jUST did some radiator repair on the 4run, getting everything back in and realized the welder let the oil out of the cooler(i had a short tube plugging the ports) ohwell hes gotta do what hes gotta do, but now im wondering how i should go about priming the void. will air bubbles kill the tranny? should i hook them up dry and let the fluid force feed. note the trans to/from lines are plugged and no air has been allowed into the transmission. but the cooler is empty. I have two chilton manuals, one is thicker with useless info than the other, and neither makes any mention of this procedure. 3veezeeWhhheeeeeeeee!

 

Re-connect your trans lines to the cooler, start the engine, cycle the tranny through all the gears (e-brake set and foot on brake), pull tranny dipstick and top off with fluid after the tranny pumps fluid through the system.

The excess air will leave through the tranny vent.

I've never seen where the cooler needed to be full i.e primed when hooking up the cooler.

 

cool, sounds right. i just wanted to be sure the air wasnt going to foul up tranny operation and cause more grief than my wallet can buy. i had plugged it without losing much, and was planning on re-attaching the lines quickly so only a small amount of air would be present. so do you plug the lines as a matter of course, just to keep from drawing every last available drop of fluid from the tranny?? I could see it evacuating if they were left open. thanks for the quick info, OREGON KICKSASS!! n'thnx for FSM link. One more chiltons manual de-moted to "door stop."

 

Never hurts to plug the lines, I do. But, the lines will only drain what is in the line and will not drain the tranny.

Here is a link to the TRD cooler install instructions. No mention of prefilling with fluid that I fiound:
http://www.watrd.com/work/TRD.Transm...er.Install.doc