Transmission oil cooler delete?

[ndjose]

Good afternoon everyone.
I just purchased a 03 V8 Limited with 171k on the clock and changed the oil this past Saturday. When I removed the front skid plate I noticed fluid puddled in a cavity. After some inspection I think I found the issue. The attached shows two lines that are coming from the transmission cooler. Looks like one is missing a cap, and the other was cut. Did these trucks come with a transmission cooler as standard? Looks like someone tried to delete it. The truck shifts perfect, and I do not tow with it. Do you guys think I should get this rectified asap, or it can wait for spring?

Thanks
Jose

 

[keakar]

yes the v8 and the 4wd 4r have an aux tranny oil cooler in front of the radiator, there is a short 8"-9" hose that connects to those fittings to make the turn, then they hook to a short metal pipe clamped onto the radiator core support, and then another rubber hose comes out the top going to the aux tranny cooler

you can see it here in post number 176 http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/195074-atf-exchange-using-cooling-line-12.html


its hard to tell but the end in you picture looks like the hose that would lead to the tranny

im going to assume if all that is disconnected then either the cooler line in the radiator or the aux cooler itself was leaking so you need more investigation to see why it was disconnected. there was no good reason it should be unhooked unless there was a leak somewhere in something

 

[AuSeeker]

With the rust that I'm seeing I'm guessing that the tubing had rusted through and started leaking and one of the previous owners just bypassed the cooler instead of fixing it.

 

[ndjose]

Thank you for the replies. As soon as I saw the rust I also figured there was a leak and they deleted the cooler instead of fixing it properly.

Does anyone have pictures or a schematic that shows where and how its connected to the transmission? In the spring time I will probably hook it back up, unless someone thinks this will cause me transmission problems. I don't tow, and have a short commute.

thanks again
Jose

 

[Mike07SE]

Thank you for the replies. As soon as I saw the rust I also figured there was a leak and they deleted the cooler instead of fixing it properly.

Does anyone have pictures or a schematic that shows where and how its connected to the transmission? In the spring time I will probably hook it back up, unless someone thinks this will cause me transmission problems. I don't tow, and have a short commute.

thanks again
Jose

Honestly, if it's rusted bad plus who knows how long its been exposed (internally) to weather, I wouldn't risk reconnecting unless you get a replacement unit for it.

 

[AuSeeker]

Thank you for the replies. As soon as I saw the rust I also figured there was a leak and they deleted the cooler instead of fixing it properly.

Does anyone have pictures or a schematic that shows where and how its connected to the transmission? In the spring time I will probably hook it back up, unless someone thinks this will cause me transmission problems. I don't tow, and have a short commute.

thanks again
Jose

It will work fine without the external cooler, the fluid still goes through the radiator to be cooled, the external cooler is just additional cooling, but if it were me I would replace the cooler, tubing and reconnect it for the additonal cooling.

I'm sure there are photos somewhere on this forum, you may find some doing a search of the forum.