TheSamba.com :: View topic - GoWesty vs. Van Cafe AT Cooler (vs. leave it)

Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:14 pm

Beautiful! Great score, that! Does the Seller have more of these? Oh - also, can these be stacked, end-to-end? I'm thinking engine oil here...

PS - Fluid temp figure is from turbodieselregister.com, back when I was hauling powerboats with my 95 Dodge diesel pickup. Recommendation was to keep the fluid as close to 150° as possible. Don't know what is the ideal temp for Vanagons.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:40 am

sbclayton wrote: Beautiful! Great score, that! Does the Seller have more of these? Oh - also, can these be stacked, end-to-end? I'm thinking engine oil here...

Here is the place I bought mine from. This is a 12" model, but they say in the ad that they have 24" available.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-ALUMINUM-TRANSMISSION-COOLER-DUAL-LINE-TRANS-FINNED-/330506327852

I think you could stack the single line models (inlet on one end - outlet on the other).

Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:50 pm

Thanks all! Going with either GoWesty or Smallcar I guess. Definitely going to replace.

Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:16 pm

does anybody have a picture of the Small Car auto tranny cooler installed in their van? I have two stock propane tanks under the van so I want to know if I have enough room for this cooler.

Any reason why I shouldn't buy the Small Car cooler? It is about $170 compared to the $300 cooler options from VanCafe and GoWesty.

Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:04 pm

Just ordered the van-cafe version. My thoughts are that this solution removes two coolant lines, and adds none (oil lines that is). Therefore the KISS rule prevails. I don't winter drive the van.

Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:55 pm

Finished installing my copy of the Go Westy setup.

Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:26 pm

Super sweet sano install! :D :D :D

Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:11 am

Ok, decided. Going with VanCafe cooler. It is the only option that retains the stock location, no additional hoses needed and space under the van is becoming precious with all the new mods and extras that are and will be available. I don't need a thermostat in California and the Small Car option seems to stick down a bit based on comments here.

Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:53 pm

Just finished installed the Van Cafe auto transmission cooler. It's a very well machined piece, eliminating the coolant hoses, and not adding any oil hoses. Therefore this part is a smart addition in one's efforts to create a very reliable traveler IMHO. My conversion has 50% more HP than stock, therefore the transmission gets loaded up pretty good with a full load, trailer out back, kayaks on top, and cruising at 110km/hr.

Next, the engine oil cooler is being replaced with a Mocal 25 row unit with the same objective...lower oil temps (higher oil pressure) and no chance of a cooler failure allowing oil/coolant mixing.

A few points as the cooler does not ship with instructions:

1. You need to support the engine/trans, remove the rear engine/trans mount entirely, and lower the back end about 3 inches to access the two cooler banjo bolts. I raised the entire van up on truck stands to allow easy access. Doing a pile of work at the same time..

2. Clean up the tranny/mount electrical ground while you're in there!! If it's missing...then make sure you replace it. This is a thick braided copper cable grounding the transmission to the body. I'd say this cable is pretty important for efficient starter grounding.

3. The kit has four o-rings. Two go between cooler and transmission in the machined grooves for them. The banjo bolts holding the cooler on have two more o-rings hiding in the bolt heads...they are easy to miss. Replace them with new ones in the kit.

4. The cooler must be mounted so that the "ears" (wider section) are at the top of the cooler, not towards the ground. If you put it on backwards, you'll find your mistake when you try to put the rear engine mount back on! When you remove the stock cooler and coolant hoses, you'll lose a small amount of ATF, and 2-3 liters of coolant. Leave the expansion coolant tank cap on to minimize coolant loss by siphoning.

5. The kit (depending on your variation) may include a coolant hose coupler. I don't suggest using it, but rather blocking off the hoses, or replacing them. Using the hose union just "short circuits" coolant flow between return and supply with no resistance...so will decrease cooling efficiency.

6. Obviously you'll need to add ATF, as well as engine coolant. Then bleed/burp away :-)

Cheers,
Dennis.

Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:06 pm

ursaworks wrote: gw at cooler here, does NOT use coolant, liked the thermostat and the narrow profile under the van. really easy to install.

X2, love it.. although I'd like to be able to monitor my oil temps in the tranny, so I am going to be adding a guage..

Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:38 am

denwood wrote: Just ordered the van-cafe version. My thoughts are that this solution removes two coolant lines, and adds none (oil lines that is). Therefore the KISS rule prevails. I don't winter drive the van.

X2

I currently have the GW version, and I have been happy with it. However, I'm going to go with the "Van Cafe" heat-sink version after my engine install/tranny rebuild in the interest of simplicity. Also, it is interesting to note that German Transaxle offers this as an option and seems to prefer it FWIW. Their price is also $299 (installed or separate).

Fri May 17, 2013 9:12 am

I will be going with the Van Cafe kit..

I had installed the go westy cooler, which took very long to arrive, only to have the thermostat assy fail, part was RMA'd a new part was shipped supposedly never to show up.. appears the part is back - ordered.. 3 weeks..

It's all going back.. crappy parts, poor customer service.. nice install though.. not a part or company I can trust, or rely on..

Fri May 17, 2013 3:00 pm

I've heard a few cases of GoWesty cooler kits losing oil thru the hose connections. I'm sure others with these kits have nad no problems.

My VanCafe cooler has given me no problem so far.

Fri May 17, 2013 5:52 pm

My leak seems to be at the thermostat on the side, the O ring was broken.. that should be remedied tomorrow, but I am not thrilled to do it..

Sat May 18, 2013 10:34 am

O ring replaced... very happy with install.. settled up with Go Westy..

All good, they could save themselves grief with a bit more quality control..

Sat Aug 17, 2013 10:16 pm

O-rings with the gowesty kit? We're they included or did you go get them after it leaked? Do I need these? My kit certainly did not ship with o-rings and there aren't any in the new hose fittings they provided. It's all just metal on metal.

I am installing it this weekend but got stuck when I realized maybe I should pinch off the coolant hoses but I can't quite reach them with my vice grip+old bike tube pinching contraption. At the same time I wonder how effective the union of the two coolant hoses will be after I (likely) butcher them while trying to pry them off the old cooler. Some have said this is an easy job.. Guess I wasn't properly prepared!

Sun Aug 18, 2013 1:38 am

it is a pretty easy job..

the O ring was in my leaky thermostat the cooler uses. if your cooler does not leak, you don't need any O rings..

Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:15 pm

Well it finally did go on pretty easily.

The 'tough' part was all me, paranoid of the jack dropping the tranny a little too much and breaking something. took a while dropping the transmission 1/2" at a time and re-checking all its connections to make sure I wasn't breaking anything. But it sure did drop about 6" without straining the accelerator cable.

Only spilled a few oz. of ATF from the banjo bolts, and maybe an oz. of coolant. pretty clean job. Was easier to access the coolant lines for clamping/removal from the cooler by removing the banjo bolts FIRST, and being able to move the cooler around a bit.

Time will tell if there are any leaks, but none so far after a run around the block..

Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:56 am

Reviving this thread as I may be about to replace my transaxle.

How cold is cold enough to start worrying about the lack of ATF warming when using the VC cooler vs the GW thermostat controlled unit? What would be the result of driving the van when the ATF is "too cold"?

I typically park the van for winter so it rarely gets driven in temps below 25F.

Thanks

Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:00 pm

To a point, cooler ATF fluid generally doesn't hurt anything but parasitic drag. If you start getting to sub-zero temps..let everything (engine, transmission and you) warm a little up first prior to driving off down the road.

Right now I'm using Valvoline Maxlife atf full synthetic..which has excellent cold flow properties and our Vanagon/VW transmissions seem to do very well with it. Readily available anywhere and not too expensive.

Warning though..the Maxfife ATF stinks big time..a very strong odor..don't know why. Don't spill any in your attached garage or you smell it for a few days.