California Boss Hoss Transmission Oil Cooler Kit

[Elvis]

Automotive transmission temperature chart

Automatic Transmissions

OIL TEMPERATURE MEASURED AT CONVERTER OUTLET TO COOLER:

300° F=
The maximum allowable temperature. This is the recommended place to install a temperature gauge or sensor. Do not allow the converter outlet temperature to exceed 300° F. The temperature at this location will vary significantly because of load, hill climbing, etceteras. If the temperature reaches 300° F, reduce throttle. To lower transmission temperature with transmission in neutral, run the engine at 1,200 RPM for at least 2 - 3 minutes while keeping a close check for signs of engine overheating. A transmission in a heavy throttle, stall condition (a typical situation is rocking a vehicle stuck in mud, sand, or snow), may increase temperature at a rate of 1° degree per second of stall.


OIL TEMPERATURE MEASURED AT OIL PAN OR SUMP:

150° F=
The minimum operating temperature. Note: It is possible in low ambient temperatures to overcool the transmission with auxiliary oil to air coolers. Oil to water coolers in standard factory radiators will normally not overcool a transmission.


175-200° F=
Normal pan oil temperature operating range.


275° F=
Maximum allowable oil pan temperature for short durations during long hill climbs.


300° F=
Damage occurs to internal transmission parts, including warpage of metal parts, degradation of clutches, and melting of seals. Transmission oil oxidizes, (forming varnish-like substances causing further clutch slippage and compounding heat build up) and transmission oil life is extremely short.



AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID LIFE / TEMPERATURE RELATIONSHIP:

Automatic transmission oil can provide up to 100,000 miles of service before oxidation requires replacement, at an operating temperature of 175° F. Above this temperature, the oil oxidation rate doubles with each 20° degrees F increase in oil temperature. See chart.

Note: Transmission oil and filter should always be changed more frequently when driving with heavy loads (RVs), typically at least every 25,000 mile intervals, since converter outlet temperatures then normally far exceed the ideal 175° F.

[hogv8]

I'm in the thinking stages of fabricating my own extra capacity tranny oil tank and my only concern is how high above the tranny itself can a extra capacity oil tank be mounted saftly without effecting oil flow or pressure ?

Jack

[CanuckHoss]

I'm in the thinking stages of fabricating my own extra capacity tranny oil tank and my only concern is how high above the tranny itself can a extra capacity oil tank be mounted saftly without effecting oil flow or pressure ?

Jack

Jack,

My guess is that it would have to be really high to affect anything...the pump HAS to be able to allow for 2 feet of height...I could be wrong

While flushing my tranny I have had the oil line above the seat into a jug and oil flow seemed really good still...no different than when the container was on the ground and flowing into it.

I like to do a full flush of tranny oil fairly often. I first change the oil in the tranny...2 1/2 quarts...then I take the return line off at the return filter and start the bike and take out a quart of oil...shut the bike...add a quart etc until I have taken out 5 quarts...you can watch the used oil change color as the new oil gets thru things...

[SQ4MN]

I got one of their first kits and they work great. The tank fits perfect and is no lower than the tranny pan. I live in Las Vegas and the temps here in the summer go above 110 degrees. Trans temp usually only 150 degrees after it finally gets warm. They make a quality kit that lets you double your oil supply and keeps the heat to a minimum. Dave

[CanuckHoss]

Dos this fit the LS series of bikes???

[CanuckHoss]

Dos this fit the LS series of bikes???

No one knows...guess I will contact CBH then...

[CanuckHoss]

FYI...

I contacted CBH and they do make a kit as above for the LS3/LS2 bikes...dont have a price or availability yet.

I have a customer complaining of the tranny temp light being on lot on his LS3 so this is probably the ticket.

[CanuckHoss]

I got one of their first kits and they work great. The tank fits perfect and is no lower than the tranny pan. I live in Las Vegas and the temps here in the summer go above 110 degrees. Trans temp usually only 150 degrees after it finally gets warm. They make a quality kit that lets you double your oil supply and keeps the heat to a minimum. Dave

Call me ASAP 1-877-552-7883 we can't figure their stinking kit out

[KISS]

Call California Boss Hoss for help. They have a toll free number and are one of the best dealers in the USA.

[CanuckHoss]

I was trying to save an hour labour cost by posting here for help before California Boss Hoss opened.

Their kit comes with a few instructions...(pictures would have been really helpful)...does not tell where to mount the reservoir...turns out that it mounts to the tranny pan bolts at the back of the frame...trouble is that on the LS3 SS we were looking for holes that were not there because they were not drilled....until we looked closer and they were punched but not drilled...so we had to drill and tap.

Also...the complete kit was supposed to fit the LS3 SS but does not totally and the reasons are -

1 - they sent an oil temperature sender to put inline that does not mate up with the BlueTooth gauges...it mates up with the old style guages only ...therefore we had to go out and find a gauge that would work with the sender.

2 - they sent a heat sink oil cooler that in no way shape or form would mount under the front of the radiator or anywhere without some kind of fabricating brakets and such.

This is very disappointing as this should not happen when you buy a complete kit for almost $700 that is supposed to be a complete kit for an LS3 SS.

We were hugely pressed for time with this bike and the guy trailered 7 hours to get to us and we lost time trying to make things work that just were not right.

PS....I have not talked with Don at California Boss Hoss to express my concerns...that will happen tommorrow

[CanuckHoss]

Ric...I am thinking of maybe ordering just the reservoir for my bike I have now...I will add the gauge thingy myself and no extra cooler....are you intereted ij ordering one also???

[Ric]

Barry, is that picture that WM sent to start the thread, the devices that you speak of? I can clearly see the thermal cooler, hoses, and some ancilliary parts and pieces... is that Black device, the resevoire you are referring to?

Since the monitoring of temperature of my Trans... I've never crept up past 180... even in 'rock 'n roll' mode. But extra fluid might be a good thing. Where does that black tank sit on a bike? Does it take place of the 'glove compartment' under the rear seat?

I'm thinking if I make any mods to the trans. cooler... I'd like to work out a complete kit...

What's your thoughts on all of that?

[CanuckHoss]

Barry, is that picture that WM sent to start the thread, the devices that you speak of? I can clearly see the thermal cooler, hoses, and some ancilliary parts and pieces... is that Black device, the resevoire you are referring to?

Since the monitoring of temperature of my Trans... I've never crept up past 180... even in 'rock 'n roll' mode. But extra fluid might be a good thing. Where does that black tank sit on a bike? Does it take place of the 'glove compartment' under the rear seat?

I'm thinking if I make any mods to the trans. cooler... I'd like to work out a complete kit...

What's your thoughts on all of that?

Ric...if you look at the reservoir in the picture...the way it sits there is how it goes up in behind the frame and in front of the tire....tire to the left of the tank in the picture and frame to the right...one bolt actually goes right thru the tank in a galley way...it bolts to the 2 bolts that hold the belly pan in behind the frame.

The cooler that came with it that we could not fit will supposedly fit a radiator lower that is sold by someone...Tom told me that when I called him that morning for advice...yeah..called Tom...imagine that calling him when he is not supposed to know much..

I am waiting for a return email from California Boss Hoss to see what the tamk alone is worth and may insatll it on my '08 SB..

My theory is that more oil can't hurt...

We got a new Service Manager that has tons of ideas for cooling so I will see where we end up with that...we are considering remaking a crash guard with built in reservoir.

[KrautV8]

Barry,
sorry to hear that you have so much trouble with the kit. I would leave it alone if the parts don't fit. Just adding a reservoire won't help to bring the temps down as long as you don't add an additional cooler. Andy tried that long ago and he said the temps were the same, just needed longer to climb.

The kit would be nice if everything would fit perfectly, but that doesn't seem to be the case. And at 700 bucks is way to expensive to my opinion. The parts alone are worth about $100 at best. I have a Wysco trans cooler laying around which was 45 USD a couple years ago and looks the same like the one in the kit.

It's this one:
http://paradiseroadspeedandcustom.com/Wysco.html

I would send the whole kit back and buy an additional oil cooler. Just adding the reservoir and having a quart or two more trans oil won't do much if any to the temps.

Olaf

[hogv8]

As some of you know i have experimented with several different types of tranny oil coolers and the absolute best combination I have come up with is 2 double pass heat sink coolers sold by Jegs # 555-60350. I have one mounted in a custom cut out spoiler mounted under my radiator and one mounted behind my tranny . Oil comes out of the tranny passes thru the front cooler then back to pass thru the rear cooler and then back into the tranny . I very seldom see tranny temps above 160 even on hot days . These heatsink coolers sold by Jegs are very precision machined and the end caps and mounts are interchangeable to make them easy to mount just about anywhere . They are also very reasonably priced , $65.00 ea. I'd say with both coolers and lines it adds about 1 to 1 1/2 qts. of tranny oil .

Jack

[CanuckHoss]

As some of you know i have experimented with several different types of tranny oil coolers and the absolute best combination I have come up with is 2 double pass heat sink coolers sold by Jegs # 555-60350. I have one mounted in a custom cut out spoiler mounted under my radiator and one mounted behind my tranny . Oil comes out of the tranny passes thru the front cooler then back to pass thru the rear cooler and then back into the tranny . I very seldom see tranny temps above 160 even on hot days . These heatsink coolers sold by Jegs are very precision machined and the end caps and mounts are interchangeable to make them easy to mount just about anywhere . They are also very reasonably priced , $65.00 ea. I'd say with both coolers and lines it adds about 1 to 1 1/2 qts. of tranny oil .

Jack

Jack..any pictures of your coolers mounted?? Do you eliminate the stock cooler??

Thanks

Olaf...I would think extra capacity has to make some difference but I could be wrong...we had to do something when the bike was in and installing just the reservoir was the only option given the time constraints...I am anxious to get reports from the customer as he was saying that the tranny temperature light was on a lot which means quite high temps but now he has the reservoir and a temp gauge to acuurately tell WTF is going on...thanks

[SQ4MN]

Barry, I called you twice and left messages but you never called back. The theory of having the reservoir which actually holds almost 4 extra quarts is that the oil stays longer outside the actual transmission cooling down before entering the transmission again. I live in the one of the hottest cities in the United States with summer temperatures between 104 and 116 degrees every day. When leaving my city you go across a desert where the temps get even hotter. The California Boss Hoss tank and an extra cooler that I got from Marv have kept my trans temps to only about 160 degrees even in the summer and about 150 during normal weather. My trans temps stayed at only 150 degrees riding all the way to Oklahoma last year and we rode mostly 425 to 525 mile days. The tank CBH sells would be hard to fabricate as the tolerances are tight to get it to fit behind the trans in the space between it and the rear wheel. It is well made and has never leaked or cracked in the 15000 plus miles I put on since it was mounted. I used a different cooler because I already had it which I got from Marv. I think the tank is the main thing that you need to buy and it has the added benifit of dumping any metal particles that the trans might produce into a larger volume of oil which keeps the oil cleaner. My oil changes for the trans are now over 7 quarts. By the way I don't run a belly pan and noticed that 80% of the Boss Hoss bikes I see at the meets don't have the belly pan any either. Dave

[gaston 2005 502]

Jack is showing the same cooler i used. i did end up having to shorten it about 1&1/2 inches for fitment. i also installed a B&M super cooler instead of the factory cooler, i also installed the finned trans pan from BHconcepts, standard depth, not the sump, temps so far are 160 in south texas.

Darryl

[hogv8]

Barry , here is a picture of my front cooler that I fabricated . The rear cooler is the same cooler but is mounted behind the tranny on a angle bracket bolted to the two frame to tranny bolts . The rear cooler is up out of sight but believe me the combination of both coolers do the trick .

Jack

[KrautV8]

Jack,
that's a real clean setup! Any pics of the rear mounted heat sink cooler, too?

Olaf

[CanuckHoss]

Barry, I called you twice and left messages but you never called back. Dave

Dave... I apologize...for some reason I never got the messages...sorry...Thank you anyway fro trying to help us when time was short...greatly appreciated.

I am waiting to hear what the cost of just the tank is.

[hogv8]

Olaf , I'll try to get a picture of it and post it soon .

Jack

[SQ4MN]

Barry, I fully understand about leaving messages as I don't always get mine either. I'm glad you got the problem sorted out. I want 450 dollars for the tank which is half price. I want to keep it till about the end of May as I told Doc I would hold it for a couple of months for him. If he don't get it I will put it back up for sale. Dave

[SQ4MN]

Barry, I fully understand about leaving messages as I don't always get mine either. I'm glad you got the problem sorted out. I want 450 dollars for the tank which is half price. I want to keep it till about the end of May as I told Doc I would hold it for a couple of months for him. If he don't get it I will put it back up for sale. Dave

[hogv8]

Olaf , here's a picture of my rear tranny oil cooler mounted behind the tranny .This cooler is a different make than the front cooler but is a double pass also . I was thinking of fabricating a air deflector to direct more air flow to it but in conjunction with the front cooler it seems to work fine as it is .

Jack