I have a 1996 Dak 5.2 auto 2wd. I drive mostly unloaded as a to and from work car. However I do occasionally (5-10 times/yr) tow a trailer, usually a car dolly or trailer. My question is would an auxilliary transmission cooler be justified in my case? By my understanding transmissions like to have their fluid at the proper temperature and I am concerned that 90% of the time when im driving unloaded the fluid may be overcooled and not operate properly. I am planning on changing filter and fluid this spring sometime so I figure that would be a good time to add a cooler if I was gonna do it. Thanks in advance guys.

 

It won't be much of a problem. However, you may want to bypass the auxillary cooler during cold weather, seeing as how your in Ohio.

 

Your tranny should be fine if your only towing 5-10 times a year (as long as you take a easy). But if your still worried and want more cooling, you could look into a deep dish tranny pan with addition to your auxilary oil cooler.

 

Thanks for the input. I can't see throwing $100+ into a transmission pan when I can get a cooler for under $50. Also I was snooping on eBay and I saw a cooler that was rated for 12,000 lbs gross vehicle weight (GVW) for $25 + shipping. I can't see my truck ever seeing that: Truck 4,000 lbs + Trailer 2,000 lbs + another car/truck 4,000 lbs = 10,000 lbs, and that would be a worse case scenerio. However the ad claimed that the cooler was for compact to midsize cars, so am I missing something here or is my idea of GVW wrong. Here is the link to the cooler: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TRANS...88303088QQrdZ1
Do you guys think that that would be sufficient for my situation or should I go with a bigger one? Thanks again.

 

Are you positive that you don't already have one? They hide it between the AC condensor and the radiator. I had to get into mine to fix a leak, and the service manual instructions for that are NOT to be followed. It says to remove the AC condensor, involving all the problems associated with that. Removing the radiator is the preferred method.