I would definately be fitting an external cooler. Although my van is a T4 i have fitted an external cooler( Mounted to the backside of the grill & in front of the a/c condenser. The fitting of the external cooler and deleting the factory cooler has reduced trans temps by approx 25 degrees celcius. I have the trans serviced every 12 months and the fluid is as new when drained ( cheap insurance in my books). FYI VW 'sealed for life' is bs. The fine print states that the 'life' is only the warranty period. This is done as a marketing tool for the prospective purchaser, as it it show reduced maintenence costs over the period of ownership. VW wont tell you to service the trans as generally there is no service procedure listed as it's a non maintenence item. Maybe call A&B Transmissions in Dandenong & see if they have a T5 transporter cooler. They do warranty work for a lot of the manufacturers inc VW, highly recommended.