Has anyone managed to add a Transmission cooler to their 2021?

I don’t disagree that having more cooling capacity is good, I’m simply stating that it’s likly not needed and will void your warranty on certain parts/systems should you have an issue.

For example, let’s say your external aftermarket cooler fails or is unable to keep up with temps and your trans fails due to high temps. The dealer will blame the external cooler and whoever installed it. Even though that cooler likly kept the temps lower for longer and the trans would’ve failed much earlier in the stock form, it still gives the dealership/Toyota a way out of honoring your warranty claim.

Now you may be cool with your dealer or Toyota and they will take care of you, but that’s not a chance I was willing to take on my $40k truck

This is all just foot for thought and wanted to caution people that were thinking about adding a external cooler. I’m not trying to say I’m right and you’re wrong or that your way is wrong.

Just providing info so that people can make an educated decision that fits their needs best

 

I don't plan on eliminating the factory transmission cooler, just adding to it inline.

 

Thermostat in the transmission will allow your trans to get to operating temp before any extra cooling will occur. Just don’t pin it open.

 

https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2019-us-pickup-truck-sales-figures-by-model/
245,659 + 118,258 = 363,917 X $ 50.00 = 18,195,850

 

The transmission fluid used in the 2021 truck was developed in 2003 . Its the same old technology ( WS ) world standard fluid used in the 2nd gen as well as 3rd gen trucks .

What we do know from past experience .
The factory fluid in your 21 truck breaks down just as fast as any other transmission fluid .
If I had a new 2021 truck without a transmission cooler , I would certainly be adding one to keep the temps down .I wouldnt even consider towing without an external cooler and a scan guage

I have a hard time believing anything was done to the transmission internally to compensate for the extra heat .
What can be done inside the trans to assist with cooling ? Not much .. as pointed out above , this was a cost saving feature for Toyota , not the owner
For over 100 years , all automatic transmissions have used external radiators to cool the fluid .

I see the OP is thinking about purchasing the Hayden cooler . I do not see any winter protection listed with that cooler and he lives in Canada ???

In my write up ,members have added installation pictures and explanations of how well the addition of an external aftermarket cooler functions with the 3rd gen Tacoma .
I highly suggest clicking on the link below and scroll through some of the many installs

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...l-toyotas-write-up-with-many-pictures.526283/

 

Would the thermostat not solve the issue with overcooling or do i need a cooler with the winter protection regardless?

 

Ha! Overbuilding, over-designing and over testing costs money. Money that the companies don’t want to spend. The finance team rules everything.

 

The thermostat that came with the truck allows the transmission to warm up quicker , it cant do much to control overheated fluid from returning to your transmission pan .

Its going to warm up faster with a cooler that has winter protection .
Transmission fluid flows like molasses in the winter .

 

Alright, I'll look for one with winter protection, thanks.

 

It’s likely not the engineering team that suggested removing it. This kind of thing is called “Value Improvement” or “Value Engineering” or sometimes “Design to Value”. There are whole groups that do nothing but try to remove cost from products. And it usually starts like this:

1. Financial team creates a company goal for cost reduction or profit margin increase for the year.

2. Management teams take the financial goal and break it into goals for each group. Some goals are for new products (i.e all new products need to meet new profit target). Some are for existing products (i.e. reduce cost of mature products). Remember that a new model year isn’t necessarily a “new” product.

3. The marketing team along with engineering come up with a list of changes to reduce cost. This can be items that the engineering team didn’t have time to test throughly (like a cheaper bearing or shittier material). Others are “features” that marketing thinks are not being used by customers (like the bed cubbies or fog lights). Some are combos like a transmission cooler.

In the case of a trans cooler, marketing suggests that the customers don’t tow that much so do we really need that $50 part. Engineering says, “well it’d be nice to keep for the people that do tow, can you define how much towing the customers do?” Marketing does some research to confirm that 99% of customers only tow a 1500lb utility trailer twice per year for less than 300 miles total (edit: forgot to add that this marketing research is sometimes bogus too. Marketing can manipulate the user sample to suit the outcome that management wants). Given that and the large financial incentives, the engineering team is pushed to prove if the transmission can handle the new requirements without the cooler. Some testing happens, though to some degree it’s just a formality to appease the reliability team because there is no chance the cooler is staying since the cost saving has already been shared with the management team that will get a bonus for removing it.

This isn’t even all of the nonsensical details of a typical situation like this. But I can assure you that engineering does not get to decide these things alone. And usually engineering has only a small influence unless they can immediately show with data that the idea won’t work. Safety items seem to be the one area that are never questioned by the financial team (though in my experience it’s an area that unnecessary cost is added just to reduce liability for incidents that are likely to never actually happen...that’s a whole separate conversation).

Anyway, I’m 100% sure they ditched the trans cooler to save cost at the expense of towing reliability.

 

This is what I thought the case would be. Any engineer I knew of would have rather had it overbuilt, lol.

 

It's the same low effort moves that prompt bags of chips to put 50% less calories and all they did was half the amount of actual product.

 

I'm certain the elimination of the cooler in these trucks was not a decision made by Toyota engineers but one made by the bean counters. Heat is a killer in all auto trannys, no matter how new and "advaned".

My first step here would be to incorporate a way to monitor tranny temps in all conditions (towing, hills, off-road driving, normal driving, etc.) and determine if you need additional cooling. My hunch is that eliminating the external cooler likely works fine for 95% of Toyota's customers in stock trucks in normal driving conditions. But monitoring temps is the only way to be sure.

 

Does anyone know if this was eliminated as a cost saving measure or if they routed the cooling through the radiator and called it "good enough?" I'm genuinely curious why they would eliminate this. It sounds like they did so on the Tundra as well.

 

I already have an OBD2 scanner, and torque pro , my jeep had a nasty habit of killing transmissions. I work my truck hard, towing and hauling shit in the backwoods, dust soaked back roads, and sometimes I'm working on irrigation systems on motocross tracks. I agree with the sentiment that it's probably fine for most people trucks tho, I'm just a extenuating case scenario.

 

I don't think they have ever said anything besides "it was not needed and the radiator is adequate" (which i believe is bs) but it is speculated to be a cost cutting measure.

 

I know TFL showed it was a poor decision in the Tundra. I can only imagine that's moreso the case in the Tacoma.

Edit: and the comment before this one has conveniently posted said video! It talks about the warning light not coming in until 300°, but I believe the fluid starts to break down long before that.

 

I own and 2021 OR and I will be putting in a cooler as soon as the warranty runs out. Guess I got a while to go.

 

Yeah. Transmission temps over 280 is mind blowingly stupid.