Is this the transmission cooler?

Folks,

The '04 Tundra I've posted about in the past had a tree run out in front of it out in rural Virginia. It was not repairable. We recently acquired a 2012 Tundra four-door 4WD short bed 4.6 with the towing package.

The picture is looking straight down in front of the radiator behind the bumper. Is that the transmission cooler?

Thanks,

 

No. That's the power steering fluid cooler.

 

With the hood open, you should be able to see it on the passenger side in front of the rad

 

This is what is should look like.

 

I had a bad feeling that was the p/s cooler. I have the towing package, but no trans cooler. Is that normal?

 

4.6L had the integrated trans cooler I believe.

 

Its 'normal' on many versions of the 5.7 too - ask me how I know.

 

Send a pic of the front on shot of radiator. The trans cooler is either mounted to the RH side of the
radiator in front or it could look like a S line in a pair that join into the radiator top right side of radiator.

 

And you should have the trans cooler puck (pn 33493C) in lower left of this diagram. I had to add one for a 5.7 along with a pair of hard lines (one piece really) and 2 specific hoses from puck to hardlines - rest was just standard hoses and a cooler + fan.

https://autoparts.villagetoyota.com/products/product/cooler-transmission-3349352040#popup-1

 

My son is out galivanting with the truck right now, so no pics...

When I say it has the towing package, I'm referring to it having a "TOW" mode button at the end of the column shifter. It also came with an aftermarket trailer brake box, and what looks to be factory wiring to the dual plugs at the hitch. I swear there's no obvious trans cooler in front of the radiator or I wouldn't have started the thread.

If I have an integrated cooler, what do I need to know? I have a 1000 pound open aluminum car trailer I use to haul a Miata to the track. Maybe 4000 pounds total with extra tires, spare parts, tools and such.

Thanks,

 

Here's a pic of the front of the radiator. I see the S line pair Cruiserpilot mentioned.

Seems like it would be easy to add a separate trans cooler. Is it necessary/beneficial?

 

The S lines are your Transmission cooling lines. They are being effectively cooled with the top of your radiator. So you do
have an effective Toyota transmission cooler right there! The top 4-6" of your radiator are cooling your transmission.
With Tow/Haul mode as well, you are good to go and tow. I just installed a nice Redarc Brake controller on my 2010. It is a
Base model but has Tow/Haul as well. I've run VIN and models on my '07 SR5 and my newer '10 Base model RCSB. Both have
wiring plug under dash for brake controller. This one below is a bit expensive but it's easy install, plug and play and is as
highly regarded as any controller I've read about.

Tow-Pro Trail Kit for Toyota Landcruiser, Sequoia & 4Runner | REDARC (redarcelectronics.com)

 

Everything above the yellow line is a traditional oil to air transmission cooler, below is the AC. It’s manufactured as a single component.

 

Interesting how they built the trans cooler into the Top - most other Toyota trucks in past have it built into the bottom (cooler maybe).

Regardless - if towing (or not really) I like to Monitor trans temps - many tools yet an inexpensive one is Torque Pro ($5 for android-apple) - lets you monitor anything the ECU sees via the OBD2 port and a blue tooth dongle (ELM 327 type).

 

Thanks for all the enlightenment. Apologies if I sound like a noob. We owned an '04 Tundra for nine years. I personally replaced the timing belt, water pump, radiator, serpentine belt, steering rack bushings, sway bar bushings, radio, fluids, etc. The 2012 is new territory for me.

I have Torque Pro. Are there special codes for monitoring the transmission?

My search for "2012 Tundra 4.6 transmission cooler" have shown a number of folks (with the tow package) who've installed an additional cooler. I even stumbled across a kit that is, unfortunately, no longer available. I suppose I need to see what happens first. I have a planned event requiring towing in a couple of weeks. I'll get Torque set up by then.

I also pulled the REDARC Elite Pro out of the wrecked Tundra, but was contemplating seeing how what's in the 2012 already does. However, I haven't spent much time looking it over. That may be a project for later in the week.

Thanks again,

 

Torque Pro might work out of the box for your model but if it does not list an actual value for trans temp then an extra PID is necessary.
For my '01 4Runner it works out of the box whereas for my '15 Sequandra I had to add two. I'll share mine yet its for the 5.7 - maybe the same.

Pan - Mode & PID=2182 Min Value =0 Max Value =300 Scale=1 Unit type=F Equation = ((((A*256)+B)*(7/100)-400)/10))

Torque Converter (all above is same except Equation - ((((C*256)+D)*(7/100)-400)/10)

In the end - when temps climb above your liking bring trans down out of overdrive gears - usually down to 5 (OD 1) to 4 (gears only - no added heat). Luck.

 

It has a Tekonsha POD 80500 trailer brake controller. It's on the lower dash on the left side of the steering column. If it's not in the way of my knee, I'll probably keep it.

 

THANKS!

 

PO on mine had a Tekonsha brake controller but removed it. I like the Redarc remote knob, just so
clean which is another reason I went with it. You can buy the wiring harness specific for your year of Tundra if you wanted to swap over to the Redarc. If you don’t want that redarc let me know

 

Thanks again. I did my first tow on Saturday.

The first one worked just fine. The second one did not work, even after adding another ")" at the end.

The trans temp hovered around 195 with the Miata and aluminum trailer out back. The highest temp I saw was 200.8. I was running a little late Saturday morning trying to get to the track, and doing 70+ mph. Ambient temp was 75. On the way home, it was quite a bit warmer, but I wasn't going as fast. Trans temp was again around 195. I saw no difference on the OEM dash gauge between ~190 and 200. And I never dropped down a gear.

Is that all normal?

Thanks!