Our 98 Beaver Patriot 37', Cat 330 has always overheated. Some years ago, we added the blowby extension tube, small CAT pulley, SMC 9 blade fan at Beaver Service center. Still overheated. Next, at Bend Equipment, we had all the radiator, CAC, etc removed and cleaned with a pressure washer. (But this costs an "arm and a leg" since it takes hours to do)
At the same time, the transmission lines were totally removed from the radiator and a huge external cooler was added on the rear at the upper right side. This seemed great until we started traveling in 85 degree to 100 degree weather and driving continuously several hours. After 2 to 3 hours of continuous driving at under 65 mph, the trans temp (as read on the Silverleaf VSMII dash computer) gradually builds up to 240 degrees or more. At 240 degrees, I stop for 5 to 10 minutes as it cools fairly fast and that is good for another hour or more of travel.
So here is where I would like some ideas from the forum:
1. Would I benefit from reconnecting the trans cooler to the radiator and using both in series for cooling? (But this puts more load on the engine coolant and coolant temp will increase)
2. Would I benefit from adding a second cooler and mounting it on the side with a fan and running these two coolers in series?
3. Has anyone added more external transmission cooling and how did you do it and how has it worked?
The transmission is the Allison 3060 and it is running Dextron. I do plan on changing to Transcend which will help some but any thoughts on this situation would be appreciated.
beaverlarry