Lately I've seen alot of people with tranny problems(to include myself). I was wondering why the manual trannies don't come with an oil cooler? All of the automatics come with one. This seems like it would be a good thing to help extend the life of our trannies. The way I see it is the cooler our cear oil the cooler the tranny. I think this would extend the life of the oil allowing for better lubrication and longer gear and syncro life. Would it be a good idea to install one on a manual tranny? If so what would be needed besides lines and the cooler itself? Would you need a pump of some sort to move the gear oil through the cooler? If anyone has any knowledge on this subject please share. I would not like to be rebuilding my tranny every few thousand miles or so. Any info would be helpful. Thanks.

interesting

The manual fluid doesnt get hot enough to need a cooler. The colder the fluid the thicker it is...harder to shift.



My car is alot easier to shift after 10 minutes of driving then when first starting in the winter.

93 R1 if it doesn't get that hot then how do people burn their tranny fluid? I'm not trying to be an ass, but it just seems funny that it can stay cool but still burn. You would think that with the tranny's closeness to the exhaust and engine that the fluid would get extremely hot. You would also think that if an automatic tranny needs a cooler then a manual that gets more abuse with miss shifts and higher revving would need one also. Can you or someone else add a little more insight on this? Thanks.

Manual doesn' t have torque converters, and other things that slide constantly, Autos get HOT, it is true that a manual will heat up, but it is nothing near what an auto will get to. on a regular basis

I don't mean to be a pain, but I'm still not convinced. I guess I'll just have to take your guys word on it.

Well your problem is how sre you going to pump gear lube its a little thick dont you think.....Havnt you noticed the difference from tranny fluid to gear lube before????? You want to cool your tranny talk some one into welding cooling fins on your tranny pan..............that will cool your tranny a little bit but not sure on the five speeds have a big enough pan on the bottom cuz ive only dealt with auto matic cars my hole life..........Im a straight liner go figure..................

Automatics are a different animal altogether. That's been covered.



Manuals do get hot, but (depending on your application) a good

synthetic (Redline) should manage the temps easily, provided there

is enough of it, its not left in there too long, contaminated with water

(condensate), or otherwise incapacitated. If you're street driving

you're tranny is fine. If you're running 3-hour enduros - that's different.



The TexRacing, Jerico, and most other high-end road racing tranny's

have a built-in pump, some models have them as an option ($).

There are also many aftermarket generic tranny/rearend lube pumps

that could be part of a fab'ed solution. Generally, the integral pumps

are better than the externals, and less hassle, but everyone has their

preference, and budget.



Back to reality. If you suspect tranny oil temp is an issue, its best to start

with some data. Plumb an oil temp sensor into the tranny (somehow) and

find out what the real temps are under various environmental conditions,

with different lubs, under different types of driving conditions.



My guess is the oil is staying well under its design limits, unless you're

running 3 hour enduros.



Steve C.

Steve, thank you. You gave me the answer I was looking for. A detailed reason of why or why not this would be a good idea. You have me convinced that since my car is a daily driver and sees some drag race time that this would not be a good idea. Maybe if someday I start running those 3 hour enduros(probably never) I might install one if I need it.

yeah the fluid isnt being pumped in the manual trans, in the automatic the temps are much higher becuase you actually have a pump and the fluid is being compressed to build pressure (which generates heat) it's the whole nature of the beast, all that fluid going through the valve body gets hot.



the manual shouldnt really need an external cooler, if your exhaust is heating your trans maybe you need a heat shield. Adding a oil cooler introduces more points of failure in the hydraulices (more external junctions that can leak) and more weight, and it will take up space ideally in an area where something that could utilize the airflow better could be probably placed (intercooler?)... I wouldnt do it unless I was absolutely positive my trans temps were getting beyond the intended operating range regularly... otherwise it just sounds like overkill, would require a pump, plumbing, and the cooler, blah.