Seeking opinions on tranny cooler options & accessories...

[Martinjmpr]

Since I bought my 4th gen as a tow vehicle for our teardrop, I want to make sure it is equipped as a tow vehicle should. To me, that means an aux transmission cooler is a requirement.

I had a B&M 70268 cooler on my '99 and it seemed to work very well. I had it plumbed to bypass the stock cooler entirely, as cross-contamination between the radiator and transmission is a primary cause of tranny failure in 3rd gen 4runners.

So, now that I'm in the 4th gen world, I'm soliciting some opinions on how I should proceed.

First question: Is the 70268 a good match for my 4.0 equipped 4runner? I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't be, but I wanted to ask just in case there might be a better cooler out there.

Second questions: To bypass or not? My inclination is to do the bypass as a precautionary measure, just to prevent any possibility of fluid from the radiator getting into the tranny. I know some people say you shouldn't bypass because it will not let the tranny heat up enough in cold weather, but in 2 years of living in CO with my previous setup, I never had a problem, and my thinking is "better safe than sorry." Does that make sense?

Third: What do you guys think of in-line tranny filters? I'm talking about something like this:

Amazon.com: B&M 80277 Universal Remote Transmission Filter Kit: Automotive

One thing that bothers me a little about the tranny on my 07 is that it's sealed - I have no way of checking it, adding fluid, or anything else. Seems to me a filter system would at least give me the opportunity to inspect the fluid from time to time (by removing the filter) and/or of topping off fluid. Does that make sense or am I worrying unneccessarily? Is the A740F considered a pretty 'bulletproof' transmission in terms of ordinary wear-and-tear?

Any other recommendations WRT the tranny? I will most likely have the tranny flushed when they put the cooler on, since I'll be at close to 100k at that time.

Thanks in advance for any advice/experience!

 

[CXS]

I had the same concerns about hauling a trailer so I put in a Scangauge II to monitor my tranny temps before making a decision. My popup is probably in the 1500 lb range loaded and we covered 3400 miles in 90+ temps. My temps rarely hit 200 during the whole trip so I decided there wasn't any need for additional cooling so my suggestion is to see if you need any additional cooling before doing anything especially considering the light weight of your trailer.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I had the same concerns about hauling a trailer so I put in a Scangauge II to monitor my tranny temps before making a decision. My popup is probably in the 1500 lb range loaded and we covered 3400 miles in 90+ temps. My temps rarely hit 200 during the whole trip so I decided there wasn't any need for additional cooling so my suggestion is to see if you need any additional cooling before doing anything especially considering the light weight of your trailer.

I have the SGII as well (see my post in the Turbo Gauge vs. Scangauge thread) and have noticed temps will get as high as 225 when pulling the trailer up a steep grade (two weeks ago we had it on Trail Ridge Road in RMNP - 12,000' + )

In fact, I noticed that the trans temp will exceed 200 without the trailer when I am 'wheeling on steep hills at high altitudes. When I ran the Alpine Loop (Cinnamon and Engineer Passes) back in July the temps peaked at 217 or so. Again, this was without the trailer.

So I definitely think a cooler is in order!

 

[CXS]

Yep, sounds like you need one!

 

[soundmanlpte]

Since I bought my 4th gen as a tow vehicle for our teardrop, I want to make sure it is equipped as a tow vehicle should. To me, that means an aux transmission cooler is a requirement.

I had a B&M 70268 cooler on my '99 and it seemed to work very well. I had it plumbed to bypass the stock cooler entirely, as cross-contamination between the radiator and transmission is a primary cause of tranny failure in 3rd gen 4runners.

So, now that I'm in the 4th gen world, I'm soliciting some opinions on how I should proceed.

First question: Is the 70268 a good match for my 4.0 equipped 4runner? I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't be, but I wanted to ask just in case there might be a better cooler out there.

Second questions: To bypass or not? My inclination is to do the bypass as a precautionary measure, just to prevent any possibility of fluid from the radiator getting into the tranny. I know some people say you shouldn't bypass because it will not let the tranny heat up enough in cold weather, but in 2 years of living in CO with my previous setup, I never had a problem, and my thinking is "better safe than sorry." Does that make sense?

Third: What do you guys think of in-line tranny filters? I'm talking about something like this:

Amazon.com: B&M 80277 Universal Remote Transmission Filter Kit: Automotive

One thing that bothers me a little about the tranny on my 07 is that it's sealed - I have no way of checking it, adding fluid, or anything else. Seems to me a filter system would at least give me the opportunity to inspect the fluid from time to time (by removing the filter) and/or of topping off fluid. Does that make sense or am I worrying unneccessarily? Is the A740F considered a pretty 'bulletproof' transmission in terms of ordinary wear-and-tear?

Any other recommendations WRT the tranny? I will most likely have the tranny flushed when they put the cooler on, since I'll be at close to 100k at that time.

Thanks in advance for any advice/experience!

Hello,

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I was wondering if you did in fact add the 70268 tranny cooler along with the 80277 spin on filter. How is it working? Would you recommend it? I am thinking about adding that exact setup to my 3rd gen along with a new radiator.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Hello,

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I was wondering if you did in fact add the 70268 tranny cooler along with the 80277 spin on filter. How is it working? Would you recommend it? I am thinking about adding that exact setup to my 3rd gen along with a new radiator.

I added the tranny cooler but never put the spin on filter. Seems to have worked out fine. I think I'm approaching 40,000 miles on the 4runner (most of those pulling a trailer) and so far so good!

 

[fullboogie]

First thing I would do is datalog and find out if you really need a tranny cooler. I assumed I did, and was getting all excited about the prospect of buying more parts for my truck. After logging tranny temps in Torque while towing in the dead of summer, I realized it would be a waste of money - temps never rose above 170.

 

[NuclearN8]

First thing I would do is datalog and find out if you really need a tranny cooler. I assumed I did, and was getting all excited about the prospect of buying more parts for my truck. After logging tranny temps in Torque while towing in the dead of summer, I realized it would be a waste of money - temps never rose above 170.

Probably cause Texas has no hills! haha
If you hit one decent hill that causes your tranny to downshift to maintain speed, your temp will jump significantly. Cruising on flat land at constant speed doesn't really stress the transmission fluid, regardless of exterior temps. Although, I admit if I lived in Texas I would run one on every vehicle I owned... cooler is better with regards to tranny fluid.

this is an old thread so I'm done.

 

[fullboogie]

DOH! Didn't realize it was a zombie.