Auxiliary transmission oil cooler

[WambyMc]

Hi all ... would an auxiliary transmission oil cooler be beneficial if towing for extended trips ? Has anyone used one of these or are they unnecessary. I am planning on using my '05 T5 as a caravan tug for an extended holiday around Aus ( or part of). The caravan will be relatively light weight and well within towing specs for vehicle. Any thoughts, tips or advice will be welcomed....

[Tornado T5]

Hi all ... would an auxiliary transmission oil cooler be beneficial if towing for extended trips ? Has anyone used one of these or are they unnecessary. I am planning on using my '05 T5 as a caravan tug for an extended holiday around Aus ( or part of). The caravan will be relatively light weight and well within towing specs for vehicle. Any thoughts, tips or advice will be welcomed....

I don't know a great deal however from some info on another brands auto and aux oil coolers, the box didn't like the oil pressure changes within the unit created by the ext cooler and it detrimentally effected shifts etc. Might not be a problem for the T5 auto but one to look out for.

Do you know what your gross towing weight will be?

[WambyMc]

Do you know what your gross towing weight will be?

Well that has been another can of worms !! Gross weight, from memory being total weight of van and all inclusions i am hoping to keep around 1000kg, and tow ball weight <100kg . I read an article written by an auto transmission mechanic recently where he advised to hold the auto in a gear if it continually shifts up and down ie if going up hills and bends etc. The article was not aimed at any particular vehicle and as mentioned, a auxiliary cooler may not be suitable at all for the T5.

[Tornado T5]

Well that has been another can of worms !! Gross weight, from memory being total weight of van and all inclusions i am hoping to keep around 1000kg, and tow ball weight <100kg . I read an article written by an auto transmission mechanic recently where he advised to hold the auto in a gear if it continually shifts up and down ie if going up hills and bends etc. The article was not aimed at any particular vehicle and as mentioned, a auxiliary cooler may not be suitable at all for the T5.

That's definately not a heavy towing weight. I think the phrase for the constant upshift/downshift is called "hunting" and yep it's not good to have it occurr for prolonged periods. T5's and auto boxes are a contentious issue as they were not listed for servicing (sealed uini) and there are several threads you could probably search out. I myself had my box replaced under warranty due to flaring on the 3-4 and sometime 4-5 change. I have regularly towed loads almost upto 2000kg gross with another 800kg inside the van, say 400-450km delivery runs from highway to dirt farm roads. I've also done 80,00km since the replacement. You would expect that an external cooler could only help but a specialist would be the best to ask including some better informed here.

[Transporter]

The article was not aimed at any particular vehicle and as mentioned, an auxiliary cooler may not be suitable at all for the T5.

One would think that since the pressure is the same in all directions in the fluid at a given point, there shouldn't be a problem with the additional cooler, as long as it's not restrictive.

I will ask my AT specialist what he thinks.

[Transporter]

One would think that since the pressure is the same in all directions in the fluid at a given point, there shouldn't be a problem with the additional cooler, as long as it's not restrictive.

I will ask my AT specialist what he thinks.

David, who owns Automatics of Marion confirmed that a/t cooler, will not have any adverse affects on the transmission. Also explained to me what fails in the T5 a/t; the solenoids in valve body create electromagnetic field that pulls in fine metal particles from ATF, which wears out the bushes in the solenoids. He can rebuild the T5's a/t incl. valve body and also repair the 6speed DSG, while at the same time install improved component, so the same failure is less likely to happen again.

So, more frequent oil changes are good idea, if you want to increase the reliability of your a/t.

[Sunny43.5]

I would aggree with the words of the auto mechanic that Wamby Mc mentions , our transmission has been acting up for some time as you all would know and I also read about towing and using a lower than top gear manual or auto . We towed our MX bikes out for two days camping last Friday I would guess the weight at no more than 700 kg but to save the transmission from undue stress I just stuck it in manual mode and kept it in 5 th it seemed a lot happier than leaving it to change by itself . I wonder how many kilometers of testing was done during developement of the Triptronic and then the DSG as it certainly seems that VW and others have not quite got it right .

[WambyMc]

I recently had my auto transmission oil changed with a AT specialist recently and he advised me to try and drive in Sports(S) mode most of the time and in particular whilst towing to prolong the life of the AT. This takes away the gear hunting problem, but he also described how the gear box changes gears differently between 1 to 3rd and 4th to 6th when in drive(D) and sport(S). He also showed me the solenoids from a gearbox he was working on and explained how problems can arise with them and why, and what to look out for (or feel) when driving. Interesting bloke who actually spent some time to explain these things to me and show me around his workshop.