ATF Cooler on the cheap :)

[kevsta]

hmmm.

I'm actually booked in to take it down to Tony next Friday for the full service before leaving on Saturday. but the condenser is in place fitted, plumbed in and no leaks as of this evening. I had to use one of the aircon compressor fittings on one side of it, as one side was considerably smaller than the other, but apart from the sizes and angles of the pipes, the fittings on comp & condenser are all the same.

the fans run on the air con switch only at the moment, but am going to try and wire them to start when the rad fan does.

my thinking is that as I was going to do the journey without it, this can only really make things better?

I also now have 2 blocks of 8mm steel under the bonnet mountings so airflow should be a bit better, and when my viscous silicon oil, 82 degree stat and new rad cap all arrive @ toyota on thursday the cooling system should be in pretty good order.

I have had no overheating problems with it anyway, but its a pretty tall test for a 15 year old car with common overheating under load issues. ..will see how it behaves the next few days and consider my options, thx for the link

kev

afterthought, as its pretty big, I would have thought that even the extra ATF fluid involved should help keep the box temp down a little?

[kevsta]

Initial Results

Ok, i'm feeling pretty pleased with myself with this now. I havent tried towing with it yet, but have just been out thrashing it in a big loop up and down the biggest hills around here and it all seems to be working pretty well.

I dont have accurate temp readings, but doing the touch test the flow out from the box is too hot to touch where it enters the condenser, and the other side of it is barely warm, even without the fans running. (when I ran the fans on one loop for 5 mins, the output actually felt like cold metal to touch)

It then feeds back into the rad, and is obviously heated again, and then back to the box. The pipe back to the box is warm, but not nearly as hot as the pipe feeding out of the box.

so as well as doing a super efficient cooling job on the ATF fluid, it's also actually removing heat from the rad now, rather than dumping heat into it.

all in all looking pretty good

[The Lovely Boyo]

Ok, i'm feeling pretty pleased with myself
all in all looking pretty good

Well, as you've not posted any pics how do we know what it's looking like?!?!?!?

With the amount of towing I do over the summer this has been a mod I have pondered - my condenser is in me shed mate.

A UK spec mod may be to place a valved 'T' to allow summer flow through the cooler and winter flow thorugh the normal pipe runs....???

Low tech approach instead of thermostatic valves?

[kevsta]

pics & write up.

ok, theres not really that much to show picture-wise, but for anyone who may be interested, you will need..

MATERIALS

1 faulty aircon system.
1 litre ATF fluid
6 heater hose size jubilee clips
1 foot approx of 3/8 oil pipe, (but you can cannibalise the air con pipes if you wish, they are the right size)

Firstly you'll need to have the gas safely removed if it's present. mine had all leaked away so it wasnt an issue.

Remove the bash plate, and undo the single nut that holds the condenser connections both sides. unbolt the 2 bolts at front, and 2 nuts at rear, unplug the fans and remove fan breather pipes. with a bit of wiggling it will now come off.

Now remove all the aircon pipework, (and accumulator if you can be bothered, mines still in place as didnt want to break grill clips to remove it)

You'll notice the pipe from the connection on the R/H side of condenser (looking at front of car) is smaller than the L/H side. You need to remove the fitting from the output of the compressor and use that instead, as its the same size as L/H side, and handily, theyre all interchangeable.

If youre planning on leaving compressor in situ for compressed air as I am you'll need to swap the fittings around, otherwise remove the compressor also. if youre leaving it in place disconnect the plug for the clutch so it wont start when you run the fans using the air con switch.

I stripped the condenser down, removed fans, cleaned everything, flushed it through with petrol, and then put it all back together.

Cut the aluminium air con pipes on the fittings youre going to use, being careful to leave a straight long enough for the oil pipe and jubilee clip to get a good grip on. deburr them thoroughly and wash / blow through to remove any swarf.

fit the connections back onto the condenser and get it into position with the back 2 mountings in place, it will hang on the rubber mountings ok and still allow you reasonable access to the top of it.

Ok, connecting back up, - remove the (long) ATF feed pipe from rad cooler (bottom pipe of the two that come from gearbox, this one should come from the front of box, the top one goes to the back of the box) and replace it onto LH side of condenser. Run your RH side pipe from condenser back onto the connection you just removed the last pipe from.

we're now connected through the condenser, into the rad cooler, and then back to the box. start her up & run for a couple of mins to pump through, and check for leaks. switch off.

reconnect the fans & breather tubes. I've also used most of the foam insulation from the aircon pipes, and that hard plastic pipe protector that winds round the pipes too to protect the new oil pipes.

carefully push the condenser back into place and bolt it up taking care about routing of your new oil pipes where they pass through the chassis, and lay on top of fans etc. its all a bit close with the pipes, I think the final setting may be with a couple of 10mm nuts between condenser & chassis to allow a little more room for the pipes.

switch on ignition, click on the fan blower and press the aircon switch, the fans on condenser should run. check ATF fluid level and top up to cold level. start her up again let idle for a while and check level again when warm. final check for leaks and youre ready to take her out for a run.



pic 1, LH fitting, this is the original condenser fitting, cut down, leaves about an inch of tube available. this tube was removed from rad and now goes to the ATF feed from gearbox. note protection.



pic 2, RH side, this connection came from the compressor output, and the pipe goes to the rad, where you just took the other pipe off.



just about to go back up.



compressor fittings back on, waiting for project endless air. I had to bend the tube on output a fair bit to get them both back on, but that one's steel and coped ok.

i havent included pic of finished project as apart from the side connections you wouldnt be able to tell it wasnt as standard.

usual disclaimers etc, think this information is all correct to the best of my knowledge but can accept no responsibility for any problems yada yada yada. however, I will be giving it the thousand mile 1500kg towing test in a week and a half, will keep you all updated.

kevsta

[Chillitt]

Fair play, that man, I'm glad I didn't put you off, but I'm gutted I didn't try the fittings off the pump on the condenser!!!! Hope the trip goes well

[kevsta]

cheers dude.

..it was entirely down to your input that I knew I would need to get them the same to sort the flow out.

as lots of people have also said I dont necessarily think its the ideal setup for the UK anyway unless you plumb in a Thermostatic (or not) valve as it really does drop temperature, and would prob be too much in winter.

[kevsta]

update

so I thought this may have come back to bite me in the arse today, girlfriend broke down in it just down the road and when I got there engine ran ok but no drive, and there was a big pool of red atf fluid under the front looking as though it was coming from the condenser (oil cooler)

I started to remove it thinking I'd remove it and loop it back out of the circuit and put it back to factory spec when I noticed one of the pipes I've re-routed had come off just above the cooler.

I put it back on (really tight this time) and filled her back up with fluid and hopefully may have gotten away with it, as she drove home ok and seems to pull / change ok thus far.

time will tell I suppose, but the whole time I was there I had Tony's / various other members advice from earlier in the thread ringining in my ears, about getting a proper cooler as it's cheaper than a new box etc.

[The Lovely Boyo]

But it did do the job you wanted - getting you out there.

A pipe can blow off at any time - that's why it pays to have an occasional mooch around the engine bay checking for such things.

A month ago I found a heater hose had a pin hole in it - only seen when at operating temp. £2 to replace hose - cheaper than a new head.

[kevsta]

But it did do the job you wanted - getting you out there.

A pipe can blow off at any time - that's why it pays to have an occasional mooch around the engine bay checking for such things.

A month ago I found a heater hose had a pin hole in it - only seen when at operating temp. £2 to replace hose - cheaper than a new head.

wise words. im such a slacker with routine maintenance