Trans Cooler

New to this forum. Starting to worry about towing ( 8K ) without a trans cooler.
Looking for a complete kit ...depends on cost also.

21 Tundra rear air bags under truck bed air pump & tank truck air horn air hose take off connection on rear bumper.

 

https://genuinecoolingsystems.com/

out of stock currently, if you ain’t first your last when they do come back in stock.

 

Thanks Lemuel. Not sure, but that company might be out of business. Tried to e-mail them but it did not work either.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2019-external-transmission-cooler.54991/page-8




This is the one you should have. Lots of posts about this subject already.




https://www.tundras.com/members/genuine-cooling-systems.29460/

 

I mean the guy that does it is a member/vendor on the site.

 

Working through this process right now on this thread: https://www.tundras.com/threads/parts-list-for-adding-oem-trans-cooler-to-5-7l.125248/

At the minimum, all you need is the thermostat, some rubber lines, a cooler and a little ATF to top off.

I'm going adding on the metal lines for the trans fluid that run below the motor and the OEM rubber lines from the thermostat housing to those metal lines.

I'm estimating i'll be around $500-600 all in when i'm finished, but will need to fab a mount for the cooler.

The mentioned link above, gives you a complete plug and play kit for $1300.

 

3 qts ws trans fluid, a roll of 3/8 fuel hose, a fluid transfer pump to fill with, a few more clamps, a bolt or two to fasten the steel lines to the engine block, cant remember the size, some bracket fabrication material too.

 

Don't forget to keep the thermostat pinned open anytime you want to service the transmission such as drain and fill.

 

Check fluid level on level ground with pan oil temp 115-125F fill until it begins to seep out of fill hole. Don't drain until you make sure fill plug will loosen.

 

BTW Welcome to the forum from OKC! Good on you for wanting to take care of your transmission!

 

@Genuine Cooling Systems was out of full kits when I bought mine. I bought a partial Hayden kit; it consisted of rubber hoses, the radiator itself, and a mounting bracket. If you can’t get GCS’s kit, you’ll need to find a way to mount the radiator up front yourself.

I had to source the OEM thermostat, hardlines, and rubber lines from McGeorge Toyota, which is consistently the cheapest online parts vendor in my experience. The part numbers are in @2mchfun’s post above.

PRO TIP: after you have your thermostat and radiator installed and send/return lines connected, you’ll need to add transmission fluid.
• make sure you keep your thermostat pinned
• use jacks and jack stands to level your transmission pan
• start your truck
• you can skip the transmission temp check procedure in the manual if you have an OBD reader and app. I used OBD Fusion. Just watch it until the trans pan temp reaches 99-113ºF.
• then, pump in 1.5qt of OEM fluid using a cheap fluid pump from any auto parts store or Walmart.
• open your drain valve (with the pan leveled) and let the fluid drain to a trickle.
• replace drain plug, and remove your thermostat pin.

**The transmission warms up slowly enough that you can pump in fluid and let it drain in the time it takes from the transmission pan temp to go from 99ºF to 113ºF. Adding and draining/checking the level need to occur in this temperature range.

You can see the mounting bracket mine came with in the GCS kit here:

 

Grommets in here somewhere for the lines if you want

 

@Terndrerrr how do you feel about the quality of that Hayden cooler? How much did your temps changer after the install?

I've already sourced all the OEM parts and will fab my own mounting bracket, so I'm looking into which cooler to go with now. Anything will be bettered than no cooler, but I want something OEM quality.

 

It has been great. No issues. These transmissions still run pretty hot compared to others. Our old 2012 GM 5.3/6speed ran around 160-165°F. I push my Tundra pretty hard at times, and I see 185-200°F at the pan.

The warmer/cooler puck is keeping the trans fluid temp as close to engine oil temp as possible. In my opinion, the external cooler just keeps the trans temp from running away. This transmission was originally designed with the thermostatically-controlled external cooler for tow package-equipped trucks. I just wanted mine to run as originally designed.

 

Mine is running about 200 on a hot day at the pan in the city

 

The Hayden is good but since you are saving money by doing it yourself go with the best you can afford....Setrab 15 or 20 Row or Improved Racing MHX-514 if you can.

 

My Setrab 15 keeps it around 185. Before the cooler, it was around 200-210 on average in traffic.

I was a bit worried the 15-row was going to be too small, but it works really well. It’s size doesn’t block up a lot of the radiator and condenser compared to larger units, which is nice too.

 

I can take a 15-mile highway trip and neither my engine oil nor trans fluid will hit 185°F. But my cooler isn’t even a factor at that point (it opens ~195°F, and I do not keep it pinned open).

Just to clarify for others: If you're doing work, and your engine oil is 200°F+, the transmission fluid will not sit at 185°F. The internal oil warmer/cooler puck makes it track engine oil temp very closely. Maybe if you keep it pinned, it will rise to engine oil a bit more slowly, but it does not keep pan temps significantly cooler than engine oil.

The external cooler, IMO, is a safeguard that keeps temps from running away (i.e., getting significantly hotter than engine oil) when it’s working harder. It can not keep trans fluid significantly cooler than engine oil. The internal puck is working against it the entire time.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/fs-20-row-setrab-transmission-cooler-from-genuine-cooling-1000-shipped.126002/

I’d be jumping on this deal in a hurry if I was in the market.