I'm also trying to choose an apropiate transmission cooler. A friend of mine is going to order an intercooler from frozenboost, and I think I could take the chance to share the shipping costs with him and order one of frozenboost's universal fluid radiators like this:
It looks pretty. I would bet that it is more effective than what you have, but it doesn't have a BTU rating, so who knows for sure...
If I were doing it again, I would look for a used Toyota aux cooler from a US market FZJ80. In your case, they were also available for Euro-market HDJ80 and HZJ80. I am guessing that they would be easier to install well than an aftermarket if you also got the brackets, hoses, etc. from the hard-lines forward.
So does the Rodney valve body alone allow 3rd gear lock up in the A440, or does the entire transmission need to be rebuilt? It seems like all of the heating problems occur when driving in 3rd gear with a load (like a hill). I sort of like the A440 for it's simplicity, but this one thing seems to be a major weakness, as 3rd gear up hill with a load is a very common scenerio.
Canonero, if I understand this correctly you had the tranny rebuilt and the mechanic at that time bypassed the factory tranny cooler? Then you drove it on a desert trip with no transmission cooler at all and the overheat light was on? THEN you later added the pictured cooler and that was/is the only cooler?
I'm trying to get a handle on what the tranny's been through here.
Before the transmission rebuilt, I had two original coolers: the one inside the engine radiator and another one outside, the one that comes with the stock towing pack.
When he rebuilt it, he kept the one inside the engine radiator and replaced the other one with the one that appears in the picture. The worst part of this is that ¡he threw away the original!.
With these two radiators was when I had the A/T Temperature light on in the desert.
10 months and 12000 miles later (last week), I took it back to the same specialist to replace the oil (he had advised me to replace ti every 20000 miles, but, after the overheating, I decided to do it before), and install the oil temperature gauge. That was when he bypassed the radiator inside the engine radiator telling me about the risk of a water leak. After that, I started to measure the temperatures shown above.
He may be a tranny specialist, but he must not be a cooling specialist. The infinitesmal risk of a tranny coolant leak into the tranny is just that - small and distant if ever. The risk of overheating a tranny is large and immediate. I'd reconnect the radiator cooler as it's very efficient.
If you to it, make sure your drivetrain is relatively free of slop. The shifting between 3rd and OD is very "solid" when the TC is locked up, and things super-clunk if the shift goes from loaded to unloaded or vice versa. I've learned how to avoid it, but it's a concern. I suspect I'll be looking into the McNamara gear before too long.
Cut and paste from the FAQ at Wholesale Automatics:
In installing an oil cooler, should the new cooler be placed after the cooler in the radiator or should the cooler in the radiator be eliminated altogether?
A very good question that only you can answer! You see it's down to personal choice as running both coolers would produce a more efficient cooling system while if the cooler in the radiator ever burst you would loose the transmission because once water gets into the oil it's to late. If you run a really good large cooler then I would not run it through the radiator but it's your choice.
I just recieved an email from Rodney, from wholesale automatics.
He told me the same as you did: the first step is to reconnect the original cooler back and get another cooler as the tube and fin types are not very efficient.
wussyPup, I've been researching and it looks like the 34,000 BTU Tru-cool cooler that you run is the best bet for the price, and it fits perfectly in front of my engine radiator. I will also get one of those bypass valves for cold climate, but, you mentioned in another post that if it was now, you'd better get a stock air cooler like the ones fitted in the US FZJ/FJ 80. Why?. I measured one and it's much smaller than the tru-cool that you run now.
He also told me that one of his extreme valve body kit would help a lot to keep the temperature low. The only concern I have with those extreme valve bodies is that, making the transmission really firm and direct, it could produce looseness in another parts of the drivetrain. What do you think about it?
I just recieved an email from Rodney, from wholesale automatics.
wussyPup, I've been researching and it looks like the 34,000 BTU Tru-cool cooler that you run is the best bet for the price, and it fits perfectly in front of my engine radiator. I will also get one of those bypass valves for cold climate, but, you mentioned in another post that if it was now, you'd better get a stock air cooler like the ones fitted in the US FZJ/FJ 80. Why?. I measured one and it's much smaller than the tru-cool that you run now.
He also told me that one of his extreme valve body kit would help a lot to keep the temperature low. The only concern I have with those extreme valve bodies is that, making the transmission really firm and direct, it could produce looseness in another parts of the drivetrain. What do you think about it?
I think that it will only help reduce temperatures while operating in 3'rd gear. I think it will have minimal impact on temperatures in all other situations. I could be wrong on both accounts though.
The shifting with the extreme valve body installed is firmer and quicker but not harsh unless you select 3'rd gear, accelerate to over 70 km/h, and then shift to D while coasting; then the up-shift is harsh; like dumping the clutch on a manual tranny - but there's no need to drive like that! Selecting D and letting the tranny shift automatically is very, very nice. And, selecting 3'rd and only up-shifting to D while under load is also fine. My tranny wants to auto up-shift to OD at about 60 km/h which is just a bit too low for 35" tyres IMO, so I hold it in 3'rd until about 70 km/h and then select D.
I suspect that the Tru-Cool Max is better than the OEM aux, but the OEM should be easier to do an excellent installation and I think that it would have adequate performance. If you install a unit like the Tru-Cool Max, the cold temp bypass is required IMO.
I already ordered the tru cool max with the cold temperature bypass, cause it freezes very often here in the north of Spain.
I read in a Ford F-150 about a guy that installed a tru cool max with the temperature bypass and he said that he had to disconnect the bypass valve in summer when towing, cause, with the valve installed, it didn't cool as much as it did without the valve.
It doesn't make sense to me, as the valve is advertised to open completely at 180ºF. What do you think, could it restrict oil flow even when its completely opened?
By the way, does anybody know where can I find pictures of how to reconnect the stock transmission radiator (the one that goes into the engine water radiator)?
I've used the search engine and I couldn't find any.
So does the Rodney valve body alone allow 3rd gear lock up in the A440, or does the entire transmission need to be rebuilt? It seems like all of the heating problems occur when driving in 3rd gear with a load (like a hill). I sort of like the A440 for it's simplicity, but this one thing seems to be a major weakness, as 3rd gear up hill with a load is a very common scenerio...
The issue of TC lockup only in Drive on the A440F has been discussed to death on the Yahoo 3FE list, and I suspect much of the info also applies to the early A442F as well. As others have noted, the torque converter is where all the heat is coming from. Rodney has also posted numerous times on the issue on the 3FE list, as well as how his Extreme Valvebody can optionally be provided to allow TC lockup in 3rd. It's harder to search for stuff of interest on the 3FE list, and with 77,000+ posts it can be time consuming to wade through irrelevant information, but if you're patient there's a lot of good data to be had there on this topic.
BTW, Rodney also strongly recommends the cross-flow time ATF cooler, the same type as either the Tru-Cool or Frozenboost noted above (there are many other brands too). He says the type with an S-shaped pipe with fins are much less thermally efficient.
The shifting with the extreme valve body installed is firmer and quicker but not harsh unless you select 3'rd gear, accelerate to over 70 km/h, and then shift to D while coasting; then the up-shift is harsh; like dumping the clutch on a manual tranny - but there's no need to drive like that! Selecting D and letting the tranny shift automatically is very, very nice. And, selecting 3'rd and only up-shifting to D while under load is also fine. My tranny wants to auto up-shift to OD at about 60 km/h which is just a bit too low for 35" tyres IMO, so I hold it in 3'rd until about 70 km/h and then select D.
I just recieved the tru-cool max (the same model as you got) and I'm wondering how to install it. The way it's installed now, the parts 32921D and 32922A are removed and replaced with flexible lines that go trough the lousy tube and fin cooler I have now, without going trough the original radiator.
Would it be better to run the oil first to the original radiator and then trough the tru cool max or better the other way?
I guess it'd be better to run it trough the original first, but I'm not sure.
If I do it this way, I think I just have to order part 32921D from Toyota, then run a flexible line from the connection 90467-16013 (4) to the inlet of the tru-cool max, and then use the existing flexible line that is connected with the present radiator to connect the tru-cool max outlet back to the transmission trough the 32922 line.
I think that oil should go from the tranny to the oil radiator and then to the engine radiator. I guess the engine radiator is there to keep the oil at a certain temperature.
