jarnold

I purchased a new radiator and it has the coolant ports for the Automatic Trans. I have a T56 Manual Trans. I have got info back on how to deal with them but cannot find it now. I think I was told by the supplier I can use it but just have to put plugs in the ports. But one person said to put plugs in with small holes in them to let them breath?

Any suggestions?

neutron82

send it back and get the right one if you can... one from an auto will work but you are wasting cooling capacity by having a smaller core since some of it is used up by the trans cooler which you won't be using... if you end up using it you can just plug the holes up... I've never heard of plugging them up and poking holes in the plugs, seems counterproductive to me

foggy

You shouldn;t even have to plug the holes..
Its just the transmission fluid circuit inside.. So not worries.
That being said, you do lose a "bit" of coolant capacity..
But you don't really need it.. An Auto Car would be putting more heat into
it and they cool just fine.

TastyBacon

This. My manual radiator got replaced by an automatic one at some point. No difference in performance. Just connect the upper and lower coolant hoses, same as your old one, and ignore the trans cooler ports.

jarnold

Thanks for the info. This is what I thought.

redzg

Since the manual is noted for heat problems under hard use, why not plumb from the manual? Might take a pump I suppose, but that shouldn't be terribly difficult.

v8srfun

Almost all aftermarket oem replacement radiators are designed to work with both auto and manual transmissions. This is done to help reduce part numbers and cost. Matter of fact I have replaced many radiators and the only ones that I can remember not having the automatic cooler is if someone spent stupid money on a oem radiator or if they bought a large capacity performance radiator.

v8srfun

This is not true at all. First of all the at cooler is in the end tank and does not effect the size of the core. Plus being that the at cooler is in the end tank it slightly reduces the amount of coolant in the tank and puts the coolant in contact with more surface area. So the tanks have less volume and more surface area allowing them to cool faster by not heat soaking from a large dense amount of coolant. Your theory would only be true if the cooler itself was reduced in size but it is not.

slavo_s2k

I came across the same problem , the topic have 7 years so probably the knowledge of users in this area is greater. I have a C5 MT and a damaged radiator, I live in Poland, here there is no chance to get an OEM radiator for MT, do I actually buy the version for AT and plug the extra hole and not to worry?

Greetings from Poland and I apologise for any grammar mistakes - english is not my first language

TastyBacon

Your English is quite good! There is no need to plug any extra holes. Just install the automatic radiator the same as your old one and enjoy

slavo_s2k

Thanks!

So this is a separate fluid circuit and can be opened?

TastyBacon

Yes, exactly. No extra steps required.

redzg

To help put your mind at ease, the GM specific matched part number replacement has the transmission cooler built in. There is no longer a GM manual transmission only radiator.