Landcruiser transmission cooler?

As promised [MENTION=198376]4Runner4Leon[/MENTION] here is pics of my setup. Notice how the only thing separating the cooler from the condenser is little foam pads.
 

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That's a nice (and certainly simpler) installation! That convinces me to ditch trying to fit this square peg into a round hole, and get a "normal" cooler if I decide I need one (I am using my new gauge to monitor the temperatures, so I'll wait and see how high they get during use).
 
I wouldn't skip on a cooler, at least in the long run. Nothing kills auto trannys like heat.

If you are looking for one, try and get one that has a LPD (low pressure drop valve built in) that won't open until a certain temp to allow the ATF to warm up (the popular B&M 70264 begins to open at 170F and fully opens at 180F).

the placement of [MENTION=136902]thecole1098[/MENTION] cooler is good, and the temps he sees prove it.
 
LittleCaesar said:
I wouldn't skip on a cooler, at least in the long run. Nothing kills auto trannys like heat.

If you are looking for one, try and get one that has a LPD (low pressure drop valve built in) that won't open until a certain temp to allow the ATF to warm up (the popular B&M 70264 begins to open at 170F and fully opens at 180F).

the placement of [MENTION=136902]thecole1098[/MENTION] cooler is good, and the temps he sees prove it.
Click to expand...

Good advice, I'm also leaning towards just getting one and putting a bow in the whole thing, including adding the Magnafine that's just sitting on my bench for now.

The only thing holding me back is that the B&M coolers went up from around $40-50 a few years ago to $80, and that just annoys me. But I should just bite the bullet and get one, I know :).
 
I decided to go with the B&M 70264. Just a baby compared to the Landcruiser one, but it fits better and I'm sure is way more than I need anyway.

 
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Excellent choice. Wow, I didn't realize how huge the LC cooler was.

Unless you are wheeling in some serious heat, the 70264 should fit your needs.

Post some pics when finished.
 
Got my 70264 finally installed, took a while because I got derailed and decided to drop the whole front end and paint everything in sight:



Here is the overall install:



Line routing:



I used the FI hose clamps (total overkill of course):



And added split wire looms around any potential chafing locations:






Finally, the Magnafine. I wanted to mount it after the cooler, but couldn't find a good location for it, so I put it between the radiator and the cooler:



I was very pleased to see that on the 3 mile hill on my way home, where my trans temps usually hit 205-210, the needle was steady at a solid 180 the whole way. Yay!
 
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That is beautiful. Love those hose clamps. And I am glad that you grabbed a Magnefine with metal ends; the ones I have ever used all were abs composite and would leak at both ends after two to three years.

Did you tape off the sight glass on the drier before painting?
 
LittleCaesar said:
Did you tape off the sight glass on the drier before painting?
Click to expand...

Good question, I sure did (just didn't get around to peeling the tape off before taking the picture :)).

I had a bit of a scare today - I drove about 5 miles yesterday after installing the cooler, then got home and checked the fluid level (all good).

Then this morning I embarked on a 500 mile drive, and when I got to my first stopping point, about 200 miles from home, I decided to check the fluid level again. Imagine my horror when I saw the dipstick almost dry, barely at the "cold" mark. I looked in panic for any leaks, but didn't see any.

So I bought a quart of Dexron at the neatest gas station, and put in about 2/3 qt to bring it to full at "hot". I checked it several times again, and it remained at full.

So what I am guessing happened is that when i checked the fluid yesterday, even at 5 miles, the LPD bypass never opened and the cooler was not filled with fluid, so my measurement yesterday was bogus. Then on the drive today, the cooler filled up and used up almost a quart, dropping my fluid level as I observed.

Does that seem plausible? Sure scared the heck out of me.
 
There are no moving parts in the LPD coolers. It works solely on tube diameter and oil temperature/viscosity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
19963.4lsr5 said:
There are no moving parts in the LPD coolers. It works solely on tube diameter and oil temperature/viscosity.
Click to expand...

Good point, and thanks for clarifying! I shouldn't have said "opened", I should have said that the fluid was too viscous to pass through the cooler (and thus fill it).

I'm a bit surprised that 5 miles of driving (including uphill) was not enough for the fluid to start going through the cooler, but apparently it wasn't.
 
4Runner4Leon said:
Good point, and thanks for clarifying! I shouldn't have said "opened", I should have said that the fluid was too viscous to pass through the cooler (and thus fill it).

I'm a bit surprised that 5 miles of driving (including uphill) was not enough for the fluid to start going through the cooler, but apparently it wasn't.
Click to expand...
Fluid is always flowing through the cooling circuit. Did you possibly get your top/bottom lines swapped (you want in on the bottom and out on the top to clear the bubbles quickly).

-Charlie
 
phattyduck said:
Fluid is always flowing through the cooling circuit. Did you possibly get your top/bottom lines swapped (you want in on the bottom and out on the top to clear the bubbles quickly).

-Charlie
Click to expand...

Interesting, my (limited) understanding of LPD was that cold fluid is too viscous to pass through the LPD orifices, and is sent right back out the return line. That's why I thought that the cooler itself might have still been full of air on initial (dry) startup.

Is that not correct?

I will also triple check my hoses, but I am 99% sure that I have trans send > to radiator in > radiator out > magnafine > B&M cooler inlet (bottom) > B&M outlet (top) > trans return.
 
4Runner4Leon said:
Interesting, my (limited) understanding of LPD was that cold fluid is too viscous to pass through the LPD orifices, and is sent right back out the return line. That's why I thought that the cooler itself might have still been full of air on initial (dry) startup.

Is that not correct?

I will also triple check my hoses, but I am 99% sure that I have trans send > to radiator in > radiator out > magnafine > B&M cooler inlet (bottom) > B&M outlet (top) > trans return.
Click to expand...
B&M is really cagey about what exactly the "LPD" coolers do. But, my understanding of fluid dynamics is this:

There are some number of larger diameter passages in the cooler and the rest (most of them) are smaller. When fluid is at a higher viscosity, the 'boundary layer' of flow is thicker than at a lower viscosity. That thicker layer of fluid that is slowed down by the walls of the tube much more in the thin tubes than the thick tubes. It doesn't fully stop flow though.

Think of it like this: Thin straw vs. thick straw and a thick ice cream shake. You can still pretty easily get it through the thick straw compared to the thin straw, but you can always get some through the thin straw. Now, melt that ice cream shake - both can suck up fluid pretty easily, and the small straw flows 'more' compared to itself when the shake was thick. Maybe the thick straw is 2:1 more flow with the thin shake vs. thick, but the thin straw is 10:1 with the thin shake vs. thick.

The thicker passages in the cooler take up much less of the frontal area, and thus a lot less cooling happens when the fluid is cold.

Its just a ratio thing, not a hard stop when the fluid is cold.

-Charlie
 
phattyduck said:
B&M is really cagey about what exactly the "LPD" coolers do. But, my understanding of fluid dynamics is this:

There are some number of larger diameter passages in the cooler and the rest (most of them) are smaller. When fluid is at a higher viscosity, the 'boundary layer' of flow is thicker than at a lower viscosity. That thicker layer of fluid that is slowed down by the walls of the tube much more in the thin tubes than the thick tubes. It doesn't fully stop flow though.

Think of it like this: Thin straw vs. thick straw and a thick ice cream shake. You can still pretty easily get it through the thick straw compared to the thin straw, but you can always get some through the thin straw. Now, melt that ice cream shake - both can suck up fluid pretty easily, and the small straw flows 'more' compared to itself when the shake was thick. Maybe the thick straw is 2:1 more flow with the thin shake vs. thick, but the thin straw is 10:1 with the thin shake vs. thick.

The thicker passages in the cooler take up much less of the frontal area, and thus a lot less cooling happens when the fluid is cold.

Its just a ratio thing, not a hard stop when the fluid is cold.

-Charlie
Click to expand...

That certainly makes sense, it's hard to imagine that the bypass would create a complete airlock, without some kind of an active valve. So I still wonder where the 2/3 qt of fluid went? I put on another 300 miles and haven't lost a drop, so it was a one-time phenomenon. Of course now I have to go and recheck my line routing, just to make sure I didn't run them backwards. Stay tuned.
 
There may be a better LPD description on TrueCool's site. They make the cooler for BM. Spicer bought the company that made the coolers or bought the product line from the machine company that manufactured them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Treat as one of those working things that happen for the good in life, where the infinite knowledge of how it works may not be as important as the end result.

I have seen on YT where one guy hooked up a transmission pressure reader and as the ATF reacher X working psi temp, the LPD in his tranny cooler opened fully and his ATF temp began dropping. Will see if I can find it and attach the link.
 
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