressure to run through both?

Any recommendations on a good transmission cooler? Should I also add a deeper transmission pan and switch to synthetic fluid?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

When I had my 97 Ford F350 PSD 4x4 with the same trans I removed the old cooler a real joke and installed the Tru Cool and added the A piller gauges and installed a sending unit in a test port on the trans to get temp readings, worked great. When I changed the trans filter I installed a drain plug in the pan to make it EZ the next time changing the oil and filter. All I used was Dexron 3 ATF and changed the oil and filter every 25k pulling a 32' Alpenlite 5er
Tru Cool 40 000 GVW Transmission Fluid Oil Cooler 47391 Max Low Pressure Drop | eBay
2 stroker

[Thor3650]

Thanks for the comments. As for weight, I haven't looked at the GCVW amount lately but I did have the RV weighed last year and it weighed about 19,000 lbs loaded. The Jeep weighs under 3,000 lbs. so I woudl think I would be good at a total GVCW of 22,000 lbs.

As for the tranmission cooler, it is out way in front of everything (condenser, radiator, oil and p/s cooler) so there isn't anything impeding the air flow. I did add the temperature sensor to the test port on the transmission and I changed the fluid. I also always check the fluid before each trip. I just think it might be the OEM tranny fluid cooler.

I've also seen another cooler that is essentially 2 coolers stacked together with a built in electric fan. Just can't seem to remember the brand.

Thanks again for the suggestions and the ebay link.

[Nick-B]

The E4OD trannys in the F53 chassis already have the factory deep pan (same as the 4X4 trucks). A 2nd cooler or replacing the original with something real nice like the one referenced by 2stroker would be the best improvement. I would just start with that.
Synthetic fluid might be worthwhile too, just make sure it is Mercon/Dexron compatible.

[Pirate]

When I had mine, I had a tru cool max which was in front of the radiator. I remove the lines from the radiator since I lived in the south I didn't see a need to heat the fluid up just to cool it.

Later I also added a doran cooler with a massive fan thermostatically controlled as I found the stock radiator fan didn't suck enough air through the tru cool max to keep temps down while stuck in stop-n-go traffic.

FWIW, I also had temp probes in the pan and in the tranny pressure check point. The pressure check port was more accurate.

[Dutch Star Don]

Years ago, I added this trans pan to my E40D on a CLass C pulling 5K boat. The trans had 77K on it when I sold and no issues.

trans pan oil cooler - Bing Images

[LouieL]

A deeper trans pan and bigger cooler will go a long ways.A deeper pan will allow more fluid in the system and allow quicker recovery. I would also run the new larger cooler right after the factory radiator cooler.

[subford]

Originally Posted by Thor3650

Should I also add a deeper transmission pan

As noted above you should have the deep pan from the factory so that would be no you can not add a deeper pan.

Note if someone has replaced the transmission with a 2 wheel truck type transmission or pan then yes you should replace the pan with a 4X4 deep pan.
Also note that you must use a 4X4 filter with the stock F53 deep pan or a replacement 4X4 pan as the 2 wheel filter will not work.

Originally Posted by Thor3650

and switch to synthetic fluid?

You should only use Mercon V (5) transmission fluid in a E4OD transmission.

A bigger thermostatic control oil cooler will help in hot weather but the fluid needs to get up to operating temperature as soon as possible for proper operation of the transmission.

[Lt46]

I've added a 2nd ATF cooler to my 460 a few years ago because of I simply didn't want to be concerned by a hot transmission. So, my project one spring a few years ago was to install a temp sender, pre-coolers and a 2nd cooler, inline to OEM. I wanted to know, realtime, exactly how hot my tranny fluid was as it entered the cooling side of the system. This info allowed me to adjust my driving, adjust my right foot on the go pedal or to simply slow down. With this and the additional cooler I now see tranny temps typically in the 180*-190*'s in steady hiway driving. The worst I've seen it was during a summer hill climb, fully loaded with a temp of 210* for a very short period of time.
I'm happy with that.

[Thor3650]

Thanks for the responses. I did check on the Derale transmission pan and their website states that it holds an EXTRA 8 quarts and 10 ounces of transmission fluid. I called their technical department and they confirmed that. Adding that much extra fluid should help, plus they state that it will lower the transmission temperature 20-50 degrees which seems optimistic. The pan has 5/8" tubes running through it to allow air flow to help with cooling.

So, I guess if I add the Derale pan, extra fluid and a new transmission cooler then it should make a HUGE difference.

We shall see.

[LouieL]

Originally Posted by Thor3650

Thanks for the responses. I did check on the Derale transmission pan and their website states that it holds an EXTRA 8 quarts and 10 ounces of transmission fluid. I called their technical department and they confirmed that. Adding that much extra fluid should help, plus they state that it will lower the transmission temperature 20-50 degrees which seems optimistic. The pan has 5/8" tubes running through it to allow air flow to help with cooling.

So, I guess if I add the Derale pan, extra fluid and a new transmission cooler then it should make a HUGE difference.

We shall see.

As i said before , You can add a pan that is deeper than the factory deep pan. You must be careful that Derale is not comparing their capacity to a shallow pan. But I must add this.. I have never found anyone that has confirmed the temperature drop via the Derale design. With that said, any deeper pan will help with temps.

[subford]

Originally Posted by Thor3650

plus they state that it will lower the transmission temperature 20-50 degrees which seems optimistic. The pan has 5/8" tubes running through it to allow air flow to help with cooling.

It has been noted in other post by a Ford transmission engineer that none of this is true and the tubes will increase the temp of the of the transmission from the heat from the engine.
Do not wast your money on one of those pans if you already have the stock 4X4 pan.
Never listen to a technical department of a place your going to buy something from.

[Thor3650]

I checked out the stock pan on my RV this weekend. Not sure if I have the 4x4 pan that everyone mentioned or not. I measured the pan depth and most of it is 2 1/2 inches deep with the deeper area where the drain plug is located which was 5 inches. However, that deep area was very small in comparison to the whole pan. Is that the 4x4 pan? Thanks.