No tow prep pkg - no trans cooler?

Good to know, I just check the new fan clutch I bought and its green. woohoo.

 

This^^

 

It's not just towing that heats up your transmission to high temps. If you monitor your trans temps and drive mountain roads loaded down with gear like i do, you will see your trans temps rise way up there. However, even if you're not loaded down with gear, you can see some pretty high temps. There's a 7 mile mountain road near me that gains approximately 2000 ft of elevation from bottom to top. It's also a hill with speeds that wouldn't benefit from turning off overdrive to lock up the torque converter to reduce the temp. Without the trans cooler, I'd see my trans temp rise up to around 220 degrees. With the external cooler ran in-series with my stock cooler, I hit around 200 degrees on the same hill. Now, when I'm loaded down with lots of gear or people and climbing extended steep grades, the trans temps even with the cooler will rise way above 200. On a particularly steep and sustained mountain road in the Santa Cruz mountains, my trans temp hit 240. I was almost ready to pull over when we reached our destination.

So, the moral of the story is trans coolers are not just for people who tow. Your transmission fluid life is directly related to the temperatures you hit and thus will affect the life of your transmission as well if your fluid got torched and you didn't renew it in a timely manner.

You are absolutely right that it's not great to run too low of temps either. I debated if running a trans cooler was right for me and decided it was because the research I did shows overheating is the #1 the killer of auto transmissions.

Here's a thread I started on T4R.org. I think you and others will find it informative.

 

Remember they are "universal" kits so some of the parts will not always be needed. If the hoses work with the fittings then leave them alone. just make sure not to bend the house any more than a certain angle otherwise you risk crimping the hose and reducing flow. It would be nice if they included a 90° angle fitting to route around the front but oh well.

You mean condenser for the A/C?

 

Yeah. @opteron already answered that in Post #28. But thanks for answering it too. I'm still learning.

 

oh missed it, mah bad!

 

I recently installed a trans temp gauge and did a test of temperature before and after installing a transmission cooler. I installed the temperature sensor right at the outlet from the transmission, so it should be reading the hottest possible temperature.

I took a 30 minute drive through town with mild hills and stop and go traffic. I never got above 50mph.


Then I installed a Tru-Cool 4454 Transmission cooler and performed the same drive.


Keep in mind anything under 200 is ok, but imagine if I was pulling a trailer. Also, I have 33" tires, which are kind of like towing a trailer...

 

Sorry for the delay in the update. The cooler and filter installation went very well. I changed all hoses while I had everything exposed just to be safe. So far I'm noticing a drop in trans temps by an average of 25 degrees or so. It cools down super quick at highway speeds. Very pleased with the products.

 

The additional vinyl tubing is a form of abrasion protection to shield the cooler lines from rubbing against metal edges.

 

looks good but I would rethink the zip ties on the cooler

 

Why is that? If you're concerned about heat, the corners where I attached them do not seem to get hot at all.

 

its your truck do as you wish I was just saying I would of went with a more secure option. what filter goes on the filter kit?

 

No worries, I was just curious as to your reasoning. I zipped all four corners and there isn't any play so I feel like it's secure. I'll keep an eye on it. As to the filter, Derale has a part number for it but I can't remember what it is. I'm pretty sure it's good for 30,000 miles.

 

awesome glad it worked out. I'm just usually ocd about stuff I install thats all. if I don't do it in a way that I know is completely secure then ill constantly worry about something happening. I just look at it like its a radiator. I wouldn't zip tie a radiator to my truck. obviously its much smaller but just the way my mind thinks thats all. wasn't knocking your method just my ocd kicked in lol

 

that looks like a standard "filter relocation" part, minus the actual part that screws on where the filer goes. can probably find it on Amazon for pretty cheap. as far as filter there isn't much pressure on the system so you could go with any filter that fits the threads.

I think @GEENYUSS is worried about climate. here in PA the temp can go from freezing to warm and can cause the ZIP ties to become brittle over time. if you live in a constant climate you may not have anything to worry about.

 

I love in Sacramento CA, and the weather is pretty stable here. My truck has a "filter" inside the pan, but from what I've read it's just a screen that filters out large particles. Adding this in-line is an additional measure. Also slightly increases fluid capacity in addition to the cooler.

 

Here's a video of me installing an external trans cooler on my rig and replacing the radiator and thermostat at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/2nVbwe2t2T8

 

Awesome