Lets Talk Diff Coolers....

[TonyJ5150]

Ok...a few questions...
Is a Diff Cooler really needed for track days for a Tech car?
Does anyone track a Boss or something similar without a Diff cooler without issue?
Does Ford offer a complete bolt in Diff Cooler/pump kit?
Bottom line - trying to figure out if its a must have...like the Trans Cooler..or just that it would be nice to have one....
Thanks

Sponsored

 

[shelby24]

Ok...a few questions...
Is a Diff Cooler really needed for track days for a Tech car?
Does anyone track a Boss or something similar without a Diff cooler without issue?
Does Ford offer a complete bolt in Diff Cooler/pump kit?
Bottom line - trying to figure out if its a must have...like the Trans Cooler..or just that it would be nice to have one....
Thanks

According to Ford Performance a diff cooler isn't needed for occasional track use. No diff kits yet we have been waiting for trans kits still 6 weeks out. FP says trans is week link at the track not diff of course we don't know how hot our diffs are getting with no temp gauge

 

[mattlqx]

Couple things:

S197s and S550s are apples to oranges. The live axles can hold more fluid and surface area where the fluid lives which give them more ability to dissipate heat. That said, I did get my Boss pretty hot on track, enough to vent some fluid. But, I never had any rear end trouble long term, if you can call 20k miles long term.

The GT350 on the same track that was the worst offender for the Boss, I managed to get my cooled diff up past 300 degrees. Without the cooler, I think I would've ran into some serious problems. Also, the only reason I knew the diff was that hot was because my '17 has a temperature gauge.

The transmission should be the limiting factor on a Tech car anyway. But if you're installing an aftermarket trans cooler, I'd strongly recommend doing the diff after the experience I had, particularly if you're a decent driver and are doing long sessions. For reference for my diff overheat, it was on the third 25-minute session on a fairly high speed track with roughly 50 minutes in between them.

Ford still isn't offering much for the trans and they've basically washed their hands of trying to add a diff cooler to Tech cars.

 

[TonyJ5150]

Couple things:

S197s and S550s are apples to oranges. The live axles can hold more fluid and surface area where the fluid lives which give them more ability to dissipate heat. That said, I did get my Boss pretty hot on track, enough to vent some fluid. But, I never had any rear end trouble long term, if you can call 20k miles long term.

The GT350 on the same track that was the worst offender for the Boss, I managed to get my cooled diff up past 300 degrees. Without the cooler, I think I would've ran into some serious problems. Also, the only reason I knew the diff was that hot was because my '17 has a temperature gauge.

The transmission should be the limiting factor on a Tech car anyway. But if you're installing an aftermarket trans cooler, I'd strongly recommend doing the diff after the experience I had, particularly if you're a decent driver and are doing long sessions. For reference for my diff overheat, it was on the third 25-minute session on a fairly high speed track with roughly 50 minutes in between them.

Ford still isn't offering much for the trans and they've basically washed their hands of trying to add a diff cooler to Tech cars.

Thanks..just what I was looking for....looks like a rear diff cooler will be in the works before spring...

 

[DAVECS1]

I tracked my 1200 mile pp GT and the 4th session a light came on for over temp

 

[Hack]

It's hard to imagine that the diff won't get hot in hard use. At the minimum IMO a temperature sensor should be installed into the rear diff in a tech/base car if you add the transmission cooler. Then you can monitor it and make your own decision.

There are people on this forum who drive their base/tech on the track multiple sessions and didn't get the transmission hot. My car was in limp mode within 10 minutes with 65 degree ambient temperatures. I think it depends on how hard you use the car when you are at the track.

 

[Tank]

Courtesy of [MENTION=18362]Side_Pce[/MENTION]

[/QUOTE]

 

[TonyJ5150]

Courtesy of [MENTION=18362]Side_Pce[/MENTION]

[/QUOTE]

Wonder what the total parts bill is???

 

[Side_Pce]

Wonder what the total parts bill is???

It came to 1744.06 with everything in that diagram window. +/- the number of fasteners/bolts/etc you would need. My question would be is the differential housing the same as a track pack? probably not.

 

[DAVECS1]

1700 is quite a bit of a premium for stock parts, for half of that you can buy some high quality race components. I have been looking at the Derale dual fan stacked plate cooler, with a Tilton pump.

 

[Tank]

It came to 1744.06 with everything in that diagram window. +/- the number of fasteners/bolts/etc you would need. My question would be is the differential housing the same as a track pack? probably not.

That's list price, hopefully there'll be some discounts. From what I've read, our diff supposedly has place to tap in a temp sensor, don't know about cooler connections...

 

[Side_Pce]

That's list price, hopefully there'll be some discounts. From what I've read, our diff supposedly has place to tap in a temp sensor, don't know about cooler connections...

It's a little hard to decipher on fordparts.com if they have different housings. Two part numbers w/coolers, w/less coolers. Fordparts/driveline axles/differential you can scan the part diagrams. (they're photocopied and scanned pictures, poor quality). To check the stock cooler solution do a search by part name using "cooler" as the keyword. It should be the first one that comes up on the screen as "power steering cooler".

 

[mattlqx]

It came to 1744.06 with everything in that diagram window. +/- the number of fasteners/bolts/etc you would need. My question would be is the differential housing the same as a track pack? probably not.

It's slightly different and it's really not the housing, it's the cover. The cooled cover has one additional hole slightly below and to the left of the fill hole for the return line. The cooled diff simply uses the drain hole for the pump feed line. I would think you can just hook the return line into the fill hole since it's basically in the same location without problem for the factory non-cooled version. There's an empty screw port for the temperature probe on the non-cooled version.

 

[Hack]

Anyone know what the part number for the temperature probe is? I didn't see that listed in the diagram with the other parts.

 

[mattlqx]

Anyone know what the part number for the temperature probe is? I didn't see that listed in the diagram with the other parts.

Looks like the part labelled 6G004?

Sponsored