Rads and auto transmissions

[europa88]

Just noticed my rad is weeping AGAIN from around the filler neck! This is after a repair about 8 months ago, It's not in the same place but I think the time has come to get a new rad!

I also recently fitted a temp gauge to the transmission to monitor atf temps and was suprised to find even with a standard size(read small) supplementary trans cooler
fitted temps would go up to 110 degrees c when going up long steep welsh mountains! Not even towing!!
Seeing I bought the surf witha view to tow a reasonable size caravan I'm a bit concerned! my first thought was to fit a large air to oil cooler horizontally
with a heavy duty fan to come on when the temps get hot. now the rad is
boll***d I am wondering if a complete change of water/trans cooling design is on the cards! Problem is I dont want to upset the flow charicteristics etc as designed by the good guys at Toyota!

DO I,

A/ change the rad for a manual type and fit a supplementary oil to water cooler and how do I determine the right capacity of the new cooler?
B/fit an exchange auto rad with the inbuilt cooler and yet another air to oil cooler with a fan?
There is a design anomaly with the auto rad, the tube cooler in the bottom of the rad impedes the water flow to a degree so It would be a good opportunity to get rid of this problem and start with a new sheet of paper!!!
Any comments gratefully received, I know some of our Aussie members know a bit on this subject!!

[NiftyNev]

Have you read this? -

http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=195

There has been 96 posts and over 3000 views on this topic.

Neville

[europa88]

Have you read this? -

http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=195

There has been 96 posts and over 3000 views on this topic.

Neville

Thanks for the reply Neville

Yeah, I had seen this post before and It's making my head spin now!!
It seems to me that there is an answer and It depends on your location and uses!

I dont appear to have over heating probs!! But without an accurate water temp gauge who knows what the temps are?
As our ambient temps in the uk are not as high as yours in Oz I may go with
the largest additional air to oil cooler I can fit plumbed in AFTER the rad cooler mounted horizontally , with a heavy duty fan so as not to impact the efficiency of the trans operating temps in normal conditions too much!I may keep the smaller trans cooler which is mounted in front of the rad and replumb it in BEFORE the rad cooler to just cool the oil a bit before entering the rad! This shouldn't then undo all the work a large air to oil cooler would do if plumbed in before the rad cooler!
Still need a new auto rad though and they are expensive!!

[andy]

(

Still need a new auto rad though and they are expensive)

I had one rebuilt for a 2.4 surf the other week and it cost me £150 inc vat.

[europa88]

(

Still need a new auto rad though and they are expensive)

I had one rebuilt for a 2.4 surf the other week and it cost me £150 inc vat.

Problem with mine Andy, is It's been patched a couple of times already!! It's a common problem with pinholes around the filler neck the latest leak is under the mounting bracket and would be harder to patch!

maybe the repairers can remanufacture the top tank?
guess it's worth trying.

Did they totally rebuild yours Andy? Thats a very good price if they did the tanks as well as a recore?

[andy]

The top tank was shot, loads of little holes along the bottom near the joint and also round the top hose, so I think that they fitted a new one, they also re-cored the whole thing.

Because of very high pressures the top and bottom tanks had bowed, the rad cap was nearly fixed into the filler neck due to a lot of radweld and corrosion, so that when the head went it just built up pressure and bulged the tanks.

[europa88]

The top tank was shot, loads of little holes along the bottom near the joint and also round the top hose, so I think that they fitted a new one, they also re-cored the whole thing.

Because of very high pressures the top and bottom tanks had bowed, the rad cap was nearly fixed into the filler neck due to a lot of radweld and corrosion, so that when the head went it just built up pressure and bulged the tanks.

Yeah, thanks mate, I'm gonna take your advice and try and get a complete rebuild, roughtrax want £335 for a rad and even with my Toyota contacts It's still in x,s of £300. I will try milners but dont hold out much hope!!