Would you replace your trans cooler under these circumstances?

[JCUMV]

Hi guys,
I wanted to get your opinions on something. We have a 2011 2500 Suburban. Great rig. We bought a 26' day cruiser this past summer in Havasu and took another trip late in the season back to Havasu again. The Suburban performed admirably. It's a mid 80's caribbean day cruiser, so it's heavy. I'm guessing between 6500-7000 depending on the gear we'd take on any given vacation. On the two trips this summer, outside temps were 95-105*. On Cajon Pass, the trans temp got up to 210*.

Fast forward to this week... we were parked on the street and somebody backed into the front of us while trying to parallel park. Damage to the front bumper is VERY minimal, but enough that the repair shop needs to pull if to repair it. So this is a golden opportunity to upgrade the trans cooler while the entire front bumper assembly is off the vehicle. I'm looking at the B&M 70264.

I don't want to change out the OEM cooler if I don't have to. Any I realize that you can take this too far the other way and the trans fluids take too long to get warm and possibly damage the transmission. But if there was ever a time to do this, now is it. The 3/4 ton suburban's are great tow vehicles, and maybe this upgrade is totally unnecessary for my scenario. So I wanted to put it out there and see what you guys thought.

Thanks in advance.

 

[shan]

Hi guys,
I wanted to get your opinions on something. We have a 2011 2500 Suburban. Great rig. We bought a 26' day cruiser this past summer in Havasu and took another trip late in the season back to Havasu again. The Suburban performed admirably. It's a mid 80's caribbean day cruiser, so it's heavy. I'm guessing between 6500-7000 depending on the gear we'd take on any given vacation. On the two trips this summer, outside temps were 95-105*. On Cajon Pass, the trans temp got up to 210*.

Fast forward to this week... we were parked on the street and somebody backed into the front of us while trying to parallel park. Damage to the front bumper is VERY minimal, but enough that the repair shop needs to pull if to repair it. So this is a golden opportunity to upgrade the trans cooler while the entire front bumper assembly is off the vehicle. I'm looking at the B&M 70264.

I don't want to change out the OEM cooler if I don't have to. Any I realize that you can take this too far the other way and the trans fluids take too long to get warm and possibly damage the transmission. But if there was ever a time to do this, now is it. The 3/4 ton suburban's are great tow vehicles, and maybe this upgrade is totally unnecessary for my scenario. So I wanted to put it out there and see what you guys thought.

Thanks in advance.

210 is fine.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Get a 40k GVWR Tru-Cool. They are under $150 and out-cool pretty much anything out there. The B&M isn't that great. Add a deep heat-sink style pan and you will drop the Trans temp to 180 even in summer.
L

 

[AzGeo]

If I added another cooler in front, which is another 'air restriction', I would also add another electric fan . It's not the 'highway speeds' that cause the problems, it's the 'low speed towing and low speed recovery times' that put the load on this kind of cooling system .

B&M is not my first choice, I would purchase Hayden, one size over what you are doing .

 

[HALLETT BOY]

210* is nothing for today's transmissions , they all run synthetic fluid , so they can handle that kind of temps for extended times .

 

[ToMorrow44]

Your trans I believe has a transmission temperature modulator as GM calls it, basically a thermostat for the trans. The cooler lines run through it and, until it reaches the right temperature, bypasses the cooler to keep that trans temp where it wants it. A lot of people complain about their trans temps running 200 degrees empty. As said, 210 is ok considering towing up the Cajon pass in 105* heat is about the most abuse you can put that trans through. My guess is even if you put a bigger cooler on it, that modulator is going to keep the trans temp up that high.

 

[pronstar]

Tranny coolers are cheap...I would put one in for piece of mind, and never worry about it again.
When you're pulling heavy shit thru the desert, a little piece of mind goes a long way :thumbsup

I prefer coolers with temperature modulated fans, for efficiency and also because their small size gives you tons of mounting options (like under the bed, for instance).

 

[shan]

210* is nothing for today's transmissions...

Or yesterday's.:rolleyes

 

[pronstar]

Or yesterday's.:rolleyes

What about tomorrow?

 

[shan]

What about tomorrow?

You're good.:thumbsup

 

[cicchetti_24]

I doubled up my Trans cooler in my Silverado and didn't see any change really.

 

[cicchetti_24]

Oh and it was a Hayden that I installed in line with my stock cooler

 

[Rsqfxr]

went with the tru cool 40k ($140 amazon) on my denali, it made a huge difference, on a 90 degree day in stop and go traffic flat ground with no trailer temps would exceed 220 now with the upgraded cooler i dont even see 200 with the boat when its 110 degrees pulling that grade out of bullhead on the 40 west...definitely worth the investment, rig is an 05 yukon xl denali awd 6.0L original trans 260k miles

 

[JCUMV]

Thank you for the quick feedback. One thing is for sure, nobody seems to be a fan of the B&M cooler, so that's good to know. RiverKing didn't see a difference with the Hayden, but a couple of good reviews about the Tru Cool. And then there's just as many that say 210* is fine for trans temp implying that I should leave it as as. The one thing I don't want to do is put something on it that would keep the trans from coming up to normal operating temp in normal conditions. I'm probably only going to make 3-4 trips a year in the extreme heat. What to do, what to do...

 

[cicchetti_24]

Thank you for the quick feedback. One thing is for sure, nobody seems to be a fan of the B&M cooler, so that's good to know. RiverKing didn't see a difference with the Hayden, but a couple of good reviews about the Tru Cool. And then there's just as many that say 210* is fine for trans temp implying that I should leave it as as. The one thing I don't want to do is put something on it that would keep the trans from coming up to normal operating temp in normal conditions. I'm probably only going to make 3-4 trips a year in the extreme heat. What to do, what to do...

Also make sure who does it, installs it right. The shop that did mine cut the hard trans line and it slid off 2 times costing me 1 transmission. All they had to do was flare the edges on the metal Trans line and slide the hose over that and hose clamp it. Instead they just put a hose clamp on it and called it a day.

 

[Rsqfxr]

Thank you for the quick feedback. One thing is for sure, nobody seems to be a fan of the B&M cooler, so that's good to know. RiverKing didn't see a difference with the Hayden, but a couple of good reviews about the Tru Cool. And then there's just as many that say 210* is fine for trans temp implying that I should leave it as as. The one thing I don't want to do is put something on it that would keep the trans from coming up to normal operating temp in normal conditions. I'm probably only going to make 3-4 trips a year in the extreme heat. What to do, what to do...

The fluid still runs thru the radiator which will still make it run at a comfortable temperature, I personally didnt want to see anything north of 200 degrees and i achieved that even in 100 plus temps, I bought an install kit online that came with brackets specifically for gm fullsize and it doesn't utilize any rubber connections

 

[CampbellCarl]

210 is fine.

Or yesterday's.:rolleyes

You're good.:thumbsup

Thank you for the quick feedback. One thing is for sure, nobody seems to be a fan of the B&M cooler, so that's good to know. RiverKing didn't see a difference with the Hayden, but a couple of good reviews about the Tru Cool. And then there's just as many that say 210* is fine for trans temp implying that I should leave it as as. The one thing I don't want to do is put something on it that would keep the trans from coming up to normal operating temp in normal conditions. I'm probably only going to make 3-4 trips a year in the extreme heat. What to do, what to do...

What to do is listen to the guy above...

 

[Bigbore500r]

went with the tru cool 40k ($140 amazon) on my denali, it made a huge difference, on a 90 degree day in stop and go traffic flat ground with no trailer temps would exceed 220 now with the upgraded cooler i dont even see 200 with the boat when its 110 degrees pulling that grade out of bullhead on the 40 west...definitely worth the investment, rig is an 05 yukon xl denali awd 6.0L original trans 260k miles

That's what I'm sayin....Tru Cool 40k for the win!

 

[77charger]

I have a 2500hd with a 6.0 4l80 it ran at 190-200 most times towing toyhauler or camper towing boat and up to 230 up the grades on warm days.I finally put another inline with the stock cooler i used a derale i think its about 8x11 nothing too big but the install took about 30-40 minutes to do the front grille pops off easy.There was no need to cut stock lines just use the adaptor on the stock cooler then run line to new cooler then back into stock line

Now it will run about 175-185 on the flats towing boat with the lance camper on truck even if its 100 outside coming out of needles it hits 200 during summer heat and cools back down.So far the hottest it has got since install just a crack over 200 on baker grade going to powell where it would hit 235 previous years.

https://www.etrailer.com/Transmissi...lverado/2004/D13503.html?vehicleid=2004747632

 

[ToMorrow44]

The one thing I don't want to do is put something on it that would keep the trans from coming up to normal operating temp in normal conditions. I'm probably only going to make 3-4 trips a year in the extreme heat. What to do, what to do...

Like I said, the temp modulator on your trans prevents fluid from going to the cooler until it reaches optimum temperature. Also the temps are going to stay the same no matter what coolers you put in, unless you gut the modulator like this guy did:
[video=youtube;9nbcOJSlstA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nbcOJSlstA[/video]

 

[mesquito_creek]

What is the better investment? Bigger transmission cooler or shorter intervals for fluid changes?... I have 4l80E and I wouldnt sweat 210 degrees at all, but I stick to 25-30K oil changes... 150,000 miles full time AZ heat with 12 summers on the stock trans so far... I have always heard that the best insurance on transmission life is regular service with fresh fluid and filter...

 

[Rsqfxr]

Good info, That module wasn't incorporated until the later years I believe the last body style change

 

[Rsqfxr]

What is the better investment? Bigger transmission cooler or shorter intervals for fluid changes?... I have 4l80E and I wouldnt sweat 210 degrees at all, but I stick to 25-30K oil changes... 150,000 miles full time AZ heat with 12 summers on the stock trans so far... I have always heard that the best insurance on transmission life is regular service with fresh fluid and filter...

In my experience the cooler trans temps have allowed me to go longer on the trans services when monitoring by the color and smell of the fluid

 

[ToMorrow44]

What is the better investment? Bigger transmission cooler or shorter intervals for fluid changes?... I have 4l80E and I wouldnt sweat 210 degrees at all, but I stick to 25-30K oil changes... 150,000 miles full time AZ heat with 12 summers on the stock trans so far... I have always heard that the best insurance on transmission life is regular service with fresh fluid and filter...

The answer is both really. The two things that kill automatic transmissions are heat and dirty fluid. But you can mitigate both by changing the fluid more often. That way you keep it clean, but also by keeping fresh fluid in there so it retains its lubricating properties. If you tow a lot and it gets hot a lot, it will break down faster. Synthetics are better, as said up to 260 or so.

For this 6L80E I think the owners manual says normal operating temp is 180-200* for everyday driving, so 210 towing up a hill is not a big deal.