[GeeAea]

My son has a null and void a/c on his Bronco.....has anyone ever used a condenser as a trans or oil cooler? Granted the size is more suited for a motor home.....but does anyone see any reason why it wouldn't work or possible liabilities? Yes.......we are looking for opinions here.

GeeAea

Figures don't lie ....... but liars sure do figure.

 

[Guest]

i did just that on my 79 chev van when the ac took a dump. i ran the tranny fluid through the ac condenser for several years. just last year i hired out the replacement of ac and replaced old ac condenser with a new one along with a new tranny cooler.
good luck
steve

 

[CJDave]

/wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif This is probably the 200th time that this idea has either crossed my mind; made it's way into one of my vehicles; or has been brought up at a bull session over coffee, and the answer is absolutely yes. Most A/C condensers have big enough tube to do the job. If there IS a problem to this, here it is: Oil coolers usually present a lot of oil to the air for a short period of time. They are either big tube, not very long, or many small tubes in parallel. A/C condensers; on the other hand; can often have one very LONG circuit. A/C coils are looking for that huge "Delta T" whereas oil coolers are looking to drop maybe 20-30 degrees and then it's back to the pan guys and get to work. In the winter, the cooling may be too much, and the friction losses through the coil can get high. I noticed that some cooler kits in Summit racing stuff catalog have thermal by-pass setups to make the lube go to the cooler only when it is hot. I could be wrong, but I think Jokewagons are like that. Our 1966 Karmann Ghia has either an air diverter that doesn't cool the coils when the engine is cold, or an oil diverter, since air-cooled mills depend on oil cooling to a very great extent./wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif Well.....did I make the simple, complicated enough?/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif

CJDave
I never believe any statistics unless my moonguys /wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif made 'em up themselves.

 

[GeeAea]

Thanks to both of you for confirming my confidence and misgivings of this use of the condenser. I knew the pressure integrity was more than up to the job. It is a bit big by most standards.... Perma Cool has a 180 degree thermonstat .......which JCW get $42 for. I have such a thermonstat that I was saving for the TJ's oil cooler .......but given the 4.0's quick warm up......I may let the boy have it.
Yes, Dave ....... you added just enough information to make it interesting. Where would we be with just the simple yes or no?

Thanks again,

GeeAea


Figures don't lie ....... but liars sure do figure.