External Tranny Cooler Help

Kmurt

New member
Hey guys. Installing my B&M Tranny cooler and noticed this nut/screw/whatever you want to call it was loose and I could actually just twist it and pull it out by hand. It wasn't leaking at all either. I believe this is the send line.

Is this normal? Is it supposed to just push in or thread in? Just a little concerned before I move on with the rest of the install.

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Hey guys. Installing my B&M Tranny cooler and noticed this nut/screw/whatever you want to call it was loose and I could actually just twist it and pull it out by hand. It wasn't leaking at all either. I believe this is the send line. Is this normal?

You're correct. It should not be loose at all. That is the send line from the transmission. The return line is on the drivers side with the elbow. The color surrounding the fitting in your photo looks like burnt tranny fluid. It should be fairly pink in color. Have you smelt it and have you checked the color of the fluid on your dipstick?
 
I still have my old radiator in the garage. I did the cooler mod about a year ago with about 310k on my 4runner and it still looked great. I'll run out there snap a pic and post it in a bit.
 
Do you have flow of ATF thru the lines?

Yes. Tranny fluid poured out when I disconnected lines.

You're correct. It should not be loose at all. That is the send line from the transmission. The return line is on the drivers side with the elbow. The color surrounding the fitting in your photo looks like burnt tranny fluid. It should be fairly pink in color. Have you smelt it and have you checked the color of the fluid on your dipstick?

I had a transmission flush and new fluid put in a month ago. Before the installation everything checked out great and no leaks of any kind and the fluid almost looked like blood. It appears to be two washers that go with the screw. The one is rusted pretty bad. Im thinking the threads either in the radiator or on the screw is stripped because when I push it in and twist it gets tight enough, but as soon as you spin it with a wrench it loosens up again.

Thanks for the help so far guys.
 
Yes. Tranny fluid poured out when I disconnected lines. I had a transmission flush and new fluid put in a month ago. Before the installation everything checked out great and no leaks of any kind and the fluid almost looked like blood.

I wouldn't be surprised if the technician that did the job may have stripped it. It's probably nothing serious, however, because the fitting on the radiator is brass, my guess is it's the threads on the radiator fitting that are stripped not the flare nut. If you're radiator is due for a change, you may consider doing that before you attach the cooler. You'll find yourself back in there doing it all over again. Here's what the fluid in my old radiator looked like and here's the break down of the lower fitting.
 

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Well the rest of the install was a total bummer. Ended up hooking everything up, but was still iffy about that loose fitting. My father and I agreed it definitely didn't seem right. He was trying to see if it would tighten or if there was a better way of getting it in there.

All of the sudden it burst open and all my radiator fluid leaked out of the hole, which is where the send line to the transmission would normally go. And I lost a little more transmission fluid. Great...

So now what? I'm thinking I need a whole new radiator, which means that now the external tranny cooler will have to be removed from the front. Maybe this was a sign before I got the pink milkshake? I really don't know. I'm down, but not out.

Still open to any knowledge and suggestions.

End of the day mess:

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Possible culprit
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I thought the external cooler was to eliminate passing the ATF through the radiator at all. If so, it would not matter about this fitting since you would no longer be using it. No??

I don't have one but thats what I thought from reading....
 
I thought the external cooler was to eliminate passing the ATF through the radiator at all. If so, it would not matter about this fitting since you would no longer be using it. No??

I don't have one but thats what I thought from reading....

Depends. Folks in hotter climates are more likely to bypass the radiator. For folks in cooler climates or mild off roading such as myself have no problem installing it through the radiator. I'll just buy a new radiator every 150 or so. There's a lot of discussion on here on benefits of installing it either way.
 
Well the rest of the install was a total bummer. Ended up hooking everything up, but was still iffy about that loose fitting. My father and I agreed it definitely didn't seem right. He was trying to see if it would tighten or if there was a better way of getting it in there.

All of the sudden it burst open and all my radiator fluid leaked out of the hole, which is where the send line to the transmission would normally go. And I lost a little more transmission fluid. Great...

Sure could have been worse. It could have happened while driving and there goes the tranny and the engine overheating. Get yourself a new radiator and those new zip ties from B&M. Only use OEM coolant and tranny fluid. Dont use tap water. Count yourself fortunate.
 
Like Rock Rat said, Better that you found the problem than it found you. New radiator some tranny fluid, yota pink antifreeze and your back on the road for another 150k
 
I thought the external cooler was to eliminate passing the ATF through the radiator at all. If so, it would not matter about this fitting since you would no longer be using it. No??

I don't have one but thats what I thought from reading....

Yes. That is the plan to bypass the radiator all together and just have the external tranny cooler cool the transmission. I did it to avoid the pink milkshake and because the radiator is original.

Sure could have been worse. It could have happened while driving and there goes the tranny and the engine overheating. Get yourself a new radiator and those new zip ties from B&M. Only use OEM coolant and tranny fluid. Dont use tap water. Count yourself fortunate.

Yeah. That's what I keep telling myself. Must've been a sign.
I guess I'll be ordering a Denso (pretty sure OEM?) radiator and yes, OEM fluids only. It just sucks because I had the tranny fluid and radiator fluid flushed last month and now having to do it again. Oh well. Things happen...

Like Rock Rat said, Better that you found the problem than it found you. New radiator some tranny fluid, yota pink antifreeze and your back on the road for another 150k

Yup. Wish me luck!
 
Its a good thing you are doing the cooler install and caught it...it might have been a real disaster. I am doing the install, likely this week, and adding a cooling fan, thermostat and bypassing the trans cooler in the radiator.

Those pink milk shake photos got my attention.

As well I am going to do my own low pressure flush as I think the high pressure flushes put an old tranny under more pressure than they we designed for. In fact I might buy some cheap atf and run all of it through the tranny before flushing and filling with mobile 2.

Don't forget a good inline Magnafine filter as well.
 
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Its a good thing you are doing the cooler install and caught it...it might have been a real disaster. I am doing the install, likely this week, and adding a cooling fan, thermostat and bypassing the trans cooler in the radiator.

Those pink milk shake photos got my attention.

As well I am going to do my own low pressure flush as I think the high pressure flushes put an old tranny under more pressure than they we designed for. In fact I might buy some cheap atf and run all of it through the tranny before flushing and filling with mobile 2.

Don't forget a good inline Magnafine filter as well.

I consider myself pretty lucky at this point. ALMOST could have had the pink milkshake...almost. My transmission showed no signs of anything out of the ordinary prior to this happening.

I wish I had the time, tools, knowledge, to do my own work. I'm just a computer mechanic lol.
 
This is how I flush

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WngXE_7vg-Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I consider myself pretty lucky at this point. ALMOST could have had the pink milkshake...almost. My transmission showed no signs of anything out of the ordinary prior to this happening.

I wish I had the time, tools, knowledge, to do my own work. I'm just a computer mechanic lol.

Is easy and the tools for this are cheap on Amazon. Check out the video above.
 
Do your research first before you do a tranny flush if you haven't been doing them regularly throughout the life of the tranny. Read up first and check with a few of the senior guys on here. Sometimes it's better left alone. Just drain your 2 and 1/2 qts and replace every so many miles. Search the threads first and formulate your decision.
 
Do your research first before you do a tranny flush if you haven't been doing them regularly throughout the life of the tranny. Read up first and check with a few of the senior guys on here. Sometimes it's better left alone. Just drain your 2 and 1/2 qts and replace every so many miles. Search the threads first and formulate your decision.

I have and in every case I hear of a trany taking a dump immediately after flushing, its because of a commercial high power flush, not an old school slow (and messy) flush using the trany to do the flush itself.

The tranny flushes itself every time you drive it, as the fluid runs through the system to the cooler. Flushing it at the speed that it flushes itself and replacing the dirty fluid with clean, will do no harm, and if it did, or does, it is likely that very soon, on a trip to the convenience store for beer, it would have done itself in, as a rebellion due to the neglect it received.

If you read the FSM, and you look at the inside of one these babies, you scratch your head and wonder how could changing out the fluid and replacing it with clean fluid cause it to screw the pooch. It might, and I say might, as in slim chance screw up a sensor, but allowing it to self flush out the old and take in the new, will not cause damage and saying will is like saying a fleet enema and drinking clean water will kill you when your impacted and full of fecal matter that needs cleaned out...that dog just hunt.

Force flushing never, but flushing in clean fluid at the pressure, or close to the pressure that fluid is pumped to the cooler will never hurt it and any hurt supposed, is more likely than not, a fallacy of correlation.
 

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