I am going to install a p.s. cooler. There is already a tranny cooler on it now but it is not flush on the radiator. It is mounted on a bracket with about a 1" gap or so from the radiator. Should I mount the p.s. cooler the same way?(It would make it easy to mount) My thinking is with the gap the air is not being forced through the cooler????? What do you guys think???
power steering cooler install
- Thread starter heinz
- Start date
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
Based on what I've seen from OEM (Mopar) PS coolers, forcing lots of airflow through the cooler isn't really necessary. Just having a small "heat sink" to radiate heat out of the fluid seems to work well.
Example #1: Find a V8 WJ with the factory tow package. Look through the left-most grille slat. See the tiny cooler off to the side? That's for the PS fluid. It's mounted a long way out in front (relatively speaking) of the radiator and A/C condenser... but it seems to do its job just fine.
Example #2: open the hood of a new '05 Dakota (I think this is in the new Dakota) with the tow package. In front of the condenser is the lower support. Attached to the front of this is an odd metallic tube which runs full-width. There are no cooling fins; just an exposed metal tube. This is the PS fluid cooler. Again, it seems to work to the satisfaction of the Dodge engineers.
HTH
Example #1: Find a V8 WJ with the factory tow package. Look through the left-most grille slat. See the tiny cooler off to the side? That's for the PS fluid. It's mounted a long way out in front (relatively speaking) of the radiator and A/C condenser... but it seems to do its job just fine.
Example #2: open the hood of a new '05 Dakota (I think this is in the new Dakota) with the tow package. In front of the condenser is the lower support. Attached to the front of this is an odd metallic tube which runs full-width. There are no cooling fins; just an exposed metal tube. This is the PS fluid cooler. Again, it seems to work to the satisfaction of the Dodge engineers.
HTH
Roktoys84
Bump it
- Location
- Logan, Utah
Yeah but thats a Dodge 
Utahcryogenics
Formerly "Beerman"
- Location
- Murray
Truthfully you can mount it anywhere you want. As long as it is in a safe place to avoid getting ripped off, or hoses pinched.
When you are crawling rox its not like you get a gush of air so you dont need to mount it up front, and when your driving freeway where the air is flowing through, its not like your really cranking back and forth on your steering box.
On coolers, the "stacked plate" design are much better then the tube type. The stacked plate design cools better, and doesnt put any more pressure pumping the fluid. On many tube designs it takes more pressure to pump fluid through the tubes.
Just my 2 cents.
When you are crawling rox its not like you get a gush of air so you dont need to mount it up front, and when your driving freeway where the air is flowing through, its not like your really cranking back and forth on your steering box.
On coolers, the "stacked plate" design are much better then the tube type. The stacked plate design cools better, and doesnt put any more pressure pumping the fluid. On many tube designs it takes more pressure to pump fluid through the tubes.
Just my 2 cents.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Turbo minivan has it right. Old ford trucks had them mounted off the PS pump bracket. Just in case you didn't know, plumb it through the return (low pressure) line.