'95 Dodge Spirit 3.0 engine. Wonderful performance but it hates hot weather. When it's 100F or hotter I cannot use the A/C while climbing a hill. The fan works fine. The cooling system is clean and the car gets 30 mpg, so it's probably not a performance issue.
Definition of hot? When the gauge approaches a needle's width to the last mark before the "H" on the gauge. I've pulled over and when I raised to hood, wow(!) a real blast of very hot air. I don't think the gauge is telling a fib.
I found out to my dismay that a heavy-duty radiator was never an option for this vehicle and after a fruitless online search and chatting with local radiator shops, it seems as though that tiny, thin OEM radiator is "it", like it or not.
It seems like the only vague avenue left open to me is in the title bar of the thread, a transmission cooler to hopefully relieve some of the the load off the radiator. But my experiences with transmission coolers is limited to trying to lower transmission temperatures, I never did pay much attention to what if any effect a cooler had on radiator temps. I simply stuffed in the fattest highest-fin-and-tube-count radiator that would fit.
Normally this would be a no-brainer. I would order up a tranny cooler and install it. But being four days south into Mexico things get complicated. No transmission coolers, and shipping one here would cost a whopping two hundred eleven dollars + the cost of the cooler.
- Am I kidding myself thinking a cooler would help reduce radiator temps?
- Is a small cooler "enough"? it's a small car.
- Being a small car I would need the very style or quality oil cooler?
- Suggestions, hints, and opinions are welcome.
I have a friend coming from the states in October. But it stays hot year-round down here. So I have one shot to get it right and save two hundred bucks. But if this is a foolish idea, then I don't know what's left.
Thanks!