Mitsuru wrote:As everybody keeps saying cooling is good!
Then here is a question, what about heating, and the correct/best
operating temperature for the oils which are used in the various
different systems which people keep forgetting.
Consider this in the Chrysler Neon radiator there is cooling for the
automatic transmission. But how many realise this also works in
reverse for those cold mornings, as the car is sat ticking over and
warming it's self and demisting the inside. The heat is helping to
get the transmission fluid to usable state quicker.
And thus less stress and wear on the Transmission than on a car
which has a separate transmission oil cooler.
What is it this cooler in the radiator? A coil of pipe just in one of the
tanks of the radiator, not even half the length of that tank.
If you take this to it's logical con conclusion for smaller engined
vehicles or those that are in colder climates, having not only the
transmission cooled inside the tank of radiator but also one or the
power steering makes common sense idea for older cars(if possible).
So how many people have realised this?
And how many have actually done something to help their cherished
old car by doing something like this?
Just a thought, to get you thinking
Mitsuru some of the others here are right, you are trying to argue that major automotive manufacturers don't know what they are doing, its like these people who say that some magic cathode/anode system they retrofit on their car doubles the MPG. If that were really the case, in todays "economy is everything" world do you really not think manufacturers would develop and fit this system to their cars? If Say Ford developed a Mondeo that could suddenly do 200mpg, I guarantee that would instanstly be the best selling car in Europe.
I have done both diplomas and degrees in Automotive engineering so have had a lot of experience. Cooling IS good but to maintain the car at OPTIMUM running temperature, this is the temperature at which there are the least frictional losses due to lubricants working correctly, flame fronts travelling at their more efficient and gasses being evacuated etc. I did one whole semester on thermodynamics of engines alone, its a huge subject.
Yes, coolant heats up quicker than oil and on cold startup the heat spread from the coolant will help warm the engine and oil to an extent (Something like 96% of the heat an engine expels is around the cylinder head area), thats what you see these adaptors you can buy that route the collant around the oil filter, to give you quicker oil warm up. Though this used on a lot of modern cars anyway such as Fords.
Oil coolers for automatic gearboxes are generally only needed for when the gearbox is working hard (like towing a caravan). And like a previous poster said, auto gearboxes just like engines, have thermostats. My old E36 3 series had an oil cooler but the finned pipe which essentially all it was held so little oil it would have made no difference to the heating up of the gearbox.
The O/P is talking about his family's Volvo though and Volvo have been fitting transmission coolers in the radiators since the days of the 120 series, possibly earlier. I'd love to state at this point that they never fail but that wouldn't explain how one of my 142s and the most recent 245DL both had new radiators with separate coolers strapped in available space beside the rad. Quite unnecessary I'd have thought, unless using the cars for towing. The 8 valve Dolomites managed nicely without a transmission cooler preferring the (cheaper, for certain) option of the link pipe between the takeoff stubs on their BW65 transmission and the 16 valve cars surely only had a cooler to provide a source of borsting rights for use down the pub? 
I like the note about boasting rights, "hey ya know ma cars got twooo of them radiators!"