metalviper

iTrader: (13)

if u could make a diy thats be great!

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

thanx man!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

its been raining all week and wont stop til friday so ill try this weekend.

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

dude, no rush... take ur time, im pretty sure everyone is already appreciative that u are even considering taking the pics. i know i am

Alpha 5

iTrader: (8)

I am in for the pics.

jaybee333

Hi Guys. I'm picking up my 2000 EX this week. My first Honda car ever. I think the auto tranny cooler will be my first mod. I've been reading lots of posts here and I think this is a very helpful and friendly group of Civic owners.
I'm looking forward to the pics of the DIY. Thanks!

JKoffler44

Thanks for even considering and taking the time to post the pics. It is very helpful. I don't want to start this mod to my girlfriend's car until I see what's stewing.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

okay lemme take some pic today prolly. i dont feel like taking car apart but i have enough room to capture most of where everything is mounted.

civic-driver

iTrader: (4)

ok well i have a tranny cooler sitting in my closet and i was thinking about it today and do i need to have the lines run through the radiator? i mean when you buy the koyo radiator for an auto it doesnt have the radiator lines in it and it says to just use a tranny cooler so can i just skip the radiator? and how do i tell which is the in line and which is the out line? im buying an inline filter from ipt and i was under the impression the filter goes on the side leading to the tranny. any answers i can get would be great while im waiting for my extra fluid to arrive thanks

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

look at the pics in first post. the right side hose is the fluid that goes out, it needs to get cooled and then come back. obviously if you have aftermarket radiator, then just use a separate cooler. for the filter, i doubt it matters. the fluid will pass through it sometime in the cycle anyway. i think its recommened to change that filter every 10k miles when you do the fluid drain/refill.

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

wow thaks gear!!

cyprex

I just purchased a 2005 VP Coupe Auto.. I have to say had I known this about the transmission I would not have bought the car.
I am amazed they basically design it to fail at 100,000. Coincidentally the same mileage my extended warranty is up.
On top of that I live in a very hot city.. Memphis, TN.

Are there any draw backs to having this work done? I would hate for there to be a problem with the radiator and then in turn it destroys the transmisson.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

problem with transmission cooler install? no. its a separate small cooler on top of using the radiator. actually all the newer cvt auto civics come stock with extra trans oil cooler. only drawback i could see is the trans taking a bit longer to warm up on really cold days like below 20F. also i thought they fixed the defective clutch in the 04-05 civics, i could be wrong tho. but pretty much the trans design requires a cooler to function. its surprising that there isnt one on the regular models.

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

i guess Honda just short sheeted us... lol

cyprex

Oh ok, that makes sense that it's an additional cooler ontop fo the radiator.
I don't have a CVT, I assume the redesigned model begining in 06' does not have this problem.

But you said you heard the 04-05 automatic has a transmission cooler stock?

Thanks,

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the stock tranny cooler lines run through the radiator. They serve two purposes. One is to bring the trans fluid up to temp by the heat generated by the engine cooling system. The other is to cool the trans fluid down. Basically its being regulated by the coolant temp and system. Typically, the only reason you would want to add a second cooler is when you have a higher stall torque converter installed or you plan doing some towing. Other then that, its not really needed and the stock cooler should be enough.

Cypher

iTrader: (2)

that is a good point, does anyone feel a noticable difference in wear or driving that would warrent the extra oil cooler ?

metalviper

iTrader: (13)

only the dx has a tranny cooler. thats y we are interested in putting one in in other trim levels. not to add a second cooler

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

only the HX has the extra cooler. and yea you need a cooler, no such thing as stock is good enough. 90% of all transmission failure is due to heat, so obviously somethings wrong there. on hot days waiting at long lights, i usually put my car in neutral so it can cool off a bit.

cyprex

I'm still confused.

I have a 2005 VP, I don't do any towing or racing. Since my car only has 20,000 miles on it, should I get a transmission cooler? I think I've heard both yes and no in this thread.

LT2004ever

iTrader: (2)

do u have a auto??? if so... no matter what the circumstance (other than u already haveing a tranny cooler) you might wanna invest in one.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ya this is for autos. it will help around town, but is mainly good for long trips where the trans will heat up alot. the only 7thgen with a stock "second" oil cooler is the hx. if you have anything else, all you have is the radiator for the trans cooling. i also recommend getting the hx filter, since our dx/vp/lx/ex tranny only has an internal filter which obviously is useless.

flotsamm

iTrader: (1)

I would guess 99% of all automatic transmissions cars do not have an extra cooler. They use the one that is built into the radiator. This has been the standard for decades. While its not a bad idea to have an extra cooler installed, its not necessary.

I'm not hatin' on your thread, just pointing out that its not a requirement. The simple fact is our generation auto trans aren't as reliable as others. Adding an extra cooler wont fix a poor design no matter how many coolers you install. If you look at most auto tranny problems its due to some other issue then heat.. again like poor design part failure.

Adding an extra cooler may help extend the life of any auto trans, but theres not guaranty.

CincyBlck2k1

Honestly, I didn't even remember our cars going through the radiator to cool the transfluid... Can't believe I didn't remember that.. I just finished replacing my headgasket to... anyways... I have an 01 ex 2dr and I have 143k on it.. Now, knock on wood, my tranny is fine, I know it's original since I've owned the car since new... My neighbor had the notorious tranny fail.. Mine kicks hard sometimes going into 2nd.. but it's done this always I think... I do change my fluid every probably 15k miles, sometimes more frequently... So maybe a bit of luck and the frequency of my changes have saved me... but I think at this point, I'm not going to mess with a cooler and I'm going to keep changing it frequently... I want to get 200k out of it without any major repairs hopefully...

Oh yeah, our cars don't have a tranny fluid temperature guage, so how can we say the fluid is getting to hot?? Or have you guys already installed a guage to determine this??

CincyBlck2k1

Also, I'm not saying this is a bad idea... I mean, it's a mod that's probably well worth the money for the extra insurance... I'd just have to know what the temperature is before I installed it.... I have other cars with guages unfortunately this one doesn't have one... Though, in theory it should be the same as the coolant temperature...

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ya its true the cooler wont help the trans if you are the unlucky one with defective clutch pack. it will wear out from normal use anyways. so if you have 01-02 there is a good chance you are screwed already.

draganjr

iTrader: (1)

I got a tranny cooler and in the manual (helms) for CVT they are using the left hose not the right (from looking down into the engine bay).

Does it matter which one I use?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

well ya it does, you want hot fluid coming out of the trans to be cooled. i looked in the honda manual when i chose that one. an easy way to tell also is start the car cold and put it in drive (have someone inside pressing on the brake pedal, tell them not to slip lol). meanwhile you hold one hose in each hand and see which gets hotter faster. the one that heats up first has the fluid leaving the trans to goto the radiator, and the cool line is the fluid coming back in. it may be that the cvt trans has them reversed. you should be looking at what the lines are for our trans.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

oh crap i suck! youre right i just went and did my test and the LEFT side gets hot faster. lol cant believe i didnt do that before. and now its too late to switch since i have that filter and it would backflush everything. eh, maybe i wont even bother, its not bad, just reduces the cooling efficiency.

draganjr

iTrader: (1)

I installed it the same way you did but I am going to change it. Plus I might go pick up a filter from dealership later.

Also I placed mine in front of the ac cond. it shouldnt really matter the location right?

What size hose are you using? I need to run to autozone and get more hose.