SilverBullet_RENAMED

Below is a link on how to install the Tranny Cooler on your CL-S and how to do a flush of your transmission with what tools you have at home. This method does work but will take some time.

After installing it, I drove the car around for about 15 miles, and noticed that the car shifted much faster, smoother. The car seems to have really liked the new fluid, but also the help of that cooler keeping it cooler. After I got back home, that cooler was extremly hot to the touch. I tried both hoses, the top one which is the HOT in, was VERY VERY HOT, could not keep my finger on it for more than 1 sec, the bottom for at least 3 secs I could hold it on there. It was defintely working.

I hope this convinces alot of others to do this mod, because you need too. Our cars do not have a tranny cooler and the fluid just boils and most likely it causes the tranny to die. It's about a 2-4 hr project.

Enjoy guys, any questions feel free to ask.

Also Soopa, you can put this up on your site if you wish as well. So everyone can link to it, or you can just put the html on your site too, in case I take it down.

http://home.satx.rr.com/silverbullet/tranny.htm

sidemarker

looks great

next time i come down to SA I need to check it out...

sidemarker

AztecRol

iTrader: (2)

That is AWESOME!!! GREAT PICS and GOOD INSTRUCTIONS!!!!!




Well done!!! This one DEFINATELY needs to be in the archives and on CHOS's page!!!!

ktgumbo

This looks awesome. One question though. If your tranny does die, I bet Acura is gona try to blame your tranny on this little mod dont ya think?? I think Acura will try to do anything to save them some $$$$$$$$$$!!!!!

SilverBullet_RENAMED

I already talked to the dealer before doing it. They recommended it since it helps the tranny.

Caddy©

Good Job SilverBullet ! Excellent Write up. My Dealer told me the same thing. I made sure before I installed it. They told me it was a Preventative Maintaintence thing and that it would NOT void the warranty.

fender4

good work/photos One question, if you mount the cooler in front of the ac condensor doesn't this affect the ac system's ability to work properly??

DeLucCL-S

Sounds like a great little mod to have on our CL-S.......how much did it cost and where did you get it?

BTW....great instructions and pics...

liquid_x

yea im interested in knowing how much one of those costs

TopGum

just one question. why honda atf fluid instead of redline?

SilverBullet_RENAMED

No, air still flows through it.

SilverBullet_RENAMED

$42.95 for the cooler from Summit Racing, model 70255. $5 for the extra hose, then about $4.10 per quart for the ATF.

SilverBullet_RENAMED

Use redline on a Honda tranny and your asking for trouble. Honda trannies are real picky on what you put in them.

dajuice27

First Gen owners should contact Dustbuster4, he installed one on his car and has detailed instructions with pictures. Conduct a search here and you should find it.

Rescuer

what would happen if we used two coolers? one to cool it down even more before it went back to the tranny..

Adam3.0cl

I installed the B+M 70264 on my 98 3.0CL and it works great. The 70264 is about the same size as the 70255 but about 3/4 of an inch thicker. Also, the first gen 3.0cl's have a stock cooler that runs through the bottom of the radiator. So you need to put the new cooler in the return line of the stock cooler. Take the return line off, hook it up to the top of the cooler, take the other hose coming out of the cooler and hook it up to were the original return line went. I replaced my atf with mobil 1 synthetic fluid and I haven't had any problems. The cl shifts great.

ps... I was also suprised to see that the tranny drain plug is magnetic.

JimBob

Has any of the transmission problems ever been addressed by Honda/Acura? Seems wierd I should go out and spend several hundred dollars of my money to prevent an overheating problem. Is this still an issue on even the latest cars?

fender4

yes but now that air is heated to over 180 or maybe close to 250 degrees, the ac system is designed for a lot less for proper heat exchange. The ac will work it's just something to be aware of on a very hot day.

typeR

silver how do you feel about this one?

well i cant post pics and your instruction wont load....

Zapata

The entire operation will cost you $70 for a DIY and the install isn't hard.

Yes. Honda/Acura hasn't done anything that anybody knows of to correct the issue and so it still exists.

You need to install this tranny cooler.

Overheating......well i'm sure EricL and Scalbert can comment on this. However, i can say that the term in subjective. HOnda will tell you that the problems related to the transmission is mechanical in orgin and termination. Burnt fluid is the result of the mechnical failure. Others like EricL and Scalbert, i believe, would tell you that the tranny cooler is a must. EricL has written volumes of information regarding ATF fluid, aftermarket tranny coolor design, stock tranny cooler design and operating temperatures. Supported by data the case has been made that the tranny cooler keeps the ATF fluid MUCH cooler than what the operating temps of the ATF via the stock tranny cooler. The cooler temps should help to prevent mechanical breakdown. It's thought that the current setup allows for the ATF to over heat and breakdown. ONce the ATF fluid breaks down so does lubrication.

JasonT

I aggree all cars should have a cooler, however it has not been proven heat is the cause of tranny problems. While this mod is good, I wouldn't say it solves the tranny problems.

Also I though the ATF went through the radiator for cooling. Is this not the case? Most auto cars have this setup.

SilverBullet_RENAMED

Like I said, too COLD is bad for the tranny. It will not operate at prime temperature and your tranny could go out sooner.

SilverBullet_RENAMED

We have hot days all the time, my AC still freezes me out.

SilverBullet_RENAMED

Heat always causes Tranny problems. Heat is what kills auto tranmissions.

Our cars do not have a cooler, most cars do, but Honda/Acura did not put one on ours.

fender4

Heat does damage the trans;;; I know how engineers do a detailed thermal analysis and every hot spot in our trans has been studied. No they won't release the data;;; sooooo the problem might be heat but something else is the failure mechanism. Still trans coolers always help out. If the engineers found that by analysis and testing that a cooler is not needed I will have to side with them. It will be interesting to see if the new TL has a trans cooler.

fbazakos

nice write up ... but comptech recommends redline atf ... we need to look into this recommendation more ...

SilverBullet_RENAMED

Just to let you know, Redline, Mobil 1, Amsoil all recommend to stay with Honda ATF Z1.

Obviously they know more about the Honda tranny than Comptech.

Red Rider

Well if Comptech recommends Redline to be installed with the cooler if you do their Supercharger i imagine they have a reason.

SilverBullet_RENAMED

Why would a company LOSE a sale on there oil to recommend staying with the OEM oil? They have reasons! And they do all the tests. Comptech is just a aftermarket company like Stillen for Nissan. Stillen although doesn't give a crap if something goes wrong on the cars. I know alot of people who have cars with problems due to Stillens crap causing other issues.

The oil manufactures will know much better than Comptech.

typeR

none of them contain Z1 and they are just covering there ass...i talked with a redline tech and asked him hypothetically warranty aside ...he said our car would benefit from redline fluid and i even told him i wanted firmer quicker shifts and would redline race a type F fluid help he said yes....

EricL

Request/Comments:

1.I would hope that all of you guys that have done the tranny cooler upgrade would update us from time-to-time on your impressions – whatever, they are… (Please comment in the tranmission problems forum -- OK?)

2. We have "cooler"/"warmer" -- IMO, it's less than adequate. If you feel differently, that's ok with me... Perhaps Honda/Acura will publish specs. and support an external buss one day to allow sensors (ATF fluid cooler temp, and so on) to be integrated into the Navi for "weenie" purposes (ok, kill that dream for now)...

3. As far as the heating relative to the AC, who knows. A temperature reading before and after would be helpful...

4. I'm definitely going to link this in via the tranny forum.

5. As for the Redline -- I talked to them and they were more inclined to suggest that it was a no-brainer when "racing" was mentioned. When I talked to Mike B, they had been running the High Temp stuff for around a year with no problems... So, it doesn't cause immediate destruction...


:

Black CL-S 4-Life

Nice work.

SilverBullet_RENAMED

Good, then get it in writing that if my tranny has a issue due to the fluid that redline or whoever will pay for the repair costs. If not, I am sueing Redline, or whoever.

JRock

Thanks for the installation instructions. Very cool.

I am going in tomorrow to get a few things fixed on my car and get the tranny fluid flushed, but also to get my tech's opinion on whether or not the tranny should just be replaced and put the cooler on a new one. We'll see.

randomwalk101

I talked to a friend, an Acura Master certified mechanic who has worked for Acura dealership over 10 years...and this is what he had to say about installing the transmission cooler:



Well,
It definitely would not hurt, but its not just heat that kills them, its the fact that Acura is trying so hard to make the shifts so soft that by doing so it wears the clutches out and then all the friction material gets into the tiny orifices in the valve bodies and causes them to fail. (to make a tranny shift very smooth/soft, you must slip the clutch packs on each of the gears to the point that they literally eat them selves up... this also causes a tremendous amount of heat in the fluid which causes it to break down as well as carrying the heat to the rest of the parts which causes them to fail prematurely too!)

Have you ever been in a 91-92 Legend? If so you know how hard they shifted, especially in the lower gears? Well this is why the trannies hardly every had any problems! (A hard shift is done by slamming the clutches together with high fluid pressure and a very small if any accumulator/dampener spring!)

The 2002 CL and TL have what is called a fluid warmer! (what this actually does is help the fluid warm up to operating temp by passing engine coolant through a heat exchanger, Also it helps cool the fluid and maintain a constant temp around 180-200F) So if you install an external cooler in front of the radiator, this MAY give you problems with warranty issues if it ever comes up (which it will!) My suggestion is go see Bob, he is the tranny expert, and more up to date with those trannies!

liquid_x

so thats why my legend was shifting hard well the tranny lasted longer than the engine did on that car

sidemarker

i know what you mean about the 91 legends

those suckers shifted hard and i think the legends were infamous for the hard shifting

WHAT I DONT UNDERSTAND IS THIS

have yall rode in a toyota or a ford crown victoria or in a chevy suburban

well ive driven all these cars recently and it surprises me how smooth the transmissions are. I DONT UNDERSTAND HONDA they have been making cars long enough

why cant they get this freakin transmission shift smoother???????
at times i just get tired of feeling the shifts in an automatic.

sidemarker

EricL

The shifts, at least for my taste, could be tightened-up. There was talk (once upon a time) that Level-10 was going to make a controllor. The shift solenoids do allow for a variable transition between the “ON” and “OFF” (Think of it as being able to adjust the ramp time). I can think of some related issues: 1) Too hard could be just as bad as energy needs to be absorbed (there are a lot of clutch packs spinning around in a number of different gears and they need a bit of time to start and stop. 2) The clutches also don’t “enjoy” extreme temperatures as it can cause varnish to just make the clutches that much more “slick” and make for even more heating (and the damage just gets worse – ever checked out a slipping clutch or a clutch that is just starting to slip on a manual tranny)?

RE: The 91 Legend – interesting that a close relative has around 150K on the car and the tranny is “problem free”. And, the car gets a pretty good workout (part-time brutality).

There seems to be so much confusion about the warmer. IN fact, there is a small “error” in the DIY Install FAQ that reports that the car has no cooler. Here is the exact quote from the DIY page/article:

“Make note that the CL-S does not have a STOCK tranny cooler at all. We must install one. If it had one we would just install next to the stock one so both are being used. Much easier install.


The 2001 CL Service manual has two notation about this being a cooler and a warmer. IMO, I don’t want ice cold ATF running around in my tranny. The tranny blurbs recommend 175-200 degrees for ATF (YMMV).

I have no doubt, based on previous member comments, that some dealer or other “agent” will “go for the cooler” as a problem. However, there are people that are getting in “trouble” with getting actuators replaced by just showing up with an AEM or some lowering springs.

scalbert

Very Nice, man that makes the picture I took look like vintage 1940...

SilverBullet_RENAMED

Makes sense. But the fluid gets very hot to where the cooler comes in handy. Most cars have a external stock cooler, ours doesn't. We have that warmer/cooler but its not as effective as a regular cooler. I needed to get a tranny cooler since I will be towing a 1200lb waverunner.

The tranny fluid will not be COLD, it will be still hot but help prevent it from getting seriously hot. The bigger the cooler the colder it gets. Mine is the smallest you can get which is all I needed.