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5k to spend on mods


coolxr6t

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I think you are ignoring the fact that people have had the OEM heat exchangers fail even when relatively new, yet no one seems to have had failures of the PWR replacement. Have you read up on this at all or just assuming that OEM is better?

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Not ignoring the fact mate. OEM heat exchangers fail due to various reasons. PWR ones fail too. Outer shiny case on PWR is just a false sense of quality. Look for yourself what is inside them. (Many other design issues I won't get into). Even PWR state in their documentation that they do not warrant against corrosion of aluminium core inside their product. Your gearbox won't be covered by PWR. At best you can get replacement heat exchanger but have to prove you didn't corrode it by not following the instructions.

 

If you do your research, you can find many PWR's failed. Their lower number of failures are because of very very low number of PWR's sold as compared to OEM heat exchangers.

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If an external heat to air exchanger fails, you leak gearbox fluid... if the stock one fails you mix the gearbox fluid with the coolant and that lunches the clutches and other friction surfaces in the gearbox and your gearbox fluid ends up in the engine coolant and can mess up the engine and it's water jackets (the dreaded milkshake worst case scenario). I know which I'd prefer.

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If external cooler fails, you lose trans fluid without knowing and damage the gearbox permanently. Moreover there are many issues of installing external cooler and many people have complained of issues after installing one. Some people have had no issues in their specific situation other than clutch slipping when cold. External coolers can cause abnormal gear shifts, premature wear or worse a damaged gearbox.

 

There are millions of ZF gearboxes running well with coolant to trans fluid heat exchangers on Ford, BMW, Audi, Land Rover and many more ZF R&D team decided on it that way after extensive testing including sub zero temperatures as well as desert conditions. 

 

I know which one I'd prefer. But people shouldn't get sucked into unnecessary mods promoted by mechanics.

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Yes, they can run fine if you do preventative maintenance on the stock heat-exchanger.

If you run an external oil cooler good chance you'll have some sort of gauge setup to monitor the setup so that you'll notice quickly when/if it fails.

 

Both have their drawbacks, but one has much worse potential outcome over the other.

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That's interesting. Are there any examples on this forum about failed PWR heat exchangers? I wasn't aware there were any failures.

 

ZF Milkshakes seem to be 'a thing' with FGs, so why would this be the case? Failures that seemed to have popped up relatively early in their life, and with people using coolant.

 

I can't say I have seen the inside of a PWR cooler and compared them to the OEM one. At the very least I had thought that they were thicker and less likely to be affected by corrossion. Any pictures of the differences would be interesting to see, but for me its insurance and I guess I have to trust that the PWR ones are less likely to fail.

 

By contrast I thought there have been people that replaced the OEM cooler with a new OEM cooler and still had their gearbox milkshake.

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11 hours ago, djaolnes4 said:

I can't say I have seen the inside of a PWR cooler and compared them to the OEM one. At the very least I had thought that they were thicker and less likely to be affected by corrossion. Any pictures of the differences would be interesting to see, but for me its insurance and I guess I have to trust that the PWR ones are less likely to fail.

 

By contrast I thought there have been people that replaced the OEM cooler with a new OEM cooler and still had their gearbox milkshake.

For sure there have been people doing this and still getting the milkshake.

 

Its more of a preventative maintenance thing to replace them relatively often. While you're still replacing a badly designed cooler with the same badly designed cooler, you're going under the assumption that the new one is well, new. So its less likely to milkshake. The chance is still there though.

 

Same goes for the PWR. In this case you're replacing a badly designed heat exchanger with a muuuuch better quality one. Of course, the potential of getting a milkshake is still there, because in essence the PWR exchanger is identical to the stock design. Albeit far less likely for the milkshake to happen.

 

For me, I went with an external cooler. It was cheaper than the PWR exchanger, and I never have to worry about a milkshake again. Has its drawbacks though, like the trans takes way longer to get to temp - especially in winter! It has a fan which kicks in at a certain temp and its not exactly quiet. 

 

At the end of the day, its your car and your choice what you choose and what you're willing to live with. Everyone has their own opinion on external coolers, the stock cooler, and the PWR one. Each person has had their own experience whether its been good or bad.

For reference, a lot of the high HP (500hp+) lads I know in Perth mostly run the pwr exchanger and have had no problems with them. 

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Have been trying to figure out how to attach images here...

 

You can do your own search but PWR ones fail for the same reasons as the ford ones. They can corrode due to electrolysis or corrosion. PWR states, "At time of installation an approved coolant must be added to the cooling system. Two simple rules have to be followed - never mix coolants and always use distilled water." and "Select a coolant that is recommended by the manufacturer or by PWR. The coolant must meet the current AS2108 or manufacturers engine coolant/inhibitor standard. Bring engine up to temperature and let cool. Recheck the coolant level and top up if necessary. Use only distilled water."

 

You will be surprised to hear how many mechanics and car owners use tap water to prepare coolant mixture. Tap water can cause pitting corrosion in aluminium. 

 

Below are few examples of PWR failures.

 

PWR-failed.jpg

PWR-failed-3.jpgPWR-failed-2.jpg

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