Transmission cooler
 

Hi,
I need to know everything about the trans cooler in a jeep cherokee, how it looks, when to be replaced ... I looked through Youtube, but I could not find any useful videos ...

You mean the factory trans cooler/heat exchanger inside the radiator? It's integral to the radiator and can't be replaced separately. I'm not aware of them failing prior to the radiator itself. It's located in the end tank on the cool side (driver's side) of the radiator on a LHD setup. I can't find a picture, but it's basically this:


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...f146e67339.jpg

Nice!!
But what about this??


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...6a9de6638d.jpg

That's a tube and fin style cooler. They are cheap and durable. Another type is a plate and fine style, like this:


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...4849e3122f.jpg

These are generally more expensive better offer better cooling capacity than a tube style of the same size.

What do you do with your Jeep? Do you wheel it? Do you tow or carry heavy loads? If you do any of that, a cooler is recommended. If you are just doing daily commuting with no towing, you probably don't need one. Cherokees with the tow package came with a factory cooler.

If you need one, there are a couple ways to mount it. The picture you provided has these zip ties that hold the cooler against the radiator/AC condenser with some padding to help protect everything. Another way to mount it is to custom make some brackets and mount it to the grille supports somehow. The first way is cheap and easy and the second way is better/more secure but more difficult to do. I used the zip ties on mine and have no issues so far.

The next thing to do is to figure out which trans line you need to splice into in order to route your new cooler lines. From my research, it's better to not bypass the cooler in the radiator and run your external cooler after the fluid has passed through the radiator. That means you need to determine which line on the radiator is the return line to the trans. For me, it was the top line near the rad cap. I confirmed this by following that line back to the tranny and looking in my service manual to see which was the return line.

You do not need to replace the cooler unless it starts leaking or it's clogged somehow. It's just a simple heat exchanger.

One more thing to note, make sure the inlet/outlet ports on the cooler are either pointed up or to the side. It's a no no to point them towards the ground.

like posted above, there is the trans cooler from the radiator. if that is faulty then you most likely need to buy a new radiator as a whole.

if you're talking about aftermarket trans cooler that you can install yourself on top of the factory one, they look like a mini radiator (again, like posted above) that you install in front of the radiator/AC condenser depending on your setup, and cut into the trans lines in order to cool the fluid better. usually people don't bypass the factory trans cooler in the radiator when doing this, you simply take the fluid coming out of the raditor, send it into your new cooler, and then route the outgoing fluid to the transmission itself. for installation look on youtube, many videos explaining this.

i got mine from a WJ, used the power steering cooler which is actually pretty big, and use it as a trans cooler. I had to get all the lines and fittings, but I have about 15$ in my setup, compared to $80+ brand new ones. looks like this :

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...abad190fcd.jpg

Thanks to all