Was out doin some light wheeling today when my poor Runner just quit pulling. The trans was sweating out all the seals and I could hear the fluid boiling. A quick pull of the dip stick and it was covered from end to end with the pink milk shake. I persuaded it to back about 100yds out of the trail I just hit and she wanted no more. After sitting (turned off) on the windy power lines for about 20 minutes it was cooled enough to continue about another 1/2 mile before the clutches started slipping again. My Taco friend towed by busted girl to the house. Cooled off once again I tried to limp it down the driveway into the garage. There was no limping, it drove just fine with no slipping. Trans fluid is drained along with coolant. Gonna do a flush tomorrow and hope for the best. I don't think I smoked the clutches judging by it's performance and there being no clutch mud in the fluid.

What's the best external cooler to go with? (The one I should have already had!)

This was helpfulB&M 70268 SuperCooler Transmission Cooler Install on a 3rd Gen

If you're running the 70268, what is the norm for operating temps in 90-100deg summer heat?

Ouch! That sucks. Florida never gets very cold does it? I'd go with the 70264.

ahhh man that blows...
I have the B&M Supercooler and have been super happy with it.

That sucks. Interesting that it happened at such high miles. Was that the original radiator? Has the truck always been a Florida resident?

x2 on the 70264 instead of the 70268. I'd want a bigger cooler for that Florida heat.

I haven't used my B&M in the 'summer' yet, but we have had quite a few hot days recently (80's) I never get over 180 in city traffic.

Yep! happen to my 98 4runner I got a good use for it around 194000 with original rad it broke on me back in Dec 2010 replace rad, change trans filter flush the fluid out and now the trans is not the same. Happen to me while driving
about 1mile might have to rebuild a new trans or sold it for parts.
Good luck on your 4runner hope that your truck does not end up like mine.

there are a lot of threads on this on YotaTech as well. Scared me into doing mine about 5k ago.

I believe swapping the tranny is much cheaper than rebuilding it. Hopefully you can get away with just flushing it out. A lot of guys do the flush and it runs for ~10k miles just fine. I just suffered a HG this week so I feel your $$ pain.

Thanks for the quick responses. I did me a lil research at the B&M site and the 70264 seems like the winner fo sho. Ordered

Summer temps can reach over 100deg and winter is usually below freezing for about a month.

B&M 70264 cooler is in and on my 3rd driving flush. First time I used 3gal of fluid to do a quick standing flush. Drain, fill with 3qts, start engine and allow it to pump the fluid out and into a 5gal bucket from the cooler line. Once it starts burping, kill the engine and dump another 3qts in, repeat. When I felt all of the water was out I refilled and drove a few miles. Trans acted like it was back to normal with no slipping and crisp shifts. But just to be safe I drained again, it had a slight pink to it. You know haw new fluid is clear, this was still nice and red but a little cloudy. Did that 2 more times and now I'm gonna ride with the cheap fluid for a while to make sure there are no leaks before I go back to Royal Purple and Lucas.

Long story short... If you happen to get the pink milkshake don't assume that all is lost and go for a rebuild. As long as you noticed the slipping soon enough and didn't try to dive it while slipping then odds are that the clutches will be fine and you can do a flush and be back on the road in no time.

I went on a trail ride for a few hours on Sat and she did great.


Camp site we claimed

Buddy's 98 Taco 2.7L 5spd, 33x12.5 KM2's 3" Lift

this .................is.....................badass

I agree. All the posts on this scared me into doing the cooler as well. First thing I did to the truck. Cheap insurance.

Anywho, OP glad yours is working out so far!

Is this a common issue to Off Highway use, Trailer pullers, Hot climate, or just something that happens to 4Runners? Without adding a stand alone tranny cooler, what can one do to prevent this.

Time to change your sig, you're well on your way now! Truck looks great man!

It's a risk to all automatic 3rd gens after about 7+ years. If your radiator is original, you're in danger. A new radiator (~$130) every 7 years or so is another option, only an external cooler will absolutely prevent it.

I'm about to order a tranny cooler in the next couple of days. I've been doing a lot of searching and have found that many people choose the B&M 70268 or the 70264 (like you did). At first I thought the 70268 would be fine, but after a good deal of reading the past few nights, I'm unsure.
I live in the northern part of Alabama. Summers are quite hot with temps at 100+ and winter temps can occasionally be in the teens (though rarely). I also live in a somewhat hilly area but do mostly flat highway driving. I'm also lifted and running 285s w/ ~185k miles. Any suggestion on which one would be better for my conditions?

Thanks. By the way, those pink milkshake pics make me

UA Randy3: Which one did you go with?