Comity

Hi there.....I acquired a 2002 RX a couple of years ago with 120 K on it and have been going over the car in order to get it up to date with maintenance, etc. This board was very kind to help me discover the cause of my excessive oil consumption and I was able to solve it with installation of the redesigned rear valve cover. Now I am about to drop the tranny pan and clean the filter and replace the rusty transmission lines in the front of the vehicle. However I have discovered that a previous owner had an aftermarket transmission oil cooler installed in front of the radiator (the cheap kind that uses plastic push-on fittings that go between the cooling fins of the radiator to hold it in place). This is in addition to the factory transmission oil cooler in the front lower right corner. It looks like the oil flows from tranny to factory oil cooler to radiator to aftermarket oil cooler and then back into the tranny.

So I thought I would ask if anyone else has an additional tranny oil cooler installed and if it is worth keeping. It seems superfluous, but if it extends the life of the tranny then I suppose it's worth keeping. Any opinions? Thanks!

Bobster999

Of course you should keep it.

hypervish

+1, definitely keep it in the loop.

Heat is the number one killer of automatic transmissions.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

If your daily commute is longer than a couple miles, then keep it. I find transmission fluid cooler not too beneficial on short commutes.

Comity

Thanks GSteg and others for your input. I drive about 30 mi/day to work and back daily which is mostly highway, so it may add a bit more cooling capacity. I guess I am usually hesitant to add aftermarket products to critical systems like the tranny, but your right it probably is helping to keep it somewhat cooler on the highway (and it's not leaking). I noticed when I first got the vehicle that the transmission fluid was over-filled, which I suspect occurred when extra fluid was added after installing the additional cooler.

Thanks again.

matts6887

I too say to keep it. The cooler the trans fluid and internals stay the better off ya probably are.

VegasRX300

Sounds to me like someone was worried about the transmission over heating. A second trans cooler usually means that the vehicle was used for towing hence the worry about the over heating. Does your RX have a trailer hitch?
Just watch the engine temperature, make sure it doesn't get too hot because of the restricted air flow to the radiator.
Also remember that your trans will not shift into higher gear until it is warmed up. With the extra cooler it will take longer to warm up.

To answer your question, it doesn't hurt to have it.

But it wouldn't hurt to take it off if your worried about hose leaks or worried about air flow restrictions to the radiator.

The trans has an optimum operating temperature just like the engine does.

Me personally, if I wasn't planning on using the RX for towing, I would take it off and put it back to factory specs. Just my opinion.

jsmith27

It is another component with the possibility of failing, especially since it is aftermarket.

I would remove it.

nipponbird

Agree. The fact that the OP says it looks cheap makes it a suspect part that should be binned. If it seems necessary to have an extra cooler, install one from a reputable manufacturer.

fastnoypi

its got to be of exceptionally bad to have the possibility of failing. More often than not, the failure is where you clamp your hoses. if AN fittings are not supplied.

OP, please post a pic of this transmission cooler.

Comity

Okay, here are a couple of pics from just above it. It looks like one of the $35-40 jobs. I looked closely under the rear of the car and did not see signs that it ever had a towing bar attached, so I am still at a loss as to why this was installed.

VegasRX300

Yep, that is a mystery why its there at all. Maybe some shop talked the owner into it.

I live where its over 100 degrees during the summer everyday, my RX does NOT overheat and never had (knock on wood) any trans problems. I did switch to synthetic oil & synthetic trans fluid.

I would pull that cheap thing off if you can put it back to stock without too much trouble or problems (old hoses still fit)

Like someone else said, its just another place that something could go wrong (leaky hose, etcetera)

fastnoypi

the cooler itself looks fine, just not a very clean looking install to make it look like it belongs. It appears the installer did not get the right length power steering hose to allow the cooler to sit parallel with the radiator. It would take about $10 in hose to re-install it nicely or remove it.
If it doesn't leak and the install job doesn't bother you..id leave it alone.

hypervish

+1, leave it alone.

Comity

I can't say it does any harm at this point, and I don't think it delays the initial warm-up to any great extent as I haven't noticed it staying in a lower gear when I first start out driving. Also, I haven't seen any indication of engine temp running higher than it should (always stays dead center of the temp gauge) due to blocking the radiator air flow.

Yes, the install does look sloppy and bothers me to some extent, so I will probably just clean up the install and leave it on. Since I am getting ready to replace the metal lines below it that have really rusted and do the full change-out of fluid, I will get new trans hoses of the correct length.

Thanks to all for helping me think through this.....much appreciated.