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Thread: Fitting an oil cooler to a manual trans.

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    The master farter
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    Fitting an oil cooler to a manual trans.

    I've been toying with the idea to fit an oil cooler to my gearbox. Reasons being, ever since having the TD42 in, I tend to burn the gearbox oil when towing. And the gearbox gets very hot to touch.
    I spoke with three different places and all said the same thing. With the amount of torque my motor is producing, when towing this puts massive strain on the gearbox.
    They said to not flog it in 5th when towing as its not good for 5th and bla bla bla. My first ever run I did since the TD implant I flogged the living ship out of it litteraly as the joys of having power on tap whilst dragging 1.6T or so behind me was way too much fun. I found I couldn't select first gear after a haul and coming into a town. Once it cooled down I was fine. I then dropped the oil when I was home and it was burnt to a crisp....
    I since learnd my lesson and used 4th more and backed off a fair bit, only using the power on hand when it was really needed. But, the oil burning issue is still here, not anywhere near as bad though. I've used different branded oils, mineral and synthetic. The latter worked better...
    It was suggested to me to fit an oil cooler.

    So anyone done this? I'm thinking it might be a job for the experts to fit. As an external pump and cooler will be needed obviously. But I'd like to have a crack myself if I could. Drilling and tapping new holes in the box would be the hardest part I would think. Plus the right location selection too of these holes...

    Cheers.

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    Patrol God nissannewby's Avatar
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    What oil are you using and what condition is your box in?
    I towed far bigger loads than you describe and also in 5th but never had an issue with oil burning or issues with selection.

    An external cooler will be an expensive add on as yoi said it will require its own pump. The pump will be the tricky bit as it has to be able to pump gear oil with its heavier viscosity. Then there is how you are going to drive the pump mechanical or electric. The earlier manuals do have a provision for a pto which you could possibly use to drive a pump.

    But again I think the issue may be somewhere else as myself and many others have no problems with the box and towing decent loads for extended periods. Even people with a lot more power and torque than what you are running.

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    The master farter
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    Quote Originally Posted by nissannewby View Post
    What oil are you using and what condition is your box in?
    I towed far bigger loads than you describe and also in 5th but never had an issue with oil burning or issues with selection.

    An external cooler will be an expensive add on as yoi said it will require its own pump. The pump will be the tricky bit as it has to be able to pump gear oil with its heavier viscosity. Then there is how you are going to drive the pump mechanical or electric. The earlier manuals do have a provision for a pto which you could possibly use to drive a pump.

    But again I think the issue may be somewhere else as myself and many others have no problems with the box and towing decent loads for extended periods. Even people with a lot more power and torque than what you are running.
    Matt but the top of my head it was Castrol, then Nulon (I think), then Penrite. The Penrite and Nulon( I think) were in the synthetic variants. Then I went back to Castrol VMX-M 75/85 and used the Nulon smooth shift stuff. This seem to work and feel the best. I haven't tried any other Synthetic oils though. Mainly because of the high ticket price and the thought of what if it doesn't help? I have just burnt money for nothing.

    As for condition of the box. Not exactly known. I do know that the fifth gear upgrade was done in the box prior to my purchase of the car around 5years ago. So I assume all the bearings were done at the same time. It is the ZD30 box too, not the TD box which has different gear ratios. Thinking more about this now, I do have a slight gear change issue going from 3rd to 4th if I am giving the car the berries. Synchro's are worn there I'm guessing... Normal driving, no issue.

    I had a thought that the different ratios from the ZD box to the TD box could have an influence in whats happening. But it could just be the box is old and a wee bit tired. But I never had this issue when the ZD was in. I also had a thought to find a TD box anyhow. Because of the correct ratios in this box for the TD42.
    The car does roughly 20-25k per year. And the oil needs a change every 12 months, sometimes, twice in this time. No metal flakes have every come out with the oil I will add.

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    Patrol God nissannewby's Avatar
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    Synthetic oil will always be better for heat and torque abilitys. Another thing which you have to make sure is its a gl4 spec oil.

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    Beginner gdb's Avatar
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    Muskdi. My 5th let go in my car 2 years ago lugging my work trailer up Melbaa hwy. When we dropped the oil it was more like water from the Chinese yellow river than oil.
    Supposedly this happens after the oil gets cooked under load as it loses every single aspect of lubrication. The blokes who pulled my gearbox out, said that as 5th was getting worn out it was getting bound up as it was out of sync and heating up big time that way eventually giving up entirely. Maybe you have a similar issue.
    Garry
    2004 Y61 TD4.2TI Wagon

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