Transmission cooler or not Thread

I say buy the cooler if you are concerned!

 

Ahhh simple yes but.......

It needs more discussion because,

someone can't bash Toyota so someone else can defend Toyota,so someone can bash Mike Sweers, so someone can defend Mike, so someone can dismiss the guy that brought up installing a cooler, so the guy that installed the cooler can dispute the anti-cooler guy with facts ,that the anti-cooler guy dismisses with his own facts , who then gets disagreed by someone who's brothers sisters cousins fathers uncles nephews friend put on a cooler and.........................................................................

 

Intimidating looking install + price = trying to justify not needing it lol.

I gave up on my internal struggle. Ordered yesterday.

The part I loath the most is removing and re-installing my RCI skid by myself. Ughhhhh

 

that is the hardest part of the whole thing.

 

Its the warranty denial that I struggle with more than anything, install is pretty straightforward .

 

You won't regret it. Once you get past the skid, absolutely nothing about this install is hard. All that's required is common sense and a good set of tools.

Highly doubt this will affect any warranty if installed correctly.

 

I highly think that installing a cooler, including lines and the t-stat body on the side of the trans will void the warranty. These transmissions aren’t cheap. You can almost bet that if a trans that came without a cooler fails and it has a cooler, the warranty will get denied.
I am in the fence just because of the warranty issue. Now considering my commute to work is 3 miles, the trans hardly reaches 120-130, have to double check, but not hot at all. Some times I have to pick up my kids and it will get to normal temp (195-205+/-). I don’t tow anymore either.

 

This is my concern as well. My day to day is very similar and usually sees the temps max out around 205. Would feel much better if I could get a dealer to install the trans cooler though

 

You probably don't need to worry about it much if you do not tow anymore. As for warranty, it would be hard to argue that adding a cooler to a tranny via factory thermostat caused a failure. It would be a ludicrous statement to tell a customer that adding something that used to come from the factory for years caused the tranny to fail.

 

If you are that worried about it, then just remove it if your trans fails. Shouldn’t take more than 15 min or so to take everything out. You wouldn’t even have to recheck the fluid.

 

100%! It’s like Toyota would have to admit they made a bad decision if they allow you to add a cooler through them. I contacted Toyota recently and sent them a lengthy response regarding this cooler issue and my 2021. IMHO they should support those owners that do tow, live in hotter climates and or regularly travel through steep terrain in gettinga cooler installed, even if Toyota isn’t paying for it. The mom wagon, grocery getter Tundras have no issues with the trans temps but to lump all Tundra owners into one group was stupid. There have been so many owners that have had overheat warnings and we still don’t know for certain at what temp that happens, but either way it’s not good long term for what was once a solid overbuilt platform.

 

You don't need to remove the RCI. Unless you have a mid plate under the transmission as well that prevents you from getting the thermostat installed.

I installed the entire kit (OEM thermostat & hard lines, hoses, and heat exchanger up front) without removing or even loosening my front RCI engine skid. It just takes a minute or two to figure out how to work the OEM hard lines into position.

 

By my calc there are currently 17,648 owners of MY 19+ Tundras that have experienced trans overtemp warnings.

 

Here is an interesting TSB for you guys to look at.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2019-hp-tuners.96152/#post-2442495

 

I don’t know what the actual number is, but Toyota doesn’t put out TSB’s for non existent problems.

 

I would imagine that there have been a few pissed off individuals back at the dealership when their tranny overheated backing up a hill.

 

It just says reprogram ECM. Need someone to find out what that reprogramming does. Does it change shift patterns or just raise the warning light temp?

 

I think that what’s really happening is that with the 19-21’s not having a cooler of any type people can’t tow moderate to light loads in the traditional way by just putting the trans in D and selecting tow haul. If Joe blow buys a 19-21 and thinks he can do that the trans will overheat. They don’t know the tricks that many on here talk about, like only using S4 or whatever to keep the trannys from getting too hot. I never towed in S4 in any of my previous Tundras, just put it in D and tow haul and let her rip, never had a overheat warning and towed anywhere from 3000-9000 lbs regularly but they had coolers on them.

 

Interesting. First step in admitting they screwed up….



Edit- They’ll never admit they screwed up.

 

Bingo!

 

Is there a way to figure out what the new flash changes? I'm guessing its the trigger temp for the warning, but it would be cool to know the actual temperature.

 

They are either going to make the temp warning come on at a higher temp (which would really suck) or they will program the TC to lock up more often when tow haul is on(which would help some). Either way they are both band aids for a transmission that is getting too hot where if it had the correct cooling components it wouldn’t. Dumb!

 

My guess would be something related to the torque convertor locking up but who knows. I can tell you that my 2014 had much more pep than my 2020. I wonder if they messed with the torque management since they removed the cooler.

 

All we can do is guess though.
No one has any real idea what the flashing does nor do they really know how the programming might have changed when they decided to do without the cooler in the first place,they are only guessing as well.

This seems to not influence many though who are determined that they just know what and why this is not the way it should have been all along.

I have read compelling arguments for each side of this and I certainly am not an Automotive Engineer or Transmission Designer of any kind and I can just as easily accept that they were reprogramming the shift points and patterns to reduce temps and cool the tranny some as I can that they were simply being cheap and cutting corners as is suggested over and over and over and over and.......here.

We just really do not know.

 

Even more of a reason not to be worried about your warranty when adding a cooler. The TSB has Toyota admitting that there is a heat issue.

 

It's unclear to me if the TSB is addressing an issue with high temps or if it's dealing with the warning message coming on when it shouldn't (false/inadvertent illumination). I haven't had the warning message come up on mine. I'm towing this weekend. Maybe I just jinxed myself.

As for coolers and warranty, that's a tough one. There was a TSB they issued to address brake squeal on my car. I brought it in to have that addressed and it was denied because they said I probably used dressing on my tires that over-sprayed onto my brakes. The only tire dressing I had used was a wipe-on type, not even a spray. I wasn't successful in proving that.

 

I think that it is time for another dealership. I have never had a service department deny me when armed with a TSB. In fact most of the time they would inform me of the TSB.

 

Yeah it was really ridiculous.

 

You sir.... you are my hero if this rings true. I purchased the engine skid about 5 months ago which goes only as far back as the cross member. I didn't even think to look if I had to remove it or not, just assumed I did.

 

It will take you a few minutes to figure out how to thread the OEM hard lines into place lying under your truck. It helps to identify where they’ll screw into place. Working them into place might be a bit frustrating. But I did it on my 4wd truck without removing my RCI engine skid. I’m not even sure how much easier it would be with the skid off. Good luck!