Rx300 Transmission Cooler Installation

My Other Car is a Corvette · September 15, 2009

Hello,

I'm a new member to the forum, but have already gotten some very useful information as a non-member. For example, I just did the IACV cleaning procedure this past weekend to solve the low-idle problem (thanks for that tip!). A couple of months ago, I read the posts about early transmission failures, and since I keep finding dark fluid, I figured it was time to put in an auxiliary cooler. I did a search and couldn't find anyone who described installing one, so I wanted to at least let everyone know what I did in the hopes it might help someone else.

The cooler I got is a B&M Supercooler model 70264. At first I tried placing it in front of the AC condenser, but there was really no way to mount it. B&M gives you plastic ties to thread through the radiator and condenser, but the fins are too close together on our cars. So, my only other option was to put it where the factory cooler would go in the right front fender well.

Luckily, the B&M cooler fits, although just barely. They give you metal brackets with pre-drilled holes, so I was able to cut and custom bend those to interface with the two existing bolt holes on the inner fender where the factory cooler would mount. I had to angle the cooler bottom-forward so that it would not contact the inside of the fender liner, but I was limited on the other side by the windshield washer fluid tank and pump. Once I got the angle right, I added a third mount on top with a bolt going through a hole in the sheet metal and a nut and washer on the other side.

To be sure I didn't burn or melt the windshield washer pump or fender liner, I put pieces of insulated aluminum tape between them and the cooler.

B&M supplies some rubber transmission fluid tubing, but it was not long enough for my installation, so I went to the parts store and got 5 more feet. I ran a line from the output of the factory cooler inside the radiator, which is roughly in the middle at the bottom of the radiator. The output is an elbow that pointed to the driver's side, but I needed it to point toward the passenger side. All I had to do was loosen the nut holding it in place, rotate the elbow 180 degrees, and re-tighten the nut. The other line goes from the cooler to the input to the transmission. Tie wraps hold them all in place.

The final obstacle was that the B&M cooler sits up higher than the factory cooler, so it would not catch any of the airflow coming in through the bumper and out the louvers in the fender liner. My "elegant" solution was to cut a piece of sheet metal to fit inside the cavity behind the bumper and force the air up into the cooler. I attached this sheet metal piece to the bottom of the cooler using bolts, nuts, & washers in some unused mounting holes in the bottom of the cooler. A little aluminum tape finished the job to hold it in place and add that little "professional" touch. B)

The cooler has only been in place for a couple of months, so there's no way to know what the long-term effect will be. But. hopefully this'll help give some ideas to some else considering this mod.

Jeff

2001 White RX300

P.S. To explain my username, my other car is a 1984 Corvette that I've owned for 14 years and have done a LOT of repairs on. It's one of the reasons I buy Japanese cars now!

lenore · September 15, 2009

just wanted to tell you, great job. I still want to move cooler to the front of the car, The cooling in the wheel well sucks...

lexus114 · September 17, 2009

just wanted to tell you, great job. I still want to move cooler to the front of the car, The cooling in the wheel well sucks...

Probably the best/easiest thing to do is abandon the existing cooler,and buy a new one to put up front.Just leave some space between the trans cooler,and the a/c condenser.

My Other Car is a Corvette · September 17, 2009

just wanted to tell you, great job. I still want to move cooler to the front of the car, The cooling in the wheel well sucks...

Thanks! I searched quite a bit for mounting locations in front and just didn't see any that would work. The only structure I saw was the core support around the perimeter; everything else is just part of the plastic front fascia. If you do end up finding a good mounting location, I'd certainly be interested, because I wasn't thrilled about the wheel well either.

Jeff