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towing with a 960 wagon[850/1995] posted by Myron Feldman on
Saturday, 28 March 1998, at 4:48 p.m.
I have a 95 960 wagon and will tow a 2800# trailer about 500 mi this summer. Should I have a transmission cooler. What kind is recommended?
Myron
Re: towing with a 960 wagon[850/1995] posted by abe crombie on
Sunday, 29 March 1998, at 9:39 p.m.
Your car already has the factory heavy duty cooling package.
It should be up to the task with no mods. If you tow in hilly terrain or into strong winds pull it down into 3rd and pay for a bit more fuel.
Re: towing with a 960 wagon[850/1995] posted by Terry Flahive on
Monday, 30 March 1998, at 12:49 p.m.
Don't agree with previous response. Heavy duty cooling really only effects the auto cooling system. Pulling a trailer will cause additional stress on your transmission. I assume we are talking about an automatic. I have pulled a small travel trailer with my 85 DL for the past 10 years and one of the first things I added was a transmission cooler. Volvo equipment for my year. I have never had transmission overheating problems or any indication of overheated transmission fluid. Any vehicle that pulls a load needs the auxillary cooling. Cheap insurance. My $.02
Re: towing with a 960 wagon[850/1995] posted by Shatz on
Tuesday, 31 March 1998, at 9:35 a.m.
Yes, I think Abe misread the question, perhaps. At least it would appear he was refering to additional engine cooling requirements, not transmission. I think you make a good arguemnt for a transmission cooler for trailering over the long haul, but if it is really just for 500 miles, I wonder whether the transmission will be affected. Remember the 960 has a very sturdy (auto) transmission and a 6 cyl. engine, but I don't know how close to the trailering limits of the 960 he is. Should he also think about changing the fluid either before or after or both?
960 towing, why no cooler.[850/1995] posted by abe crombie on
Monday, 30 March 1998, at 7:06 p.m.
The other respondent has a car with no locking torque converter. The torque converter transmits power to input shaft of trans through the fluid creating heat that is load dependent UNLESS you have a locking torque converter clutch equipped trans. The locking feature of the torque converter eliminates the slip by engaging a clutch lining that will physically connect input shaft to crankshaft and will eliminate the shear force on fluid which is the heat source in an automatic trans. The cooler that Volvo makes for that car line is a lrger diameter set of coller lines that allow the fluid to slow down as it flows through lines to be air-cooled, your car is already fitted with these 12mm lines instead of the normal 8mm lines. The recommendation that you tow in 3rd if the terrain is hilly or in winds is due to the fact that the converter will be unlocked by the trans computer when ever it senses higher loads and higher loads will be reached easily when towing in 4th as opposed to 3rd. T see the effect of this locking converter drive your car normally at 60 mph and then, w/o lifting your foot from accel pedal, gently depress brake pedal just enough to get brake lights to illuminate and you will notice tachometer go up in speed by a few hundred rpms, lift foot off brake pedal and you will feel the converter lock and rpms will fall again.
The aftermarket coolers are connected by cutting one of your existing cooler lines and splicing in the additional cooler by use of rubber hoses with clamps. Over the years I have fixed several add-on cooler line leaks and have o'hauled a few transmissions that failed as a result of flid loss through the rubber hoses.
Re: 960 towing, why no cooler.[850/1995] posted by Shatz on
Tuesday, 31 March 1998, at 9:46 a.m.
Careful Abe, you might leave the impression that you actually know what your talking about...as opposed to us guys that like to guess!
Thanks for the explanation, howver. It provides more insight as to why this puupy was around $35K to purchase new. As a 92 960 owner, do the cooling capabilities still apply?
Re: 960 towing, why no cooler.[850/1995] posted by Terry Flahive on
Tuesday, 31 March 1998, at 10:18 a.m.
Auxillary trans cooler was Dealer installed, hard lines and themostatic controlled. Granted if only towing 500 miles might not need it but if towing on regular basis I think any repair facility would recommend aux cooling for the transmission. Usually the transmission cooler will ease the load on normal cooling (cooler fluid going through bottom of transmission) I have towed small travel trailer numerous miles with 4 cyl DL and have never had tranny problems.
Re: 960 towing, why no cooler part II[850/1995] posted by abe crombie on
Tuesday, 31 March 1998, at 2:19 p.m.
With your DL a Volvo dealer added cooler will have all the hard line fittings to do it correctly. On all the 960 models there is no accessory cooler available as it already has what Volvo considers to be the Tropic cooling package for that trans which is the extra large diameter cooler lines and the topic radiator which has the larger internal cooler. Your DL doesn't have a locking converter and I would By all means recommend that it have an aux. cooler. Your trans will be exerting more shear force on fluid due to conventional converter and will heat fluid to a higher than is acceptable level if you tow with it. A 960 has a locking converter and does not heat the fluid as long as the converter is locking. The point I was making is that the converter won't stay locked when towing on THAT car if it is "lugging" due to the Trans ECM unlocking converter when load gets high. Pulling in 3rd will lessen the load factor on engine and trans ECM will leave the torque converter locked and fluid temp will remain low.
Shatz: your car should have the tropic cooling package, look at the trans cooler lines and see if they aren't 12mm. All 960/S/V90's have also an oil cooler. 92-93 have an air oil cooler and all after that have the water heat exchanger on oil filter base with heater hoses to it.