Use A/C condensor as a trans cooler???

[Blackbart's secret name]

I am not a big fan of A/C, never use it, almost. I have had more than my fair share of tranny problems over the last so I decided to install a cooler. I was looking for a good spot to put one when I thought about the condenser. If I flushed it out good, why wouldn't it work?

[Legacy777]

I probably wouldn't use it. You could pull it out and put a trans cooler in its place though.

[Blackbart's secret name]

But this is so BIG! And it's already there, no need to make brackets.
Why wouldn't you use it? Aside from the fact that it had something else in it and may not get cleaned good enough?

[vrg3]

I think it would work okay. Strictly speaking, it's not designed with the same goals as a transmission cooler or intercooler radiator (since refrigerant enters the condenser as a gas even though it leaves as a liquid), so the water might not be able to use all the cooling surface area, but I think it oughtta work anyway. I think -K- is using his condenser in his AWIC setup, actually.

[MY92]

Do you really think that the A/C condenser could handle ATF temperatures?

I could'nt live without A/C here in NZ, currently out weather is like 27degC and 90% humidity.

Thank god for climate control I say

[vrg3]

I think it should be able to. It's all metal, aside from the O-rings, isn't it?

Hm. That's a good point. You might want to replace the o-rings with ones that you know ATF can't eat through.

Anyway, refrigerant leaving the compressor is typically at a temperature similar to the engine's operating temperature. So the ATF won't be much -- if at all -- hotter than high-pressure gaseous refrigerant.

[Legacy777]

When I said I wouldn't do it.....my main concern is the fact you probably won't be able to get all the refrigerent out of it. So there's going to be some amount of contamination between the old refrigerant/oil, and the ATF fluid.

The other thing to take into consideration. You have no idea how well or how poor this thing will cool.

If it cools too much, that can be just as bad. If it doesn't cool that much, you just wasted time and added a fair amount of atf fluid to the system.

One last issue......how are you going to hook the atf lines up to the condensor?

Regardless of what you do, I highly recommend running any aftermarket tranny cooler in series with the stock cooler in the radiator. Run the line from the transmission into the aftermarket cooler, and then into the radiator cooler. That will serve as a temperature stabilizer and not allow temps to get too low.

If you wanted to be real fancy. Put a three way valve inline, so during the summer, you can divert the fluid around the radiator, and take full advantage of the aftermarket cooler.

[tris91ricer]

The AC condensor was not meant for a viscous fluid like ATF, plain and simple. In theory, it's a good idea, but we discussed this when Art, Laurel and I were hunting for a smaller heat exchanger/radiator deal for her AWIC. It just wasn't designed for it, although it looks easy to do..
If you're feeling up to it, scrap your AC, but keep in mind you might want to invest in some tint, and good window motors when summertime arrives.
The spot where the condensor sits is a perfect spot for a trans cooler, though. I'm getting one.