have you guys ever heard of transmission coolers? A freind of mine told me that they are really good for cars it cools the oil going into the tranny and keeps the trans up 75 degrees cooler does anyone know about this or have it? Its supposed to be real cheap to it cost like $80....

 

here you go bud, good thing i remembered about reading up on this just yesterday! so yea, if you get to it b4 me then tell me how your install went.

hope this helps
http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...184466&page=21

 

There are a few members with transmission coolers. 99 TL are the only transmissions that the fluid is cooled by the bottom of the radiator seperate from the coolant. It is basically a transmission cooler. 00-03 trasmissions are water (coolant) cooled. Don't know how to make the tranns. fluid from the 00-03 to flow through a tranns cooler.

As far as the 99 goes, is real easy, there are 2 hoses (out, in) going to the bottom area of the radiator. You could install the aftermarket transmission cooler $40-$80 dollars. It could be placed in front of hte radiator like I did. Then buy some fuel or fluid hoses of the same diameter and remove the old hoses from the tranny and install the new ones to the new tranny cooler.

Don't have pics, but might take some later on.

 

i thought that there wasn't a cooler for the tranny and that's why the system cooked fluid so fast.

if the fluid is cooled by the radiator, then i guess there is a small pipe within the rad. that is surrounded by the fluid passing by. i would think that there are two hoses running to and from the radiator that you could reroute to a real cooler.

attaching an inline filter would also be a good idea.

any opinions?

 

Will transmission cooler save our tranny though?

 

It did absolutely nothing to save mine. I installed mine at 60k and look when my last one failed. Right inline w/ the rest about 25k.

 

On 99's yes, there are 2 hoses like I said. All you have to do is reroute them to an aftermarket cooler. Depending were you put the new cooler, the original hoses might not reach, so might as well get new hoses (under $10)

On 00-03 the trasmisson has water passages that allow coolant to flow throughout the transmission. Is the same coolant tha flows throughout the engine (cylinder heads). The transmission fluid never leaves the trasmission.

I will scan a diagram later tonight.

 

Then whats the purpose installing it?

 

the purpose is to keep the transmission cooler, preventing it from failing from overheating and baking the fluid, 00-03 trannies failed because of soft bearings and bad clutchpacks, totally seperate from the cooling issue. the cooler the transmission the better, but it cannot stop the bearing from shreding. and if your tranny failed with a cooler i would probably replace the cooler also becuase it most likly has little metal particles in it from where the old fluid was in there and would ruin the next transmission.

 

Were did you get this info....acura hans't release any info regarding the TL/CL. Thanks for second guessing.

For the 5 spd tranny on the MDX honda reported this:

"The situation is created by insufficient lubrication of the transmission's secondary shaft second gear that can occur under certain driving conditions. Prolonged operation under these conditions can lead to heat build-up and under certain circumstances may eventually result in chipped or broken gear teeth or breakage of the gear. "

 

How did you install yours ????

 

Those are very good instructions....he has the same cooler I have and he did a very similar install.

 

haha....acura service manager lives across the street, and real good friends with an acura tech. he can have a tranny out of a TL and a reman back in place in 1 hour. of course when you replace on avg 7 a week i guess you get good at it.

 

like diss http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...184466&page=21

 

I did it by cutting the short hose that is behind the tranny first. I tapped into one end and then I ran a new hose up to the front of the car, thru the cooler and back (new hose #2) into the first hose but the other end. Works great and it sure does get hot. Also drained three quarts out yesterday and put in three quarts of Redline Synthetic ATF.

 

Did you mix that redline w/ the Z-1 that was in the Torque converter(3-4quarts)?

 

I'm glad to know that the cooler install won't be as bad as i thought.

I wonder who makes a good inline filter?

 

So.... I know 2 acura service managers and many acura mechanics. I have seen mechanics do trasmissions exchanges in an hour.

All they do is take them out and replaced with a refurbished or new one. They don't touch the trasmissions. So stop second guessing, you are making users in these forums believe in false statements.

 

Page 468 of 1046:
Acura Tech line Bulletin:

Erratic shifting, flare at upshifts, wont move (5/02)

The roughness of the third gear clutch steel plates is prematurely wearing the third clutch disks in production and requires a remanufactured transmission

ATF leak at axle seals, roaring noise, erratic shifting (5/02)

An ATF leak at the axle seals, a roaring noise or erratic shifting can be caused by wear [cut-off in scan], which requires transmission replacement. When the differential carrier bearing get d [cut-off in scan].

ATF Leak – If the differential carrier moves around, the axles can exceed the range [cut-off].

Erratic shifting – Contamination from the damaged differential carrier bearings can [cut-off] lock-up valves. A common DTC that accompanies damaged differential bearings is [cut-off] system).

Transmission noise – Worn bearings allow the differential carrier to move and cause [cut-off] carrier-bearing contact. This often causes noise that has been described as roaring.

 

Bitium --

It has been common knowledge for a while that it is the 3rd gear clutchpack causing transmission failures in our cars.

 

To clarify: the '99 TL tranny failure is due to soft bearings (4-spd transmission). 00-03 tranny failures are due to bad 3rd gear clutchpacks (00-03 model TL have 5-spd transmission).

 

I heard it for a long time, just want to make sure. Thanks for the clarification.

 

The trans cooler install is indeed easy. I had mine in in about 1 1/2 hours. Most of the time was trying to remove one of the hoses from the trans (that thing is TIGHT).

And don't believe the instructions that say you NEED to remove the bumper cover, you don't. It helps to have a good feel with a small flathead screwdriver to get the down-facing clips off the bottom of the grill though.

03' TL-S using a B&M 16k cooler.

 

Tom Blasing, Wanna make a DIY on it? since we have clarification for the install on 99's but nothing on '00 up!?!?!?

THX in ADV!

 

Here's the link I went by. It does a very good job of explaining it.

Just remember, the bumper does NOT have to come off if you can get your arm behind and not crack it.

http://home.satx.rr.com/silverbullet/tranny.htm

One additional thing I did was where the cooler lines pass through the battery tray support welded onto the wheel well (yes, you have to remove the battery) is to wrap the lines with a piece of leftover hose from the cooler (split longways) where the line makes contact with the battery support, takes all of 3 minutes to do and will keep the line from chaffing a hole in it.

 

This is not completely true. There is an optimal operating temperature range. Overcooling the fluid can also cause trouble.

 

Is not common knowleged anymore.....Here are the facts:

American Honda Expands Voluntary Transmission Recall to Certain Honda and Acura Automobiles

TORRANCE, Calif., June 29, 2004 -- American Honda Motor Co., Inc. today announced that it will expand its existing voluntary recall of light truck models for a potential transmission defect to include certain Honda and Acura passenger cars. The voluntary action involves approximately 499,000 Honda and Acura passenger vehicles with V6 engines and 5-speed automatic transmissions. Affected models include certain 2003 and early 2004 model Accord V6 sedans and coupes, 2000-2003 and early 2004 Acura TL sedans, and 2001-2003 Acura CL coupes.

The company has found only one confirmed instance of a transmission failure related to this defect in its passenger cars, with no accidents or injuries. “We are acting out of an abundance of caution to ensure that this doesn’t become an issue for our customers,’” said Tom Elliott, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

The situation is created by insufficient lubrication of the transmission’s secondary shaft second gear that can occur under certain driving conditions. Prolonged operation under these conditions can lead to heat build-up and under certain circumstances may eventually result in chipped or broken gear teeth or breakage of the gear . In the event of a chipped or broken tooth, the owner will likely experience abnormal noise from the transmission and seek repairs. In rare instances, this condition may lead to gear breakage and possible locking of the vehicle’s transmission, creating a potential safety hazard.

I still can't fully agree with the clucthpacks

 

Have you done the install? Having a hard time making out orientation of hoses in picture. Made the mistake of going with the Comptech model #560-030 (not to mention the $149 price tag) which gives you mounting brackets that are useless for my '02 Acura TL-P

 

do you have the oil jet kit?

 

i have a hayden tranny cooler. i udnno if it will help, but im sure it has to do something. the dealer installed it at no charge (just charged for the hoses).

 

Hmm - hoses come with a cooler kit...

 

Probably not. I had 3 trannies fail with the cooler

Not long enough. the TL doesnt have a cooler in the radaitor like most do. you have to run lines from the back of the tranny to the fron ot the radiator. (baisicly 2 5 foot pieces)

 

It wont help. Do the research. These trannys will fail regardless. I have not seen a direct correlation between coolers and higher mileage before failure. You are wasting your $$ IMO. But it is your car... Just my

 

fsttyms1

Yes, I have the oil jet installed. I understand according to to Shad (Tech. at Comptech) that the hose length should be shorter, due to the installation of the Oil Jet. I believe that he enlightened me of the location of the Trani Cooler and will make a second attempt at it today.

 

Its not any shorter, it still gets hooked up in the same area. the only difference is the crossover pipe now has a "T" in it for the oil jet kit.