3rd gen Transmission Cooler Upgrade

Agreed. I wish mine was automated, but I just manually turn my fan on w my switch pro when I know it’s gonna be rough on the trans.

 

umm how the hell do you only get 13mpg?

 

3,000 lb horse trailer as stated in previous posts. I was wondering if someone would ask that question. Over a 1 day 600 mile trip from UT to Central WA, I averaged about 7 mpg. That was the best partial tank average for the whole trip with lots of uphill and head winds.

 

So what your saying is pinning it doesn't really work out to any advantages. I'm considering a bigger trans cooler.

 

Looks damn good

 

Pinning the thermostat does keep the temps down on most grades by allowing the transmission to start at a lower initial temp before starting up a grade. It also allows the trans to run cooler on the flatter roads which allows the friction from the torque converter running unlocked for short periods to not raise the temp as much.

 

Please post up the part number for the Magnafine magnetic trans inline filter.

Also, what fan fits the Tru-Cool LPD4590 best? Thanks!

April 13 here. Pinned mine and the temps went from 194 to 164.

 

Just out of curiosity, which is the supply line from the torque converter with the hot fluid?

 

So Gearcruncher and Lord Humungous…

so TF1 on the 3rd gen Scanguage 2 is pan, and keeping it under 220 degrees F is golden, under 210 is platinum.

but what about TF2 - the Torque Converter temp? I saw 230 with a few spikes to 241; which made me nervous, so I backed off.

As it is, this thread has been EXCELLENT! Wish I saw it about 4 years ago.

Now adding cooler, filter, inline t-stat, pinning on warm days, and regearing

 

I need to do the same, please post what you use and how you hook it up

 

Nitro Gear Set 5.29 installed, and lo and behold, transmission was a quart low after dealers’ 50K service

 

Torque converter outlet temp is always going to be crazy high, it's fine and completely normal.

 

monitoring TC temps gave me anxiety so deleted it off my OBD-reader app screen. you just need to watch the pan temp

 

Hey guys I posted in the technical chat - the oil cooler heavy thread or whatever. But got no response.

I see it that our 3rd gens still run the coolant thru the radiator, as they did with the 1st gens.

would it be advised to bypass this, and just run the trans oil into the cooler and back?
I live in Hawaii so warming up the ATF in cold climates ain’t really a concern..just don’t wanna deal with milkshake BS like the 1st gens/3rd Gen 4Runners

 

For those of you who added a fan what are you using to control it? I just put in a Hayden 699 and one of their 12 inch fans. I couldn't find a 10 or 11 inch locally so I just went with the 12. I also purchased the Hayden fan controller as well and was wondering if anyone else had any input on it. So far so good and I took the wire for the a/c from the controller and hooked it up to a switch so I can turn it on if I need to. I also set it to 190 degrees so it comes on at 190 and off at 180.

 

This was going to be my exact question, what are the positives/negatives to bypassing the "radiator cooler", so far my plan is to bypass the factory radiator cooler, install a cooler with a fan straight from the trans, cool it then back to the trans how every other vehicle is designed. Side note, planning to keep the stat pinned open all the time and it'll work like normal (Socal so it's always hot here) and if it starts to climb then I'll manually turn on the fan via the switch pro

 

I towed a camping trailer for many years and installed the biggest Hayden auxiliary transmission cooler that would fit and always installed "downstream" of the factory radiator in-tank transmission cooler on all of the tow vehicles. The consensus in all of the installation instructions was not to by-pass it. I think the logic was, that if you were in an area that had harsh winters and temps, this cooler would help to warm the fluid more quickly after start-up. I had a Chevy Blazer and a Ford Bronco with factory tow packages that included external auxiliary transmission-oil coolers and they both still had the radiator tank cooler in place as well. I personally don't believe you can over-cool transmission fluid unless maybe you're near the Arctic circle somewhere. The Chevy also had an engine oil cooler which was another another in-tank radiator cooler on the other side. It also had a huge, tow-pkg heavy duty radiator and cooling fan.

 

This is EXACTLY what I wanted to do!

that’s the thing tho. I’m in Hawaii - I don’t have to deal with those harsh winter climates. Coolest it gets would be low 60’s but that doesn’t last very long. And I don’t sleep up Mauna Kea mountain lol

I do plan on adding a large auxiliary cooler with a fan. Not sure if it would be thermostatic switched or just switch pro’s yet.

 

I think it's a loaded topic because it's purely based on location, in Southern Cali, it's 80 degrees basically year round, but in Montana is a total different story. Only thing I worry about is abandoning the radiator cooler and it somehow rust or causes issues from not having fluid running through it but I also want to bypass it in case I have any issues with the radiator then it won't affect the trans because I bypass it

 

Agree. I can understand your points. I could only add that the radiator in-tank cooler is step one on the path, and the aux external cooler is step two: say: 275 to 225 degrees from the tank outlet to whatever is possible that day determined by the current ambient air temperature coming through the grille. The bigger the surface area of external cooler, the better the results. Probably not going to drop it 150 degrees, but half of that is 100 degrees plus/minus. Not bad. I'd be happy with 180 exiting the cooler on its' way back to the transmission. If I was running synthetic fluid in the transmission (which I am in my 2014 even though I'm not towing with it) I wouldn't worry about it at all. Even so: next spring's project is adding a Hayden stacked-plate cooler downstream from the current stock towing package setup.