Going cooler crazy!

[intheburbs]

I've had my 2008 2500 for 13 years. Lots of great memories made in it - our family vacations are always road trips. We're getting ready for another 3-week Epic Family Road Trip, and I've been doing a lot of preventive maintenance - plastic heater hose fitting, hose replacement, fluid changes, etc. She has 275k miles, so I know things are wearing out. The upcoming trip will be ~6000 miles and multiple Continental Divide passes including the Eisenhower Tunnel (11,100').

One of the things I noticed was the A/C condenser was pretty rough-looking - lots of smashed fins, plugged slots, etc. I figure this is also restricting airflow. Rock Auto had new condensers for $100, so I bought one.

My buddy works at a top-notch shop so I gave it to him. I was also having him drop the transmission pan to replace the filter and do a full fluid replacement, and we were talking about my towing the behemoth and trans temps. I told him how I've hit 240° at times towing in the Rockies. So he talked me into the Mishimoto trans cooler -because it uses the same fittings as the factory cooler.

Then we noticed the power steering cooler looked rough. Knowing that system also acts as my brake booster, I decided to replace that as well.

I plan to have this truck until I die, so I'm doing projects with a vision for the long-term.

For the 6L90 detractors, it's the original transmission, never dropped the pan in 13 years and 170k miles, and my buddy said, "very little dusting on the magnet." The fluid has been replaced 5 times while I've owned it, but never did a pan drop/filter replacement.

Pics:

Before

After:

The reason why:

Edit to add:

 

[Marky Dissod]

For 6L90 detractors, it's the original 6L90, never dropped the pan in 13 years and 170k miles, and my buddy said, "very little dusting on the magnet."
ATF has been replaced 5 times while I've owned it, but never did a pan drop/filter replacement.

So, you replaced the ATF every 34,000 miles if not more often?
Never been a detractor of changing ATF on the severe service schedule ('severe' service schedule should be the normal service schedule ... in my opinion ...)

 

[intheburbs]

So, you replaced the ATF every 34,000 miles if not more often?
Never been a detractor of changing ATF on the severe service schedule ('severe' service schedule should be the normal service schedule ... in my opinion ...)

My shortest interval was 22,000. That was when I took two trips to the Rockies, and smoked the transmission multiple times on each trip. Like 235°-243° on the DIC display as I was climbing the Continental Divide passes. The fluid was brown and smelling a little burned, so I changed it.

The five times includes when I bought it, at 106k on the odo, in 2013 when I changed all fluids. This current change makes six:

106811 (just purchased)
152727
189567
232002
254269
272411 (current)

This is almost my all-time high score of 243°. It's hard to get a clear pic of the DIC display, because it flickers like a television, ~25-30 hz and the camera doesn't always catch the full display. Previous trip up the "Ike Guantlet," the western approach to the Eisenhower Tunnel (elev 11,100 ft). 14 miles of 7% grades. and the thin air not only reduces cooling, but reduces engine power by about 30%.

 

[solli5pack]

Did you notice any difference on how the A.C. performed after the swap? Looks awesome!

 

[randeez]

the best time to upgrade the trans cooler is before you put 100k towing miles on it, i sposed the next best time is now
props for actually changing the fluid often after seeing those temps
cooler looks very similar to the popular transcool 40k, but even easier install

 

[89Suburban]

My question is can those factory hard lines be added to a vehicle without factory equipped external cooler when installing that aftermarket cooler?

Is there a diagram showing the differences of the factory hardlines and routing between the two?

 

[opfor2]

I've had my 2008 2500 for 13 years. Lots of great memories made in it - our family vacations are always road trips. We're getting ready for another 3-week Epic Family Road Trip, and I've been doing a lot of preventive maintenance - plastic heater hose fitting, hose replacement, fluid changes, etc. She has 275k miles, so I know things are wearing out. The upcoming trip will be ~6000 miles and multiple Continental Divide passes including the Eisenhower Tunnel (11,100').

One of the things I noticed was the A/C condenser was pretty rough-looking - lots of smashed fins, plugged slots, etc. I figure this is also restricting airflow. Rock Auto had new condensers for $100, so I bought one.

My buddy works at a top-notch shop so I gave it to him. I was also having him drop the transmission pan to replace the filter and do a full fluid replacement, and we were talking about my towing the behemoth and trans temps. I told him how I've hit 240° at times towing in the Rockies. So he talked me into the Mishimoto trans cooler -because it uses the same fittings as the factory cooler.

Then we noticed the power steering cooler looked rough. Knowing that system also acts as my brake booster, I decided to replace that as well.

I plan to have this truck until I die, so I'm doing projects with a vision for the long-term.

For the 6L90 detractors, it's the original transmission, never dropped the pan in 13 years and 170k miles, and my buddy said, "very little dusting on the magnet." The fluid has been replaced 5 times while I've owned it, but never did a pan drop/filter replacement.

Pics:

Before
View attachment 490237

After:

The reason why:
View attachment 490238


Edit to add:
View attachment 490241

I like this cooler.. Maybe a future project?

 

[randeez]

My question is can those factory hard lines be added to a vehicle without factory equipped external cooler when installing that aftermarket cooler?

Is there a diagram showing the differences of the factory hardlines and routing between the two?

one of the lines should be the same, transmission to lower radiator cooler
from top of radiator to this cooler in
out from this cooler back to the transmission

GM GENUINE 25999420
GM GENUINE 15779543