I finished wiring up my B&M Hi-Tek transmission cooler with fan to a Spal relay last night. Initial results are amazing (based on the Bully Dog GT readings)!
Here are my intake, coolant, and transmission temperatures when I got to work yesterday morning (25 minute stop-and-go commute) before I had the fan hooked up:
Here's a picture of the temperature readings after my commute this morning (same amount of time and hit the same peak mph):
That's a ~30 degree drop (it's important to note that I've been radiator cooler bypassed for over 20K miles)!
Here are some pictures of my install:
B&M vs. OEM
No space for additional cooler:
Had to make 3/8" to 5/16" adapters since the fittings I used on the cooler have size AN-6 barbs and the OEM hard lines use a 5/16" I.D. hose. Alternatively, you can use an 11/32" ID transmission hose that will work with both 3/8" and 5/16" barbs, which is what I plan on doing. The white parts in the picture are 1" nylon spacers found at the orange big box hardware store
Here's the distance between the puller fan and radiator:
Spal relay mounted above the right headlight (yellow wire connected to fuse holder and then to battery + terminal; orange wire connected to switched +12v circuit; red wire connected to the red wire from the fan; grey wire connected to one of the wires on the sending unit (use the other wire from the sending unit to ground it to the chassis):
Grounding location for the fan (bottom left corner); you can also see the blue loom (carrying the orange wire) that's running along the passenger side of the engine bay:
Grounding location for the temperature switch/sending unit:
The thicker red cable holds a 15amp fuse and is connected to the yellow wire of the relay, which provides power to the fan:
I used a fuse tap/add-a-circuit (max of 10amp fuse in each slot) in the ECU fuse box... tapped the reverse lights:
Also had to notch the lid of the ECU fuse box to allow the wire to pass through:
Total time of install was ~ 4.5 hours. You can't hear the fan running from the cabin, but it's neat watching the transmission temp dip while sitting in traffic!
Last edited by goblue90 on Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
NYpath, I unfortunately have no idea what airhorns they are. I had them installed with my alarm system 4 years ago.
PandarTuro, I split it up into two days...
Day 1: Removed the stock cooler and installed the new one. I had to fabricate some brackets to accomplish this. Time ~ 2 hours.
Day 2: Wired the relay, which involved crimping wires, running looms, and drilling holes to ground the fan and temperature switch. Time ~ 2.5 hours (triple checked everything).
I paid ~ $225 for the cooler and $35 for the relay kit:
Here they are on Amazon (you can find the cooler cheaper elsewhere):
I am going to try this once the weather here in GA cools off some..I may come back and ask you some questions if you dont mind..
One quck question...how did you get the grill off? I have an 06 Pathfinder and I did the bypass today...The exteranal trans cooler is easy to get to to remove if you can get the grill off...any quick way of doing it?