Should the aux. tranny cooler be hot?

I just towed my 21 foot Jayco Swift (4100 lbs dry weight) home from the dealer and I have a question for other Tacoma owners. Should the factory aux transmission cooler be hot to the touch? After towing 40 miles I could barely leave my hand on the cooler for a few seconds. I'm just wondering if this is normal. I don't really want to add extra gauges or a scan gauge to my truck right now, I'm just curious if this is a sign I might have to.

I towed the whole distance with my automatic in 4, not D, as stated in the tow bible. Also, is it normal to have 8 mpg milage with a trailer like this?

 

Well...that's a lot of weight. If your gonna tow that often I would improve your cooling for the trans with at least a bigger cooler. Heat is what kills transmissions.

 

I would think it would get quite warm. 8mpg sounds a little low. I get 15-16mpg pulling a little over a ton. I also use 5th gear on the flats.

 

This ^^^

Cruising in 3rd at 45 MPH my trans fluid temp is ~160-170, when I'm puling a hill (unloaded) and I don't take it out of overdrive the temp skyrockets to 230-245 before I take O/D out of the equation.

 

About the same size but shorter than a carton of cigarettes.

 

If you cant touch it , its too hot .
Are you towing in 4th gear ?
Rate of oxidation to double for each temperature increase of 20 deg F above normal (175 deg F). As oxidation rate doubles, useful life of fluid is cut in half.

At 175 deg F life is 100,000 miles
At 195 deg F (20 deg above 175) life is 50k miles
At 215 life is 25k miles
At 235 life is 12k
At 255 life is 6,250
At 275 life is 3,000
At 295 life is 1500
At 315 life is 750

At temperatures much above 300 deg F the metals in the transmission will tend to warp, twist etc. high temperatures causes the formation of varnish deposits which impair or pre vent transmission operation.

At a fluid temperature of 415 deg F fluid life is 30 minutes!

Source: Empire Lubricants Inc.

 

If it has the towing package it'll have the trans. cooler. No towing package, no trans cooler.

 

Your receiver is located under your rear bumper
Oh, you mean the cooler! It's in front of the radiator on the drivers side

 

Buy a bigger truck. These trucks are super light duty trucks not maid to handle that kind of weight. Figure u will be near 5500 pounds loaded with your gear.

I tow a 2000 lb pop up and honestly that's the heaviest i would pull.

 

I'm not buying a bigger truck, so that option is out the window. I guess I'll look into a bigger cooler. From the looks of things there are a lot of people on here that tow about 5000 lbs with no problems. Yes I do tow with the gear selector in 4 which I believe locks out O/D. I do have the factory tow package and a TRD supercharger but I was surprised with the amount of heat off the front off my truck when I stopped. I do have an edge insight, and the edge did show my engine temps as being slightly up (like in the high 190's rather than low 190's.) Unfortunately it does not show tranny temps on the taco. I can touch the tranny cooler, but only for a few seconds...

Any other advice is appreciated. As I said though, I'm not buying a tundra or other truck, I have too much money into this one right now and I love the thing.

 

Our 19ft Hideout is pretty close to your trailer, in 4th doing 90-100kmph on the highway the scanguage shows 90(C) CTT coolant and 85-90(C) <195F TTC Trans Temp. Climbing the hills around here puts the TTC up to 102(C) 215F.

115(C) 240F is as high as I'll go, but I haven't seen it go higher than 102 yet, and I don't plan on pulling it over the Coq with the Tacoma anytime soon.

I would be interested in adding another transmission cooler up front.. I wonder what is out there for options?

 

Actually I don't have a sagging issue. The weight distributing hitch is working out very well, I'm pretty much level back to front maybe even a little high in the back.

 

To the OP, something being hot to the touch is subjective. Personally I don't like to touch anything hotter than 100-150 Deg if I can help it, but many people handle 150 Deg plus materials on a daily basis. The key is to find the actual temperature, which can easily be measured by something like a meat thermometer. As far as the cooler getting hot in general, look at it another way: Your radiator gets hot to the touch, yet it keeps your engine running at the correct temperature in conjunction with the thermostat. Heat transference is the biggest issue.

 

I see your posts a lot on here and trust your knowledge, would this cooler work for me? I think it's quite a bit larger without oversizing it for the winters here.

$52 Hayden Automotive 678 Universal Rapid-Cool 9.5” x 11” Add-On Transmission Cooler – Not for Direct Replacement of the OE Cooler

http://www.amazon.ca/Hayden-Automot...&qid=1401902548&sr=8-7&keywords=hayden+cooler

How difficult is the install on something like this, any special tools, fittings, or pipping that I'll need? I don't know if you have the answers but thanks anyways

 

Subscribed

 

Transmission codes are around, or here;
http://www.scangauge.com/support/x-gauge/toyota-specific/

This is the code for Transmission Fluid Temp in Deg C to the tenth of a degree ;
TXD:07E021D9
RXF:032180000000
RXD:1810
MTH:000700B4FE70
Name:cTT



I'm looking through these at the moment;
http://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Transmission_Coolers-sf-Plate~Fin_Cooler.aspx

 

TRANSMISSION COOLERS
If you do not have a transmission cooler on your truck and you plan to tow or haul heavy loads or you are in constant stop and go traffic every day or use 4X4 low a lot , consider purchasing a cooler . The cooler thats built into your rad is designed to cool the transmission with the weight of just the truck by itself .When you are in 4x4 low , your torque converter is usually in the stall stage and creates a tonne of additional heat .
In 4x4 low when crawling , an additional cooler with a large electrical fan is best because you are not generating enough air flow through the cooling system .
If you live in colder climates ,consider mounting the cooler after the internal radiator cooler as this will allow the engine coolant to warm the transmission quicker during those cold winter months .
If you are skeptical that antifreeze is going to contaminate your transmission ,consider bypassing the interal rad cooler but go with a cooler that uses low line drop technology as suggested below.
160 - 200 are considered normal temps providing your engine radiator is functioning properly . If your engine overheats , your transmission will also overheat when using the factory internal rad cooler .
Normal fluid temperature in transmission to be 175 deg. F.

Rate of oxidation to double for each temperature increase of 20 deg F above normal (175 deg F). As oxidation rate doubles, useful life of fluid is cut in half.

At 175 deg F life is 100,000 miles
At 195 deg F (20 deg above 175) life is 50k miles
At 215 life is 25k miles
At 235 life is 12k
At 255 life is 6,250
At 275 life is 3,000
At 295 life is 1500
At 315 life is 750

At temperatures much above 300 deg F the metals in the transmission will tend to warp, twist etc. high temperatures causes the formation of varnish deposits which impair or pre vent transmission operation.

At a fluid temperature of 415 deg F fluid life is 30 minutes!

Source: Empire Lubricants Inc.

Consider a scan guage to monitor your fluid temp http://www.amazon.com/ScanGauge-Comp.../dp/B000AAMY86
There are also mechanical transmission temp guages that work well , but for about the same price and far less work , the scan guage will give a vast amount of functions in comparison to a mechanical guage .The Sanguage is a better option considering the mechanical guage would have to be plumbed into either the transmission pan or the incoming cooler line . With the mechanical guage , you are creating another possibility for transmission fluid to leak .
At this point in time , the Ultra guage does not offer transmission temps

This is how Low Pressure Drop technology works::
When Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) is cold it is viscous. The unique Tru-Cool design allows the colder, thicker ATF to flow more efficiently through two open bypass channels positioned at the top of the cooler. As operating temperatures increase, the ATF becomes hotter and thinner, It's then directed through the core where it is cooled. Tru-Cool's highly efficient cooling technology combines improved protection against lube failure with optimal heat transfer.
http://www.amazon.com/Long-Tru-Cool-.../dp/B005XZXB1M
Long Tru-Cool Oil Coolers offer advanced cooling protection for many towing applications. The advanced technology out performs TUBE & FIN Designs, Delivers up to 15 times less flow restrictions, 30% more cooling delivers maximum heat transfer, Self-Regulating for maximum lube flow protection through start-up, varied temperatures and driving conditions, heavy loads and towing.
Here is Toyotas fluid flow guide ...Look at page 8 on this PDF http://www.toyotatundraforum.com/pdf/A750E.pdf
And here is a guy who recently installed a cooler correctly http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st...agram-pic.html

 

So I ended up ordering a Scangauge, but it probably won't get here for at least a couple of days even though I shipped by air. Bama is probably right, my cooler could be fine but until I start to monitor it there's no way to tell.

On a side note, anyone want to buy a slightly used Edge CTS lol.

 

Thanks for the information. I did order the ScanGauge. I'm really disappointed that my Edge CTS, which I have from my old work Ford, is not able to read and display tranny temps . The Edge is a really sweet looking and easy to use gauge system, but it's time to move from the nifty looking to the practical.

Also, the Tru-Cool is not available in Canada unless I ship it across the boarder. I don't want to do that since I need a solution within the next few days. Thanks for that information as well, good ole Canada.

 

Hmm I use to sell the true cool in Ontario when I had my shop .
Have a better look .
Kingomatic in Winnipeg sells them for sure