B&M 70268 SuperCooler Transmission Cooler Install on a 3rd Gen

[CStat4runner]

Uhm...

been installed a couple months now but i put mine here. 01 explorer cooler works great and the trans thanks me! i also have a tundra cooler for sale if someone needs one. :clap2:
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Maybe it's an allusion, or maybe I'm just stupid. but what the heck is your transmission cooler connected to in this photo? Unless I'm looking at this wrong your tubing appears to go in a loop...

 

[Arnezie]

I recently purchased my 97 4runner limited with 174K and have been spending hours and hours researching things to keep my baby running as long as possible. After seeing so many threads regarding the pink milkshake and/or transmission coolers, I decided to pull the trigger and install a transmission cooler to be free of the pink milkshake paranoia.



I decided to post this to encourage anyone who might be hesitant abut tackling this project on their own.

I went with the B&M 70268 Supercooler. I felt it had enough cooling power for my needs here in Colorado- I drive to and from work, take occasional trips up to the mountains, and see outdoor temps ranging anywhere from -5 to 100. So i figured that this will meet my needs.

I bought 8 feet of 3/8" ID transmission oil hose, some circular cinch clamps, a drain pain, and a bottle of ATF Dexron II fluid.

I fancy myself to be somewhat handy with tools and have an okay knowledge of mechanics, but I do admit that this job was a little daunting to me- working on such a vital part of my vehicle was a little scary.



I mounted the cooler on its side on the passenger side of the ac compressor, with the send line on the bottom and the return line on the top. The whole job, start to finish, took a little over an hour and a half- the toughest parts were getting the routing of the hoses just right, and removing the old hoses from the transmission send an return lines- they were really on there tight and there isn't much space for your hands and wrench to get at them.

Overall the job went well. after everything was finished, I started it up, replaced the lost fluid, ran it through the automatic gear settings, checked for leaks, took a 5 mile drive, and checked for leaks again.

Here's a pic of my setup:

A big thank you to all of those who have written detailed posts on how to do this- it was a huge help!:thanks:

No more milkshake worries! :banana::driving:

In from Trans should be on bottom top should be return to transmission. You have it backwards

 

[97Evergreen]

In from Trans should be on bottom top should be return to transmission. You have it backwards

If you re-read my post, you'll see it says that I mounted the send line (transmission to radiator) on the bottom, and the return line (radiator returning fluids back to the transmission) on the top. I've read that you can hook it up either way, but the B&M instructions recommended having the send line on the bottom and return line on top. Either way I'm just glad to have the possibility of the milkshake eliminated. :reddance:

 

[01thunder]

Maybe it's an allusion, or maybe I'm just stupid. but what the heck is your transmission cooler connected to in this photo? Unless I'm looking at this wrong your tubing appears to go in a loop...

i wasn't finished with the install. that was just a piece of hose sealing the inlets. both hoses go through a hole in the support.

 

[MikeMH]

In case anyone pays to have this done, it cost me 2 hours of labor at my local shop ($94/hr). I supplied the cooler and all parts mentioned in the OP.

I bought the truck 6 weeks ago would have preferred to do it myself, but my wife and friends wanted to use it on a road trip and I ran out of time. I printed the OPs directions and had the shop set it up that way...it took two attempts because the first time around they simply zip tied it to the front core support and called it good. But we got it worked out and now no milkshake worries.

 

[Limbwalker]

I found this image on Yotatech and thought it would be helpful for those wanting to run their tranny cooler 'in series' as I had trouble finding this info on our forum. Thanks

 

[NotKewl]

Good thread BigFish! Exactly what I needed to know for adding a tranny cooler.

 

[Unner]

Just wanted to give a big thanks to BigFishAllDay for this write up and all the other great one's he has on this site. I know they have made these jobs much easier for me. I'll probably be using more of them in the future, maybe even the TBU one.

One thing I did want to note here was that while most people said they only lost 1/3 of a quart or so of transmission fluid I lost a little over 2 quarts! I'm not sure why this was. The car was warm because I drove it to autozone to get the hose, or maybe it was because I popped the radiator end off first and then the end that goes on the hard metal line to the tranny. Just figured I would make a note of that here for anyone else. I had 2.5 quarts of ATF left from my last fluid change so it wasn't a big deal.

 

[SpidermanGeek]

I also want to give a big thanks to [MENTION=44220]BigFishAllDay[/MENTION] and everyone else who contributed to this thread. I tackled the B&M 70268 install myself and this thread took a lot of the guesswork out of that task.

I posted some pics in the "What did you do to your 3rd Gen today?" thread.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/1984964-post10293.html

 

[gamefreakgc]

I am also about to do this myself but am trying to figure out which BTU rating cooler I should get. I have a supercharged engine with no fuel mods, so I get extra power at the expense of heat. No damage to the engine (yet) but the previous owner toasted the transmission to the point of getting a brand new one. The oil was getting dark again when I bought it, so he clearly didn't know what was going on.

I'm doing this more for heat dissipation than anything. I'm looking at two different coolers:

Cooler OC 4490 22 000 lb Tru Cool 12 x 11 x 3 4 Low Pressure | eBay

Cooler OC 4454 18 000 lb Tru Cool 7 1 4" x 11" x 3 4" Low Pressure | eBay

The first one, 4490, is rated at 20,000 BTU but measures 12 x 11 x 3/4 inches. The second one is the same size as BFAD's writeup (Tru Cool and B&M I think are made by the same company), 4454 rated at 13,000 BTU measuring 7 1/4 x 11 x 3/4 inches.

I am leaning towards the extra cooling but I'm not sure about fitment. Will a cooler 5 inches wider fit ok? Does anyone have any experience on this?

 

[animator]

Just wanted to give a big thanks to BigFishAllDay for this write up and all the other great one's he has on this site. I know they have made these jobs much easier for me. I'll probably be using more of them in the future, maybe even the TBU one.

One thing I did want to note here was that while most people said they only lost 1/3 of a quart or so of transmission fluid I lost a little over 2 quarts! I'm not sure why this was. The car was warm because I drove it to autozone to get the hose, or maybe it was because I popped the radiator end off first and then the end that goes on the hard metal line to the tranny. Just figured I would make a note of that here for anyone else. I had 2.5 quarts of ATF left from my last fluid change so it wasn't a big deal.

My driveway is on an incline, and I found that keeping the front higher than the rear caused fluid loss to be minimal. I lost maybe a cap-fulls worth of fluid when disconnecting the send line. Return line dropped a few drips.


This was also in a cold engine that had sat overnight.

 

[SpidermanGeek]

I was on flat land, but I stupidly unhooked the return line at the transmission and lost most of the fluid from there which actually leaked all over (and into) the cross member. So I had a bit of a mess. I didn't want to unhook it from the rad because I used that hose to close the loop for the OEM trans fluid rad reservoir.

But all in all, I lost about the average amount reported.. a 1/3 of a quart or so.

 

[BlazeRunner]

I am also about to do this myself but am trying to figure out which BTU rating cooler I should get. I have a supercharged engine with no fuel mods, so I get extra power at the expense of heat. No damage to the engine (yet) but the previous owner toasted the transmission to the point of getting a brand new one. The oil was getting dark again when I bought it, so he clearly didn't know what was going on.

I'm doing this more for heat dissipation than anything. I'm looking at two different coolers:

Cooler OC 4490 22 000 lb Tru Cool 12 x 11 x 3 4 Low Pressure | eBay

Cooler OC 4454 18 000 lb Tru Cool 7 1 4" x 11" x 3 4" Low Pressure | eBay

The first one, 4490, is rated at 20,000 BTU but measures 12 x 11 x 3/4 inches. The second one is the same size as BFAD's writeup (Tru Cool and B&M I think are made by the same company), 4454 rated at 13,000 BTU measuring 7 1/4 x 11 x 3/4 inches.

I am leaning towards the extra cooling but I'm not sure about fitment. Will a cooler 5 inches wider fit ok? Does anyone have any experience on this?

Go big or go home, here's what I'm running. Tru-cool 4589 24,000 GVW, 21,000 BTU 8"x11"x1.5"
Amazon.com: Long Tru-Cool LPD Automatic Transmission Oil Cooler 4589 24,000 GVW: Automotive

fitment is tight, but no issues. Also, not sure how other suppliers are, but the amazon link came with hose, fittings, zip tie mounts, steel mounts, hardware etc.

 

[SpidermanGeek]

Yeah, I wouldn't mess around if it's supercharged.

I chose the 70268 because my rig only ever sees light duty usage and we have cold winters here in Ontario Canada.

But it's also why I installed the gauge. If I notice that the 70268 alone isn't enough, I'll revisit whether to install a stand alone e-fan or upgarde the cooling capacity, but from everything I've read, the 70268 should be plenty effective for my application.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Sounds good. After studying the photos I realized that by mounting sideways, it's just longer, not wider. So it would just cover a bit more of the radiator than the normally 7" kind but not really worried about that.

I think that settles it for me. Last thing I want to do is bypass the radiator cooler and then it end up still being too hot.

 

[BartleDoo]

I just bought a 2001 SR5 4WD 180k miles, if that information matters.

I ordered the cooler and a new radiatior, because idk if or when the radiator has ever been replaced. Is this overkill? Would the cooler alone suffice?

 

[Supermoney]

I just bought a 2001 SR5 4WD 180k miles, if that information matters.

I ordered the cooler and a new radiatior, because idk if or when the radiator has ever been replaced. Is this overkill? Would the cooler alone suffice?

I personally just went with a new radiator. However I plan on getting a transmission cooler soon because I will be towing a uhaul trailer across the country.

 

[BartleDoo]

After looking at my radiator for a while today, trying to get a good idea how to tackle this job, i realized my radiator drain valve doesn't have the hole on the bottom like all of the pictures I've seen. I'm starting to think this isnt a stock radiator. I'll take a picture and you giys can tell me what you think.

 

[BartleDoo]

So here's a picture of my 4runner, and a few pictures of the bottom of the radiator. Sorry for all the dirty spots, maybe i found a couple mud holes today. Is there enough evidence here to say that this radiator has been replaced?

 

[pdx650]

So here's a picture of my 4runner, and a few pictures of the bottom of the radiator. Sorry for all the dirty spots, maybe i found a couple mud holes today. Is there enough evidence here to say that this radiator has been replaced?

Bartledoo, I would not fret much about the lack of the hole on the bottom of the petcock plastic screw bolt. All you need to know is when you do remove the plastic bolt to drain the radiator is to expect the coolant to come shooting out to the aft of your radiator and not straight down like on all other 4runners of this generation. Looks good to me.