Thanks for the excellent info FOG! I was use these temps to check mine when I hook up a gauge (planning on scangauge II)

I am very curious as to what my temps are since I have the tru-cool 4454 & I noticed your getting much better cooling from the B&M 70264. If my temps are within range then I'll stick with what I have. But if there on the high side I think I'll give the B&M a shot. I don't tow or wheel to often but I want this tranny to last 250k+ without issues

 

Did you have to remove your bumper to get that B&M 70264 installed, or can you do it without removing it?

I'm in Georgia, so in the winter, we get into the teens and 20s, particularly at night, but in the summer, 90s-100 is more the norm. We drive mostly city and highway, with some occasional trips to the mountains; no off-roading or towing. I guess it sounds like a B&M 70264 is more appropriate for me than the Tru-Cool?

I've got two 4runners (see sig) that are probably ticking time bombs, so I'm going to do both of them.

Has anyone here stuck on an inline ATF filter like THIS ONE? Would that be a good idea too?

 

Kball installed one. Page 2: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/a...cooler-205767/.

I'm personally not going to install an inline filter when I get around to installing my B&M cooler, but that's just me.

 

So I had 2 new toys arrive in the last 2 days...Scanguage II and Tru-cool 4454. Tonight I took a before reading on my current stock setup. Also, I am currently 2 drain and refills into my ATF swap (Valvoline Maxlife), over the past month. Let me know your thoughts on the temps observed...

~~Ambient Temp: 76 (All temps in Fahrenheit)
~~At rest ATF temp prior to start: 95 (my wife had driven the car a few hours ealier)
~~Miles driven: 10
~~Most driving conditions were met (no stop and go)...two-lane roads, climbing small hills, stop lights, sustained speed on highway (50mph), coming up to speed on Interstate, 3 mile cruise (70mph) on Interstate....
~~Highest ATF temp observed: 163
~~Up to Temperature and At Speed:
ATF temp: 160 falling to 136
Water temp: 195-198

My initial observations were...

1. Surprised at the how high the ATF temp get with no passengers or cargo. Thoughts?
2. Water temp seemed a little high. However, it did not really budge much...jumped from 195 to 198 when I down shifted getting on the interstate.
3. Its real crazy how fast the ATF temp dropped once you are at cruising speed.

I'm going to have my SG2 with me on tomorrow's trip to work and back, and it suppose to be pretty warm (close to 80) so I should be able to get a few more data points before I switch over to the external cooler.

Chris

 

Those numbers are very close to mine with amb. temps lower then your's (around 50-60 range)

 

Great info! Look forward to you reporting back after you install the cooler. I'm running the same cooler but no monitoring of temps yet. Gonna install a guage or SCII soon

 

Reposted from my other thread:

Recently finished (re)installing my Tru-Cool 4454. Previously I had bolted it on from the bottom of my 4Runner, where the skidplate bolted on. After discovering that I couldn't reattach the skidplate without severing the ATF lines, I realized I would have to remount it. Unfortunately, I had to wait about three weeks til I had time to attempt it again, but it was surprisingly easy once I found out the right way to remove the grille (the clips should be pressed from the inside with a flat head screwdriver, not from the outside )

Here you can see that it's dirty from the previous low mounting. These two brackets were able to hold it fairly flush against the AC condenser, although if I ever pull the radiator I'd like to put a ziptie through on the right side of it.

Another shot of the mounting. The send line goes in the top and out the bottom, according to MtGoat's recommendation in another of the myriad 4454 threads out there.

This is to try and show how the hoses are coming through, they use the same hole that the freon lines do coming out towards the front of the truck.

This one's a little confusing. The fan is there in the bottom left of the pic, so the front of the truck is towards the upper left corner. I'm trying to show the connections I made to the old tranny lines, behind the hole they come through to get to the front where the cooler is mounted.

Final shot of the whole setup.
I'm really glad I remounted it; when I did it the first time, it was mounted so low that I don't think it got sufficient air flow. After draining for this attempt my ATF looked somewhat burnt, so I really think it was a good idea to put it back up high with the fan pulling air through it all the time. I drove about 2,000 miles on it in the previous setup (in three weeks.)
Hope these can help anybody who needs ideas on mounting. Happy wrenching!

 

Well, just ordered my B&M super cooler 70264 and trans temp gauge with sending unit (also a B&M) #80226. I will be installing it next Friday when I replace my drier to make it a little easier to install the tranny cooler.

 

That's really an excellent article. I'm glad you shared it with us. For those of you who are going to install an external transmission fluid filter when they do the cooler install, here's what the article suggests regarding placement in the loop:

 

I read that article in the magazine. It's where I got the idea for putting the Magnefine filter in when I did my cooler. Also why I put it on the outlet line and just before the new cooler.

 

Another successful 4Runner saved from the pink milkshake! Below are my temperature readings after installation while taking the same route. Thoughts about the installation...not overly complicated, but the area that I spent the most time on (besides where I would mount it and getting the correct protection around sharp edges) was getting the old tubing pulled off. I quickly realized that I would have to cut it off, and that's easier said than done for hard lines connecting to the tranny (not much hand room). Other than that, not too bad. I did purchase an extra 6 feet of trans line, and I needed it.

One oops was I broke 2 of black plastic the grill mounts (not the piece that is removed with the grill, but the little piece that sticks out and you push down on to release the grill). This should be expected for a truck that is 8 years old. In any case, 5 of 7 are holding it in place pretty good, but I will want to replace those at some point. Anyone know the part number? I will search on here and create a new post with pics if I can't find what I am looking for.

~~Ambient Temp: 65 (All temps in Fahrenheit)
~~At rest ATF temp prior to start: 80
~~Miles driven: 10
~~Highest ATF temp observed: 140
~~Up to Temperature and At Speed:
ATF temp: 136 falling to 118 (once at speed on the interstate the temp held consistently at 118)
Water temp: 195-198

So temperatures where a little lower but so was the ambient temperature. I did notice that the temps while on the local/neighborhood roads were not as high, and did not climb as fast. I associate this to the ambient temp was able to cool better than the water temp did when the ATF was running through the built in cooler.

I will try to post pictures once I get them off my camera, but it looks pretty similar to everyone else's on here. Hope this helps others looking to do the same thing.

Chris

 

Thanks for sharing your temps Smokey. The real test will be when the ambient temps are around 100, keep the updates coming.

 

Thank you, Smokey, for posting your temps!

Here are my temps from this past Saturday while in the Anza-Borrego Badlands.

Ambient air temp = 95 F

Engine temp = 195 F

Trans Temp = 160 - 180 F

While in "L", 4wd hi, traveling ~10 miles per hour along Truckhaven, Arroyo Salado, Truckhaven trails. This was through about 30 miles worth of dirt. The 4Runner was plenty warmed-up since it was a 2.5 hour drive to get to the trails. I was watching the temp closely since this is the first time that I have been in 90F+ weather and put some strain on the transmission.

Also, Trans temp = 210 F

While on Hwy S2 climbing out of Borrego Springs (exiting Anza-Borrego), at about 35 - 50 miles per hour, with the overdrive off.

I have run my trans cooler for almost 20k miles, now. I removed the external bypass valve about 6k miles ago when I suspected that it was restricting the flow of fluid to the cooler even when the fluid temp was over 200 F. I believe I was right. I have not seen anywhere near the 250 F that I saw previously when climbing in "L", 4wd hi. A $30 lesson learned.

I posted on another posting that I suspect that my Scanguage II is showing higher temps than the folks with the external filter/temp gauge set-up. I still believe this to be the case since the stock trans temp sensor (for the idiot light on the dash) reads the temp as it is exiting the transmission, at its hotest point in the fluid's loop.

Steve.

 

I this thread.....


Scanguage II is on it's way to me. I've got my B&M 70268 (7.5" x 11" x .75"...same size as Tru-Cool 4454 and Hayden 1678) mounted in between the condenser and the radiator. We'll see what she's running.

 

My friend, after dealing with the milkshake last year, picked up a Tru Cool 4544 for towing. His uncle, who is a partner in a transmission shop chain in Deleware and Virginia, gave him some Tru Cool literature. I'll paraphrase their LPD explanation for brevity's sake:

"When ATF is cold, it is viscous. The unique Tru-Cool design allows the colder, thicker ATF to flow more efficiently through two open bypass channels positioned at the top of the cooler. As operating temperatures increase, the ATF becomes thinner. It's then directed through the core where it is cooled."

I guess I am wondering is what does Tru Cool consider to be the top of it's coolers in order to produce the best ATF flow? My friend's uncle mounted the Tru Cool 4544 against the condenser with the inlet barbs pointing down. My friend, whose has a kind of crude B&M tranny gauge (taking temp readings before the radiator), said the cooler has lower his tranny temps roughly 20-40degrees to 140-190 during a year's duration.

 

Looks like they consider the end with the bypass to be the top (that's the end with the inlet and outlet). So the uncle has his mounted upside down.

 

If you look on the back on the Tru-cool box (at least mine had it), it should show you where the bypass is located. I believe its the edge of the cooler when the input/output barb is located...I dont have the box in front of me.

Chris

 

You can see the bypass just looking at the cooler, this pic marks it:

 

Thanks for clarifying such Mt. Goat. I failed to look close enough at his cooler to see the bypass and now see why he needs to turn it upside down. Being that my friend and his uncle only have an "acknowledged by family" relationship, maybe I'll take it upon myself to change it for him.

Cheers.....

 

I installed my new ScanGaugeII last night and gave it (and my tranny cooler) a good test today. The results were not what I was hoping for, but informational.

Today I drove 110 miles. 80 miles highway @ 70mph. 30 miles around town. I stopped a total of 12 times, but only shut the engine off 6 times. The ambient air temp was about 65 degrees F.

Started out around town. Trans temp varied between 130 and 140 around town, and spiked at 155 when I accelerated onto the interstate.

Got on the highway. Trans temp dropped to 145 and sat right there for 50 miles of cruising.

Off highway, into town. Temps jumped up to 160 immediately when I slowed for my first stop after the highway. Around town they varied from 160 to 170.

Got back on highway (going opposite direction of first trip). Temp peaked at 183 as I accelerated (hard) onto the interstate. They then dropped to 160 and stayed right there for the 50 mile drive back.

Back into town. Temp rose again when I did my first slow down, and stayed between 170 and 185 around town.




My B&M 70268 is mounted against the radiator, behind the A/C condenser. I think I either need to move it in front of the condenser, or simply add another cooler that is in front of the condenser. I think I'm going to order another B&M 70268, and mount it on the front of the condenser and run them in series. Here in the midwest where I live, temperatures can vary from -20F in the winter to over 100F in the summer. I'd like to set it up so I can manually disconnect the front cooler in the winter time and just run the cooler that is stacked between the rad and condenser when it's 0F outside.

Suggestions?