you mentioned that you pressure tested the rad...what about the whole cooling system. if your not holding pressure, the boiling point wont go up.

also you mentioned you think your trans maybe running hot and affecting the coolant, why not put in an external cooler now while it's still hot out to see if it improves your problem. IMO, you should have the biggest external one you can get already in there. And I'd bypass the rad cooler all together. Reason being is that the hotter your fluid, the shorter the tranny life is... if your running a 195 t-stat, that means your tranny fluid is also going to run hotter than ideal (160*)...

 

That's a valid point. A friend of mine was surprised I hadn't installed an external cooler yet as he knows how finicky I am about maintenance and performance. The funny thing is that my transmission fluid never smells burnt and always looks bright red. I do plan on installing pre-cooler and post-cooler temp gauges for the transmission after it's been rebuilt. Keep the ideas coming.

BTW, check out my latest score:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=312501

Not pictured in that thread are the engine and my drill press.

 

the tranny cooler is cheep... and your going to do it anyways so do it now. (IMO) this way you'll know if you've solved your over heating problem before winter comes...

 

Does anyone have a solid recommendation for a cooler?

This place has several options, and I'm not too keen on mounting something else in front of the A/C condenser, which is already mounted in front of the radiator.

 

You could always temp test the trans fluid and trans itself and see where they're at.Why do you think that the trans is dragging anyway?

Since you were having this problem before you changed the rad,I don't think that the 1 vs 2 core thing is it.

 

I thought I saw a flexalite remote oil cooler that had it's own fan. You could mount it anywhere and not worry about flow.

When's the last time you did a cooling system flush?

 

I like my B&M transmission cooler so far.

 

He's replaced everything in the cooling system and is still having the problem.

 

I don't know, I just have a funny feeling that the transmission is running hot. And yes, the issue is not with the radiators as it runs hot regardless of which radiator I've installed. Like I said, it's a stumper.

 

it the tranny is running hot enough to heat the coolant to 230, you should have burned it up long ago.