hi, noob here.

my buddy just wrecked his 99 durango pretty bad. a/c and cooling system are shot. i'm putting in a new radiator so he actually has a vehicle to drive around and i had some questions:

i noticed a "mini" radiator in front of the regular one. i assume this is tranny cooler for the tow package.

if he is not towing, does he need this?

also, what liquid was in it?

lastly, the metal radiator fan mounted to the crank is the only fan, right????

thanks,
chris

 

Welcome to the forums Chris,

for starters, there are a couple possibilities of what may be mounted in front of the radiator. The first layer in front of the radiator would be your A/C condensor coil. Then the second layer will be a even smaller coil which is your tranny cooler.

I would not dismiss the tranny cooler. Even if he does not tow, it will still help make the tranny run cooler and last longer.

As far as your Fan question, some 99's possibly may have a electric fan installed on the back side of the radiator. Just between the radiator and the clutch mounted fan (fan mounted to water pump).

I think starting 2000 modelsand up, the electric fan is now standard equipment primarily to assist with A/C cooling.

 

thank you so so much for the reply. i've been scouring the archives and learning so much but could not find this info.

i'll definitely make sure i don't dismiss the tranny cooler and now i know what to get at the junk yard.

thanks a lot!

chris

 

Another heads up chris, when getting the radiator make sure its the same as in the D. The trans lines should run to the coolant radiator then to the Tranny radiator. It'd be a good thing just to grab the lines as well if not rusted.

 

If you are going to grab a trann cooler from a junk yard, I highly recommend you to have that cooler flushed and clean THOROUGHLY. You don't know if this cooler came off of a durango that never had its tranny maintained and could have alot of foreign debris or comtaminants that can destroy your tranny and/or radiatorquickly.

I had my tranny cooler flushed, and radiator replaced when I lost my tranny a while back. Now I have a fastman bulletproof tranny with new and clean radiator and tranny cooler.

 

How do you like that built up?

I know I love mine!

 

Sorry to jack the thread (somewhat) but Kensai, when you replaced them with new did you go with separate systems? Or stuck with stock? (If you had Trans through coolant then to radiation)

 

I love it. but did not get to enjoy it much with gas prices always on the rise. My D is only driven once a week or every two weeks just to get it out of the garage. I drive a 07 new Jetta and love it for sipping fuel and the car is some pep from its 2.5l I-5. I have less than 1k miles on the new fastman tranny so it is not really broken in yet. I want to start upgrading the 5.9 and the supercharger is really my next upgrade for the engine now that I have a tranny to hold up the extra power. But right now, I need tires bad. Waiting for Costco to have another rebate sale on their michelins this fall.

 

I stuck with stock. the fastman tranny and TB and shipping, radiator,and labor and everything set me back over 4k! I like for the most part to keep the D as stock as possible while being able to continue to add aftermarket on top. But will prefer mopar brand first, then aftermarket if I cannot find a mopar brand.

 

That sounds great Kensai. Yeah if my D was a little younger i would of kept up with the stock, but with the mods, things just seem to change every chance i get. The body is pushing 107k, payments are down to two months to end, and i plan on running the D into the ground (well keeping her till shes had her fair share of abuse from me) so staying origional is all dependant on part sales and quality. My mindset is a little off, to help and aide in the ease of work in the engine bay i removed all my ac components when the water pump and compressor failed. Some days i do regret it though.