Adding a Trans Cooler, to Fan or not to Fan?
- Thread starter LostLexus
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Awesome! Thank you!
The only problem with a manual only switch is forgetting it's on. Considering it's quiet and not visual, it would be easy to flip it on and leave it on through an entire season before realizing it's on.
I one goes with a manual only switch, I'd suggest using an OBDII phone app that shows transmission temps so at least there's some visual accounting of what the tranny is doing.
Yeah I know the fan would only run when the engine was on and would never drain the battery, but if you forget and leave it on during some cold weather your trans will never get up to operating temperature.
For me, I'd just like the security of knowing it'll turn on and off with a thermal switch and save the manual for "just in case".
At the end of a long day of trails, I'd probably forget about leaving the switch on.
You shouldn't really need to run a fan on these off-roading. Lots of folks wheel in these at low speeds and the trans don't get hot under those conditions (presumably due to the Toyota design). The trans in these can get cooked by long grades where a low gear is retained, a lot of throttle is applied, and the TCC doesn't lock up, or when towing. Even with the TCC unlocked at low speeds (i.e., cruising in 3rd gear and below off-road), they don't really generate a lot of heat. Mine usually stays 160-170F off-roading in the summer with a Hayden 678.
- Thread starter
- #25
Perks of having a vehicle with Land Cruiser roots! I just ordered a Hayden 678. I really appreciate the input.
I'm going to Side with Toyota Engineering on this One. If it needed a Fan they would have Put a Fan on it.
The Transmissions on these Rarely Fail and if they do it's Typically the Owner Fault.
If you add an Electric fan remember they do not like Water.
The AC Condensor on the GX has an Electric Fan, but 80 Series Does Not (It is getting one Currently).
The Transmissions on these Rarely Fail and if they do it's Typically the Owner Fault.
If you add an Electric fan remember they do not like Water.
The AC Condensor on the GX has an Electric Fan, but 80 Series Does Not (It is getting one Currently).
Fan or no fan, the OEM cooler in the GX is woefully undersized, when it is even present. Even unloaded you'll get runaway temps pulling a big, windy, low-speed grade out west when a low gear is required and the TCC doesn't lock. And the AT TEMP light doesn't kick on until something close to 300F - at which point it is too late. If you aren't monitoring temps via a OBDII reader and app, you trans could be well above 250F and you'd have no idea. It's easy/cheap enough to fix this fatal flaw with a Hayden 678/679. Other similar vintage Toyotas, like the Tundra, have a cooler much larger than the GX. The 678 is around 3X the size of the OEM 470 cooler.
I personally don't see how Toyota came to the 6,500# tow rating on the 460 without a cooler. This, along with the "lifetime fluid" myth, also may explain the anecdotally higher rate of trans failures in the 460 relative to the 470. Again it's easy to DIY fix this flaw, but it's a big oversight from Toyota IMO.
That's a very good point about an after market fan and water. If one does any fording and wants to add a fan, may consider a sealed motor fan.
- Thread starter
- #31
Here was the setup I fabbed and installed on my old Ram 2500. Derale uses Spal fans and from my experience these things CRANK and hold up to the elements really well. This under belly cooler set up worked amazingly.Super Duty Electric Fans
www.haydenauto.com
These are water proof and designed for offroading.
Wonder if replacing the under seat cooler fan with one of these would work???Super Duty Electric Fans
These are water proof and designed for offroading.
THAT is what I'd WANT!!!
I'm planning to install a transmission cooler fan onto the OEM trans cooler b/c I don't want to disturb the OEM fluid circuit for reliability reasons. My experience while wheeling - Rubicon esp, longer hill climbs in low or high gear, other rock crawling w/ 33" - is that the trans often gets hotter than 200 F. While that's not "overheating". Some not too reputable internet searches seem to indicate that above 200 F wasn't great.
So now the quest for the cooler fan.
So now the quest for the cooler fan.
I'd suggest instead installing a CSF radiator. It will drop your trans temperatures significantly, also help your engine cool better, and it will be much less prone to failure than the OEM plastic radiator (which can ruin your engine quickly).
Also if your trans temps are getting high while wheeling, you are probably in too high of a gear and lugging the engine. I've seen my tans temps get up to 225F of so wheeling in when 4LO 2nd or 3rd gear, but they immediately drop when I put the trans in a lower gear (as higher engine speed = more fan speed/air and more water pump flow).
Also if your trans temps are getting high while wheeling, you are probably in too high of a gear and lugging the engine. I've seen my tans temps get up to 225F of so wheeling in when 4LO 2nd or 3rd gear, but they immediately drop when I put the trans in a lower gear (as higher engine speed = more fan speed/air and more water pump flow).
Helpful thanks! I'm running in 4low in 1st gear. So can't go into a lower gear. When you say lugging the engine, I'm only familiar with that on a manual transmission -- mine is an automatic. I'm running the DENSO radiator. I read some reviews on CSF radiators and was worried about getting one with bad welds.
So maybe next time I'll go with a CSF . . .
Hiluxforever
SILVER Star
I had a reputable shop install mine. Its legit. It has significantly more cooling capacity than stock.
Lugging is operating at a very low RPM (like 1,500 RPM or less), which stresses the engine and transmission as well. IMO adding a fan would be quite a bit more work than adding the CSF radiator as you'd need to tap into your existing electrical system, install a relay, a temperature-based switch to turn the fan on/off based on the trans temp (to avoid over-cooling), plus the fan itself. An aux fan is a band-aid solution for the under-sized OEM radiator and external trans cooler.
My CSF has been great as well. I installed it in June and then departed for a 4,800 mile road trip with our camper in tow It kept my engine and trans cool dragging the camper up a number of passes in the West, Since then I've also used the GX to tow nearly 6,000 pounds, and again the CSF kept things cool. IMO the CSF radiator is one of the best upgrades one can make for a GX.