External tranny oil coolers. not lude related.

Post by **lewd lude lover** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 6:52 pm

So I am after putting a transmission oil cooler on the Yota. Its going to be towing loads and it seems logical that is the first mod to aid longevity of the tranny. That and a tranny oil temp gauge in the cabin. I'll also be fitting an aux fan on a thermostat/toggle switch to the back of it for those rare occasions we are driving in 35 degree temps while towing 3 ton

Choice seems to be a load of chinese stuff or names like mocal, setrab and PWR with a vast difference in price.

I have put in an offer on a SH Mocal but i was after any experiences with either the chinese stuff or the branded?

Any thoughts appreciated, any advice re fitting such items much appreciated.

'92 Si VTEC · Post by **jjmartin349571** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:08 pm

I'm interested to hear about the above too, although does the stock set up on the Toyota not use a section of the rad for cooling??

Post by **4thgenphil** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:11 pm

lol, tranny

personally i wouldn't skip on monies, especially with what you have planned with it, i'm assuming its an auto?

can it be thermostatically controlled? is there one fitted standard? is there an issue with the boxes?

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:36 pm

lewd lude lover wrote:Its going to be towing loads

How much is loads?
Unless they have a reputation for being weak, I wonder if this is really needed?
Over-cooling isn't great for the box either.

Towing isn't going to put anything like the strain in the transmission that off-roading would, after all and it should have been designed to cope with that (as well as living/working in stinking hot countries).

Post by **lewd lude lover** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:59 pm

ok so research shows that the oem ''in radiator' oil cooler is not very efficient. Number of reasons:

Partially blocks hot water inlet thus reducing the radiators effectivity at cooling the engine
Suffers from heat soak from the hot water
is not very big

The tranny oil temp warning comes on at 110c. I want to have a system that keeps it at about 80 apparently.

Also the one thing that kills these engines is heat and cracked heads thanks to a bad design in the water channels over the valves. The 3.0 not near so bad as the 2.4 but preventative measures seem to add tens of thousands of miles to the engine. By deleting the in rad cooler I will get back a load of cooling for the engine. The Aussy boys are getting way cooler engine temps when hitting it hard after this mod and saving engines from death.

Also the tranny needs good cooling for towing. Its an auto as phil says for the ponies sake and this means heat. Again the one thing that seems to kill these is heat build up.It eats the graphite clutch plates so I understand. the roads that she will be driving will be very hard on an auto tranny. lots of tight hills with starts and stops from experience. its gonna need all the help it can get. As far as research shows overcooling is not an issue here. as big a cooler as you fancy seems to be the way to go.

I intend having the exterior cooler mounted at the front with the fan on either a thermostat inline with the incoming oil or attached to a switch in the cab to be flicked whenever getting into the country roads or going uphill.

There are no real problems known with the box its just that most people who want to tow or seriously off road do this mod and suffer no heat peoblems. Otherwise it seems tyota could have done a better job on the cooling full stop. The one killer issue is rust in the rad. If the plate seperating the two goes then you suffer what they call ''pink milkshake syndrom''

as the tranny oil and rad coolant are liberally mixed together... this is another good reason to delete the in rad cooler.
Lots of people put in a little rad in series with the in rad cooler but I fancy going the 25 row route and delete it all together.

Eventually I will be looking for a new manual rad to remove the blockage altogether but that is a little bit away as its in great condition.

Then the oil temp gauge. Tap it into the tranny sump and set the alarm at 105 so she can get a bit more warning than the oem system will allow. This also allows great monitoring of the box 'on the go' as it were.

I did think about this mod for the lude but decided it doesnt get used hard enough (being in a garage not withstanding)

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 8:06 pm

Furry muff, sounds like it is a good thing to do on these, then

Post by **lewd lude lover** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 8:19 pm

apparently good to do on pretty much any auto with an inrad cooler. They all do the job, though this design could do with a leg up, but if you want to clock 300k and over then you need to reduce the heat generally to reduce the cycling of the parts and seals. This one is on 72k and I fancy giving 300 a try

I'll be damned if I'll spend that much on a motor again anytime soon so it had better do!

Its all brand new to me

4x4 is a field I never looked into and it seems modification is about prolonging life rather than powerz etc. Understandable of course.

Next will be an exhaust gas temp gauge, manual boost controller (tweaking only) and boost gauge so we can basically drive to the gauges and stay in the black at all times. I fancy spending a little now to save a lot then... its hard to find info though.

Post by **4thgenphil** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 8:37 pm

i was going to say the aussie's love these things, my mate (RIP) when he had one did most of his research on the aussie sites. funnily his head cracked just after his first op, me and another changed the head, its a heavy, sh1tty job so anything you can do to avoid that is a bonus.

Post by **lewd lude lover** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:29 pm

Yeah thats my main plan now. Happily the aussie sites are open for research. Unfortunatly the only real mod support is also there

so posatge is a killer.

I'll see if this eller gets back on the offrer and get some pics of the idea.

Post by **4thgenphil** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:37 pm

so what parts do you actually need?

also to throw a spanner in the works, check the hoses you use are ok with auto box fluid.