Transmission Cooler?

I purchased a 2021 Toyota Tundra Platinum a few days ago with 27K Miles. Its in mint condition and was not abused as i could see. Many I looked at looked as though they were in a war! My question is I heard Toyota deleted the factory Transmission cooler on the later year Tundras? I do plan to tow with this truck my motorcycle trailer and a HD dual axle trailer to tow my Kubota B-2601 as I own land in another state 400 miles away. My question is do I need to add the factory transmission cooler ? If so what are the part numbers and can the dealership do this? I came from a 2021 F-350 so im new to this truck which I really enjoy so far!
Thanks

 

https://genuinecoolingsystems.com/store/

 

Definitely add one.

 

I'd recommend you get a VPEAK reader, download the Fusion app and just monitor your temperatures to make the decision yourself. Don't just buy into what people are saying their temps are at, as you will find peoples opinions on this subject are very polarized.

Both my wifes Sequoia and my Tundra pushed 215F on the highway unloaded (neither had coolers). The cooler lowered my temps down 185F-190F on the Tundra. I'm going to live with the Sequoia being up at 215F, as we don't tow, so no cooler on it. FWIW, my Tundra's ATF thermal degradation number is in the low 3000's and the Sequoia has maxed out in the 60K+ range.

 

I saw my other 2020 Tundra's transmission push 240* while doing some mild off-roading unloaded. And mid 220*'s just climbing mountain roads, also unloaded. 295/70/18 tires, so bigger than stock, but not that big. Transmission did not give me any trouble, but that's HOT.

 

I never towed anything. 33" LT tires, 4 skid plates, Leer cap. Trans temps were 230 to 250 regularly in 50F weather. Much hotter in 90F weather, I'd guess. ATF was burning and turning brown.

At least have drain and fills, they won't affect warranty.

 

The trans cooler had been on every Tundra from 07-18 for a reason. They were eliminated as a cost saving measure.

 

Y'all do know that 200°-250° is normal for most newer transmissions.

 

Yes. Good enough for the lease term.

 

+1

 

"Good enough" for the life of the vehicle. Modern transmission and more importantly modern transmission fluids are made to spend their entire life in temps that would destroy older transmissions. They are more efficient at those temps and the fluids carry less moisture.

 

It's both from what I can gather.

 

AB60 is not a modern transmission. It is an upscaled version of A760, which is very old and shares a lot of principles with even older transmissions. Heat kills it.

 

If that's true...why are the vast majority not having problems?

 

I don't know what are you talking about. I've had/have 7 AisinWarner transmissions, 5 of them have had problems related to overheating. One I had rebuilt myself.

 

Lol... There just might be a common denominator.

 

Yeah, 1-2 is harsher than the rest. Was always like that. Also it had jolts in heavy traffic. Don't know if the cooler I installed recently did cure that, haven't seen any heavy traffic yet.

No problems in wife's Sequoia, always very smooth.

 

It was done in order to prevent wreckage. For example, when I offroad in winter, MPG can be as low as 1-3. This is a lot of heat stress on transmission. I bought this truck new not to kill it, but rather do everything I could for it to last as long as possible.

 

The transmission design is over 15 years old right? Hardly new.

 

Nothing in this transmission is new since torque converter, clutch packs and electronically controlled valve body have been invented.

 

Add cooler, Drop it in D, Tow/Haul mode on =

 

I'm wondering instead of saying they removed the cooler to save money and to make sure all the 2019-2021 tundra will have failed transmissions early. Please link to the dozens and dozens of reports of failed transmissions. Also since it's so hard on the transmissions and there's so many failures pick out the ones with pics of the teardown and failed parts please. Thanks I'm really interested in seeing these facts so I can make an informed decision.

 

This is the exact same transmission that was originally designed in 2006 with an external cooler on the tow package-equipped trucks.

At the very least, towing in S4 will keep you locked up as well as possible which will help temps.

I saw 225°F+ quickly unloaded on TN grades before I added a cooler. Not any more.

Spent 10 days last month loaded up with a bunch of gear in Colorado. Drove back and forth through the Eisenhower tunnel a couple times. Ran 4Hi or 4Lo on forest service roads. Pan never got over 208°F.

I still don’t think the overwhelming majority of 2019-2021 Tundras are out of warranty yet. The issue isn’t getting through warranty; it’s the never letting me down no matter how long I keep the truck that I was worried about.

 

I can speak for REF23/AW55 transmission, since I had them so many. All of them fail or develop severe problems before 100k miles, because of constant overheating. None of them fail or even wear ATF (beyond consuming slippage additives) with the external cooler installed. I have the pictures of transmission guts I repaired where you can see clearly a thermally broken plastic and O-rings, spun out sleeves, hardened gears loosing their bluish hue, valve bodies warped, bores scratched, frictions plates separated, etc.

When I see a brown ATF in 2 years old truck with only 20k miles I foresee big problems coming my way. I don't want problems. Transmission rebuild is expensive and painful. No ATF can withstand 250+ degrees heat in torque converter. It seems I was getting these temps every time I drove my Tundra. Not anymore.

 

Fact is that most people don't tow and we are only going to be looking at a subset of trucks from 2019-2021, so you aren't going to see widespread failures.

But for the guys who don't just drive a payment princess and actually tow or offroad in any harsh conditions, probably would be wise to do what the other 11 years of Tundra's with the tow package did and have a cooler to protect it. It isn't hard to install and it is way less than a new transmission.

 

I installed a cooler on my 2020

before cooler it ran 225

After cooler. 190

pinned thermostat 170

 

As far as the warranty, I talked to my service manager before installing a trans cooler and he told me “that as long as the added parts didn’t fail and cause the trans to starve and go out, it would still be covered.” And being that Genuine Cooling Systems is mostly Toyota parts, I don’t foresee a problem. This isn’t a simple add on, but watch the videos. I done it in an afternoon with the help of a friend. Just my 2 cents take it for what it’s worth.

 

A thousand bucks for piece of mind is pittance!

 

How large is the piece? Please express the value using the unit hectare.

 

I only speak in cubits, you'll have to convert. 1.6585692314951357894236571 cubits