300TDi auto cooler replacement

**slug_burner** · 1st December 2009, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by ahebron

I gave up on a P38a cooler and went and bought and Aussie made aftermarket Driveline Coolmaster CKT-038XL auto trans cooler, the biggest one! It is about 75% bigger by my calculations than Disco one.
I made up mounting brackets from a length of electrical din rail mount and fixed them using existing mounting holes on the car. To connect up the hose I unscrewed the fittings from the bottom of the old cooler and sourced 2 16mm x 1.5mm thread couplings and 2 x 3/8 barbs. Drilled the couplings out to 11.5mm and turned the barb down to fit snug through the hole. Then assembled the coupling and barb onto the old adaptors and brazed them all together. I could not make them seal just by using PTFE tape and goo so thought bugger it and got the oxy acetylene set out.
Bolted it all up and it works so far. Have yet to go and test the overtemp light yet but fingers crossed.
I have had thoughts about fitting one of those inline auto trans filters to catch the crud and keep it away from the cooler. Had another idea about fitting a relay in the airconditioning fan circuit and controling it with a temp switch so that fan runs when the cooler gets too hot.
We shall wait and see

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Hope you don't have engine cooling problems now. Nice job.

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 1st December 2009, 06:29 PM

its an interesting question slugburner,,

it seems all manfacturers put the rad all the way at the back,,
behind all those other coolers,,

I am beginning to believe NO car-generated airflow is required .
if the temp goes up the viscous fan draws air through.

as a quick test,, who has put their spotties DIRECTLY in front of the rad?? and did this make any difference?

am quite happy to be shot down in flames!!

**ahebron** · 1st December 2009, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

its an interesting question slugburner,,

it seems all manfacturers put the rad all the way at the back,,
behind all those other coolers,,

I am beginning to believe NO car-generated airflow is required .
if the temp goes up the viscous fan draws air through.

as a quick test,, who has put their spotties DIRECTLY in front of the rad?? and did this make any difference?

am quite happy to be shot down in flames!!

I am with you on this one Pedro. As can be seen from my photos I have mounted a pair of Cibies on the A-bar and have noticed no difference in running temp since I fitted them. Auto temp light came on before and after fitting.
I have got about 2 inches air space behind the new cooler so that should help.
In the UK they fit bigger intercoolers out front on the non-air con cars so I don't think my cooler will make that much difference. I did think about moving it to the left or central but that would have blocked what little air there is from getting to the intercooler.

Plus remember over here in NZ the ambient air temp is a heck of a lot less than in Oz, especially for us in the Wellington region

. My temp gauge has never moved above half, infact it sits at about 40% all the time once engine warm.

I did read that the TDi engine is over cooled compared to the V8s. I believe a diesel is thermally more efficient than a petrol engine.
A few owners on LRUK are running TDis without the viscous fan and have no trouble.

Anyone have any experience of inline oil filters on auto trans?

Adrian

**B92 8NW** · 5th December 2009, 08:35 PM

Vis a vis an inline filter, I've been told the fluid flow changes direction when the lockup engages - hence not advisable. Stand to be corrected/rebuked/chastisted lol!

**ahebron** · 6th December 2009, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by B92 8NW

Vis a vis an inline filter, I've been told the fluid flow changes direction when the lockup engages - hence not advisable. Stand to be corrected/rebuked/chastisted lol!

Hey that means it will reclean the oil every time the lock up disengages

Sorry couldn't pass that one.

Adrian

**codboy** · 7th December 2009, 09:07 PM

Mechanic of at least a couple of years and have come across a couple of disco's that have fried the auto on beach runs , ussually when towing trailers. When investigating i found that the both auto cooling lines run right up against the exhaust for a considerable distance. My cheap option is to shroud them, but it maybe worth re-routing? Just a thought, will not help if the cooler is blocked!!

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Cooling lines run along the exhaust

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