Transmission cooler or not Thread

I tow my smaller camper in my profile pic at least 2x a month... Maybe 4500lb max between trailer and stuff in the truck, so nothing crazy or even straining I'd say. Towing at 60-70mph in 4th gear my tran temp stayed solid at 215* in the pan and 221* at the TC. Having personally built my old trucks transmission to handle a blower and some heads for 1/8th mile runs, I 100% agree a cooler would benefit any automatic vehicle. If I even think heavier towing is in my future I'll be ordering a cooler kit from Nick.

I'm also disappointed that TFL hasn't released this towing video.....

Americans buy tundras and toyotas from the reputation they have rightfully earned. When the frame rust situation came about they stood up and replaced a pile of frames on trucks, although it took a considerable push from their customers to do it, hopefully if this situation is comparable they'll do the same.

 

And if a number of 2019-2021 transmissions fail, I'm sure we'll be among the first to know...

 

I tow around 4000lb travel trailer on s4 and I see exactly the same temp

 

Yeah, the post and activity on this forum will likely shatter some record on the internet....lol

 

My Tacoma pulling the same trailer did 190* at both points steady in 4th gear.

My old street truck would send me in to orbit if I saw 185*+ at the pan....given that I had a derale vented pan and a giant cooler with its own fan and extra return line back to the trans....it took some serious adjustment mentally to be ok with 190 in the taco and completely ignoring it in the tundra lol

 

Must be an apple feature. Not seeing that on the android version.

 

Huh are you using the radial gauge, Dark Fill gauge? That’s possibly why

 

Definitely seems weird, given how Ford treated them I wouldn't be surprised if Toyota reached out and the pulled the video to maybe add a response from Toyota in it ?

 

Ahhh, I wasn't using radial guage. I got it figured out. Thanks for sharing this info.

 

Yeah I'm sure they're cautious of being persona non grata by another manufacturer after Ford and the Bronco incident. What's fishy to me is the video was apparently posted then taken down? That doesn't add up to their explanation. Either someone at TFL screwed up by posting it before editing, or Toyota called them quickly and "urged" them to edit it a little bit more.....

 

Regarding TFL... I was wondering why there were no fords present at one of their recent 1/2 ton truck comparison videos.. In that same vid, I recall that they picked the Tundra DC as their favorite amongst Dodge and GM.
I hope that anyone who caught the original Tundra towing vid can offer a comparison to the new one (if it is ever released).. This is getting good... LOL

 

I can tell you this , the original video seemed complete and didn't need any editing.
They were supposed to release it Monday

 

Yes, it was clearly already edited, definitely to a point where it appeared complete.

 

I blame it on Chevy their trans temp was not supposed to be above 210, maybe they are the one that complained about the video

 

I was getting all pissed off, kept hearing a random faint knocking noise, thought i was going to have to disassemble dash, nope OBII wifi emitter rolling around in center console I used to use for transmission temperatures. These transmission temperatures cause poor customer satisfaction well beyond the transmission. I would have never hooked the OB2 up if it wasn't for the transmission temps.....

 

I thought i did tons of research before buying my truck but I guess the "deleted" ATF Cooler slipped by me. I upgraded from a Tacoma Dbl Cab to the Tundra for added space and Towing Capability. Confirmed it had Towing Package and thought I was good to go. So I guess all the added electric stuff they added 2019+ (Toyota Sense, bigger Screen etc etc) came at a cost and Toyota did the math and thought they can get by without that expensive ATF Cooler and before those trucks are burning up their transmissions the new model will be here and those guys will be out of warranty and SOL. When you look at the attached parts diagram and I know this has been discussed already it clearly shows you got the ATF Warmer Puck with our without ATF Cooler so when we ordered our trucks with that "Auxiliary/Supplemental" ATF Cooler there should have been an extra something. I looked at a 2018 today and there is no way that our little tiny puck will do the same job as the giant stacked Fin Cooler on those trucks. Unless Toyota/Aisin went to the lengths (99.9%) unlikely of placing a ground up redesigned transmission into the last couple years of this gen that can handle higher heat (not just the fluid) we are going to have transmissions failures sooner than later. So if it makes a difference of getting 250.000 miles out of a truck or 700.000 miles i consider it pretty important and can't believe that guys are accepting Mike Sweers answer.

 

If it makes you feel better , we all got fooled by the window sticker and not only you , I would have looked elsewhere if I knew that the truck was not equipped with external cooler

 

When I went to the dealership today to ask about it they basically said you have to break it before we can do anything about it. I guess if that means getting stranded in the mountains on the side of the road towing a trailer with the family or your truck needing expensive repairs after you come out of warranty than thats okay. As long as Mike Sweer says that my trucks transmission "lasted" 20 % longer than the crappiest one out there i will feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

These trucks will handle some beating no doubt about it ,the issue is with longevity of the transmission without the cooler , sure you can go ahead and install the cooler like the other guys did , some would argue you will be loosing warranty , you may or you may not , but why the hell we have to go through this crap when we payed premium for these trucks.

 

Mine and I am sure your reason too to buy an outdated design was its reputation for longevity. Learning now that they removed something that in my opinion contributed to that value is very annoying. I just don't buy Toyota keeping the ATF Cooler that long and one day someone in the engineering department going "hey guess what guys turns out we don't need it" I think its more of the "Fight Club" Equation Scene where they did the math of how many guys actually tow how many people keep their trucks long enough to see an adverse effect and how much money its going to cost them in warranty claims. If that $ is less than what they saved by removing the part guess what.....

 

I hate, HATE, the process of buying a new vehicle AND the process of messing around with cars that need repairs. This is exactly why I buy Toyota. I don't know whether to bury my head in the sand over this transmission "cooler" issue, thinking maybe the official story will turn out to be true and I will get 200,000+ miles before a major repair (even though I drive in hot weather and tow through mountains on occasion). The other option is to mess with adding a cooler that may void the transmission warranty altogether. I know I could remove it before any transmission service as some have suggested. But that involves messing around with the vehicle when I bought a Toyota to avoid spending my time off dealing with car issues. I would considering taking advantage of the current extremely hight resale values to trade out of the Tundra, but based on my last experience with a domestic brand (Chevy) I would be getting out of the frying pan and into the fire. I just feel a let down over all of this. I may be trading vehicles long before I expected - or I may end up dealing with repairs I don't want to mess with. My expectations may be unrealistic but again... I bought a Toyota with it's dinosaur drive train and poor fuel economy because I expected rock solid long-term reliability

And if the TFL video stays gone forever, that's definitely fishy and another mark against Toyota on this issue IMO.

 

I wrote into TFL and Andre responded (within 3 minutes, I was surprised). He said they are planning on posting it this weekend. I’m excited to hear what their thoughts are.

I’m planning on picking up my 2021 next weekend and have had mix feelings on the issue since reading about it. I want to believe Toyota engineering did their due diligence, the other part of me is curious as to their thought process.

 

Brand new 2021 here....less than 50 miles. Just installed the cooler kit. Don't want to chance the break down of any one component or fluid. I did purchase the extended warranty.

 

While I share most of your thoughts, I belive that it's HIGHLY unlikely that any issues will arise with the transmission during Waranty period. So installing the cooler either before or after that threshold doesn't really matters. I would 100% install the cooler before even considering switching brands.

On a side note, please stop invoking the mythological presence of @hagrid

 

Hagrid is EVER PRESENT !

 

You rang?

 

See I told you !

 

No cars will last like they used to. See in the 2000's manufacturers went to plant based wiring insulation, environmentalist again. Well I been chasing ghost in my 2001 Lexus GS300 for weeks now, the cause, the plant based insulation is falling off the wires under conduit. So it looks like its meeting the end of its useful life. So the genius environmentalist can now recycle a 3500lb car as a result of saving 1/2 lb of wire insulation from the landfill. Our Tundra have the same plant base wire insulation so in 15? years to the heap they go. Transmission has wiring in it also, no doubt heat adversely affects the longevity of wire insulation.

 

He did

 

That's some good knowledge you have there. I didn't know any of this.