ATF Burned!

I used to be strict S4 and tow haul. NEVER tow in OD.

Toyota doesn't demand that with these Tundras and last trip I left in D with TH the vast majority of the time. Only time I downshifted was on a long down hill I could see before the Tundra could feel and downshift. Even then I got more confident TH could work it out better than I could.

I experimented and found TH pretty much keeps it in S4 for a long while and doesn't shift to OD unless no load flats. You'd think it'd be rushing to get in 6 but it really doesn't.

Put it in D and TH and roll. That's what Toyota and the "pros" say.

 

I also tow a 25’ airstream with 19’ crewmax here in SoCal. I always use tow mode and s4. Up shift to s5 on flat freeway. Very interested in the trans fluid lab result and also wondering what Toyota’s approach will be “IF” there’s a transmission claim down the road? Should I get the trans fluid cooler kit or buy the extended warranty instead?

 

If I never tow, I should be good right?

 

They wouldn't, just not worth doing that every time I brought my truck in for service, IMHO.

 

Sure, but then why buy a truck?

 

If you take your truck to get the oil changed and tires rotated, they aren’t going to mark down that you have a trans cooler and all warranty is voided. They are going to do the job as fast as they can and move onto the next vehicle. I doubt they’d even notice it was there or care if they did notice it.

 

Plenty of other reasons to buy a truck than just towing...off-roading, hauling stuff in the bed, it’s a Tundra...

 

According to the owners manual, Tundras are primarily designed as a passenger and load carrying vehicle. I don’t tow much, but I do haul stuff quite a bit.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/tow...ler-on-2020-trd-pro.69167/page-2#post-1792734

If I had any serious need to tow, I’d probably get a 3/4 or 1 ton crew cab and full 8’ bed (maybe even a diesel...)

 

Especially since a lot of dealerships have a separate quick lube lane or special bays just for oil changes. Those "techs" have a hard time just doing an oil change properly let alone notice something like an ATF cooler...

 

I was getting 230° on 75° days going 65mph on flat to rolling hills.... NOT towing!

The kit will get you down to the "normal" 180° range where MOST 1/2 ton trucks run

 

You’ll be fine. The 4.6 engine ran this setup for years without any major issues. They had a couple of them make it to 1 million miles

 

Group iii oils are good to 300F.

 

This was always my understanding as well.

 

Did something change in 2019? If so I wonder why

 

Front mounted ATF cooler removed. It now uses the engine coolant circuit via the puck for heating/cooling.

 

I know at least one of those million mile trucks went through a few transmissions/rebuilds. I remember in the interview, the owner said had he gotten the transmission serviced more often, it likely would have performed better.

 

Weird so many are willing to modify there trans cooling system on a truck built by the worlds biggest auto maker known for their reliability based on a few high temp issues where we don’t even know for sure the cause.

 

2018 was last year with a real tranny cooler?

 

This is the well known cause...

 

Agree- the cause of concern is now well-documented.

It’s the long term effects that are unknown.

I’m eager to see the results of the BS analysis.

 

It would cost a dealership more to "prove" a cooler caused potentially damage than to do the work the warranty calls for. Service mananger at my dealer stated the cooler would not void warranty and preferred I had one for my applications (towing 3-5 times a week at about 4k lbs on average).

 

It costs Toyota ZERO dollars to negate a warranty claim, the onus is on you to prove otherwise. If your Service Manager said so, he is in the extreme minority! Sure you can sue citing the MM act, but Toyota has a number of law firms on retainer for this very reason, trust me, Toyota has a lot more money than you do!

 

Unfortunately the dealerships aren't always the final word for warranty work. They typically put the claim in with Toyota Corporate who has the final say - otherwise they dont get paid.

At least this is the order of operations all my warranty work followed.

 

Except the burden of proof is on Toyota to prove the cooler caused an issue according to MV Act. So where do you think it costs them 0 dollars?

 

I had similar dealings with Volkswagen and a 337 edition GTI long ago with brake issues after a redesign in the early 2000s. Long story short, it was more cost effective for VW to bite the bullet and eat the warranty work versus going to fight it. They are indeed just that, businesses. Large pocket books or not, its a cost benefit analysis for them. Pay the money to determine the cause of the issues, potentially run into bad news for them, have to warranty thousands of trucks, or shell out a couple grand on the rare truck that does have issues.

 

They ABSOLUTELY will make a note of any additional modifications to the truck, trust me, it's happened to me! NOBODY is saying "all warranty" is voided, only part of the warranty that will be voided is anything that is modified, in this case the transmission.

 

Read before you post. Lol.

You don't sue them. You go to your State AG, BBB, etc. It costs you nothing to cause them enough of a headache to at least listen.

 

I did the latter and bought an extended warranty for the same money a cooler costs, I am covered up to 100,000 miles bumper to bumper.

 

I think its hilarious the amount of people that just blindly defend Toyota in this particular scenario. Like do you have money in Toyota stock or something? Lol.

I bought a cooler from Nick. Im sticking it on MY truck. It's a safety assurance for me from long term trans failure that no one knows IF or WHEN the puck is really a bad thing. Id rather pay $900 now than POTENTIALLY $15k in two years. Im not one blindly defending Nick's trans cooler kit either. It may not be necessary. But if something is designed well, works as intended, and keeps something cooler, Im gonna go with that option.

Sub'd to see the results of the BS analysis.

 

It depends upon how you define this problem. If you don’t like tranny temps in the 250ish range then you are “not good”. A few of us, including me, have seen this temp during normal driving.