Iownit

Does the 460 come with a stock tranny cooler? I recently purchase a 2011 and my sales person at lexus told me it has one. Anyone know if that is accurate? Thanks for your knowledge

Valley101

If you look up specifications for 2011 GX 460 Transmission there is no cooler listed. Most salesmen do not know much about the mechanics of vehicles. When at a dealership the best person to ask would be the service manager, not a service advisor. Parts depart also a good source as it would be in their computer for all parts the vehicle has installed.

Iownit

Thanks Valley 101. When I questioned the salesman further, this was his reply:

"Attached is the build spec sheet for your car. This will show all the equipment and optional equipment. If the vehicle has the trailer hitch installed from the factory the vehicle is equipped with the transmission cooler."

The spec sheet does list "tow hitch with ball mount." I guess the question is; if it has a tow hitch, is a tranny cooler standard? He also said that if it has a tow hitch, then it has a heavy duty alternator as standard. I wonder if there is a way of confirming this with Lexus.

tecman

Transmission cooler and heavy duty alternator? This is new to me, I have never read about this on this forum.

I think you have a stereotype used car salesman.

You have a trailer hitch and that is it, nothing more and nothing more needed with the GX.

Iownit

Hey tecman. Are you saying that the GX doesn't need a tranny cooler?

T4Fun

why does it need a tranny cooler?

Randy B

So I read the first post when it was posted and thought, surely someone will look this up and the thread will die a quick death and be buried in the back.of the thread cemetery. Heck maybe even the OP will take the time to look or be referred to a parts site to figure this out on his own.

Instead we have numerous posts and they are all guesses. To solve this riddle, all one has to do is look up a part on a parts site to see if it was offered and or installed on the 2011 GX. Alternatively, you could get inquisitive with the hood open and maybe even look through some front end openings or underneath openings and see if you could identify a cooler installed?

Attached is the diagram from MY L Parts website. If you want to duplicate my search, type in the search box on their site after you select 2011 GX Premium, "Trans cooler." The AUX Trans cooler parts will be displayed and a link for the parts diagram will be available. The trans cooler is installed from the factory on US GXs in 2011 regardless of hitch kit. As for other market GXs, I have no idea. Now that you know what one looks like, perhaps you could locate it?

Randy B

Valley101

Cannot confirm 2011, but the trailer hitch on the 2015 is installed at port. I bought a 2015 in January and was up in the air about the hitch ($599). Was told vehicle came with wiring harness, and the hitch was installed at port. I opted out as I can get an aftermarket hitch for a lot less money and bolt it on myself. So there would have been no tranny cooler or heavy duty alternator. Check the part number of your alternator and look it up on line. If you have a tranny cooler you should be able to tell by getting under the vehicle and looking or better yet when it is on a left.

Iownit

Thanks Randy B for the link to the site. That's the kind of information I was seeking. Just a question; have you tried looking under or over a GX 460 engine compartment? Of course that was the first thing I did. Can't see much. I could see some lines that looked like they could be transmission coolant lines, but that's all. Can't see the radiator without pulling shrouds, but thanks for coming down to our level and sharing your wisdom.

Iownit

This might be interesting to everyone who commented on this thread. Ignoring what my sales person told me, I went in to Lexus service dept. and had them look at it. The service manager came out, looked and said he didn't see a trans cooler. He took the vin and looked it up and said he was sure I didn't have one. But I just got a call from him. To give me a price on installing one, he had his parts dept. run it through. He told me I did have one, and it's built in to the radiator. This is an established Lexus dealership, so I guess they should know. At least if my transmission burns up from hauling a travel trailer, I should have a pretty good argument for a new transmission.

tulanepat

Looking at parts diagram for OEM the auxiliary cooler for tranny is mounted in front of engine radiator and shows fitment back to 2010. I have a 2017 Luxury so I was curious.

Acrad

I installed on mine.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...r-install.html

jphelp13

Did you have to remove the front exhaust pipe?

Acrad

I did not.

R3loader

I wonder how large of a cooling area for the stock cooling. It should be easy to redirect the stock hoses to aftermarket cooler unit.