Tranny cooler?

[mcrn]

Curious as to what is the best after market transmission cooler for a 03 Yukon that is the all wheel drive all the time model. It has the 4L60 in it and the more I read it appears that heat does destroy these things. I already have the factory Transmission cooler. I live in Fl and have to drive in some bad stop and go traffic. I have some Auto Rx in the transmission now and am going to fill with some kind of D6 spec fluid for now and see how the transmission likes it. Today in traffic and a heat index of 101 my transmission fluid temp warning flashed for about 1 second and then went off and did not ever come back on. Im not sure if the transmission was really that hot or if its possible the Auto Rx is cleaning up some sensors and throwing some codes? Oh well the fluid does not smell burnt FYI.

 

[EricZoom]

I have a B&M cooler, along with Redline D4 in my Mazda, and it's been doing pretty well for me in the FL heat. I also have the Jatco ATX which is known for heat issues.

 

[bmwtechguy]

You cannot hurt anything by going with a larger cooler but how do you know that you are running too hot? Most towing package coolers are not tiny and work fine. I would instead upgrade the fluid quality as you have planned and add some inline filtration. If you do find that temps are too high, then add a larger cooler or possibly a dedicated cooler fan to move some air at low-speed driving.

 

[sciphi]

I have a B&M cooler on my Buick LeSabre that keeps things positively arctic compared to the former transmission temperatures. Also ran Auto-RX in the unit.

Check your temperatures and wait for the Auto-RX to do its thing. It's likely cleaning off a lot of stuck-on grime to be deposited in the filter, so likely a sensor caught some junk.

If the transmission is still too hot after cleaning and new fluid, spring for the cooler. Mine was $50 on Amazon.

 

[Chris142]

Don't use the zippy things that zip it to the radiator or condensor! We get a few rads a week that have been ruined by those things.

Get some scrap metal and build a brace and mount it to that.

 

[NYEngineer]

I had a big B&M cooler on a Ford van with a C6 I used for work and in a Trans Am with a 700R4. Both worked great. I have a 98 Yukon now and I have some billet heat sink type cooler on that in series with the factory cooler. Works well. And yeah, don't use those stupid zip things to mount one. Make a bracket.

 

[bmwtechguy]

In 25 years, I have not seen any radiators or condensors ruined by the zip things, at least on the ones I have installed. I think the key is to get the zip tight and so it is not moving around, abrading the core.

 

[sciphi]

Time to double-check mine. Tightened the zips once, likely need to do it again.

 

[EricZoom]

I use 2 brackets that attach to my hood latch bolts, and that seems to work great. Solid as can be with no movement of the cooler.

 

[mcrn]

Just a little update. Yesterday I did a pan drop and replaced the filter. The fluid looked good, there was hardly anything on the magnet, and the fluid did not smell burnt at all so I do not think that the alarm was real. I refilled with 5 quarts of the Super tech new fluid that meets the D VI spec. It shifts a whole lot better now! I can't believe what a difference. I plan on doing a complete flush with this fluid and then doing drain and fills with a better fluid.

 

[mechtech2]

The heat index does not apply to mechanical devices - only human exposed skin.

 

[PT1]

Do a DEXVI flush, and forget it. If you have a tow package you have a cooler. You won't gain enough with a larger cooler to make it worth the time and trouble. Spend the $$ on shorter OCI's.