NFGT Trans Cooler

[gregmhtd]

Has anyone ever had an issue with their transmission cooler cracking. Mine cracked in after 2 months of owning the car, Ford replaced the cooler and transmission lines after 3 months of back and forth diagnostics with the dealer. Now 3 1/2 years later it happened again. Ford is willing to replace at a 70% discount, still $5K, but if this is an issue I have a custom option I can go with and for about the same out of pocket expense. Almost 10K miles on the GT, curious if anyone else has seen this issue.

 

[Biginch Blake]

Yes, there have been many failures including mine. There replacement coolers will also crack over time. Myself and some others went to the cooler manufacturer in Indy and they have a better/beefy cooler. I can dig some if you would like. Ford will not install, we had to do it ourselves. I think it will only work on cars that had the “upgrade” coolers and lines that Ford installed.

 

[fjpikul]

I have one of the coolers as Big Inch described. My original has not leaked yet, but some of the video I have seen shows bubbles coming out at the joints, not some gushing stream. There is a small weep hole probably covered with PPF that hides the leak. I think it is not a matter of if, but when. Sounds to me like Ford is giving you a good deal on an out of warranty car.

 

[Sinovac]

Yes, there have been many failures including mine. There replacement coolers will also crack over time. Myself and some others went to the cooler manufacturer in Indy and they have a better/beefy cooler. I can dig some if you would like. Ford will not install, we had to do it ourselves. I think it will only work on cars that had the “upgrade” coolers and lines that Ford installed.

Blake, who makes the OEM cooler?

 

[DakotaGT]

Disappointing to hear, but great info guys- thanks. I better check and see if my PPF is masking a problem.

 

[Biginch Blake]

This is the information on the supplier that Brian and I had built the coolers. They built the original ones but this is a heavy duty one.

 

[Biginch Blake]

Better photo

 

[fjpikul]

Note that the price from Ford is more than what you see on this invoice. The lines have to be replummed and very costly fluid replaced. I will wait and see if mine starts to leak before I replace. I have 8700 miles on the car now.

 

[gregmhtd]

This is the information on the supplier that Brian and I had built the coolers. They built the original ones but this is a heavy duty one.

are you saying this is the company built and supplied all the coolers to Multimatic, which are the ones that are failing, but came out with a heavy duty version? If this is a common defect and ongoing problem, seems it should be a recall, they should not be failing, and if the HD version works, should have been used from the beginning. Could be that many of these cars aren't driven enough for the problem to occur...yet

 

[fjpikul]

Yes this is the company that furnished them to Multimatic. I don't think anyone knows the failure rate except Ford. Your warranty is 3 years unlimited mileage. An upgrade to a vehicle line is not unusual but they don't retrofit earlier models. The L series cars and beyond got 13 more horsepower than mine but you can't change my J series to the upgrade. When gauges started to go out in the 05-06 cars, the official response was you had a 3 year warranty. Sorry.

 

[Sinovac]

I’m familiar with C&R and have their coolers on other cars. I’m surprised to hear of the failures. The ones I’ve purchased have been bulletproof.

 

[Biginch Blake]

The failures do not have anything to do with the top quality C&R coolers, they are the premier cooler manufacturer for racing. It is caused by the restriction in the cooler mounting. It can not expand and contract with the temperature changes.

 

[Sinovac]

The failures do not have anything to do with the top quality C&R coolers, they are the premier cooler manufacturer for racing. It is caused by the restriction in the cooler mounting. It can not expand and contract with the temperature changes.

Do you think modifying the OEM mount, if possible, will extend the life of the stock cooler?

 

[Nafod]

Curious what year your car is.. Updated mounts may have been incorporated in later year cars..
Blake, did you have to modify anything to get the heavy duty unit to fit? Thanks

 

[fjpikul]

I can answer for Blake: yes and yes. His car is an H model. His original cooler started to leak and was replaced with an upgrade under warranty. It started to leak as well. The third time he replaced himself with the newest cooler. Some plumbing had to be rearranged and the mounting was altered. Curiously, the passenger side is a much better fit and seating. Blake can elaborate more.

Luckily he has his own lift at home and did not have to bend over.

 

[STORMCAT]

Has anyone ever had an issue with their transmission cooler cracking. Mine cracked in after 2 months of owning the car, Ford replaced the cooler and transmission lines after 3 months of back and forth diagnostics with the dealer. Now 3 1/2 years later it happened again. Ford is willing to replace at a 70% discount, still $5K, but if this is an issue I have a custom option I can go with and for about the same out of pocket expense. Almost 10K miles on the GT, curious if anyone else has seen this issue.

I've done the replacement twice , two different cars. ( a converted 2017 and a 2018. ) Exact same failure . Get the heavy duty cooler from PWR . The problem is the clutch fluid cooler is rigidly mounted with no allowance for expansion and contraction. I oversized the mounting holes and added silicone grommets to allow some movement. I may do a write up of the process. I worked with Blake when he did his replacement.
Ford made a engineering change from a single plate Setrab cooler in 2017 to the two separate PWR trans coolers and did not do any Rubber isolation. The original Setrab set up had rubber isolators. The oil cooler on the other side is a Setrab cooler and it has full rubber isolation on the mounts..
All cars from 2017 that were updated two the two trans cooler setup and cars built to the end of production are rigidly mounted and are more that likely will fail after repeated heat cycles.. My friends 2020 failed and was replaced under warranty.
Would take a few hours to explain all of the repair procedure and post all the pictures of the failures and modifications .. here's a couple pictures of the new heavy duty cooler next to the OEM cooler and the oversized hole with grommets . You can see the cross flow tubes are much larger on the new HD cooler. And for the record We did a really good controlled side by side drive matching speed and conditions and the larger tube cooler has a higher flow and did run a few degrees cooler across the board which was not a surprise.
This curious cat had that suspicion that's why I did the test..

 

[DakotaGT]

I've done the replacement twice , two different cars. ( a converted 2017 and a 2018. ) Exact same failure . Get the heavy duty cooler from PWR . The problem is the clutch fluid cooler is rigidly mounted with no allowance for expansion and contraction. I oversized the mounting holes and added silicone grommets to allow some movement. I may do a write up of the process. I worked with Blake when he did his replacement.
Ford made a engineering change from a single plate Setrab cooler in 2017 to the two separate PWR trans coolers and did not do any Rubber isolation. The original Setrab set up had rubber isolators. The oil cooler on the other side is a Setrab cooler and it has full rubber isolation on the mounts..
All cars from 2017 that were updated two the two trans cooler setup and cars built to the end of production are rigidly mounted and are more that likley will fail after repeated heat cycles.. My friends 2020 failed and was replaced under warranty.

I would love to see a writeup of your "fix" Brian! Sounds like a good approach, given the description of the problem. No signs of issues with mine so far, but I would definitely be up for a little DIY project like that, BEFORE mine starts to fail.

 

[STORMCAT]

Do you think modifying the OEM mount, if possible, will extend the life of the stock cooler?

yes.

 

[STORMCAT]

I would love to see a writeup of your "fix" Brian! Sounds like a good approach, given the description of the problem. No signs of issues with mine so far, but I would definitely be up for a little DIY project like that, BEFORE mine starts to fail.

I used high temp / oil resistant silicone gromets and washers. I thought the first failure was fluke , when seeing the exact same failiure a second time I knew there was a design problem .. I documented the whole process knowing we be having this discussion some day .. many pictures and part numbers. , alternate fluid sources etc.. Would take hours to do a proper write up ..
I shared some of the parts with Blake because I had surplus parts from my purchase. I had many conversations and discussions with PWR.. I even sent the first failed cooler to them for inspection. After the second failure on my end they saw the big picture and were going to make a Part number for a GT replacement. I bought two.. sorry this a long story and don't have much time to write today I'll do a seminar at the rally lol,,