Category → RVing
More van work
In early March, we did some additional refit work on the van for towing. First, we added a transmission cooler popular with off-road enthusiasts. The ones that drive Hummer H2s. This cooler is rated for a gross vehicle weight of 14,500 pounds, so we have quite a bit of overkill for the van and RV:
I also added a Magnifine inline transmission fluid filter:
With 14,500 pounds of cooling, the transmission fluid would be too viscous in the winter, so I added a bypass valve so that the transmission fluid only enters the new cooler if the transmission fluid goes above 180 degrees:
Finally, we added an inline transmission temperature sensor and gauge:
I mounted the temperature gauge to a punch-out piece in the dash, so it could be easily replaced. It also made it easy to work on, since I can pop out the punch-out and mess with the wires behind the dash. When the transmission fluid is below 70 degrees, it reads “LO”. Below the gauge, you can see the Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller that I earlier installed for towing. It controls the RV’s brakes, so that, when the van’s brake pedal is pressed, the RV brakes activate as well.
Car Crash!
Oops!
Just kidding! Since we use our ‘03 Odyssey for towing, I decided to install the heavy duty power steering cooler and transmission cooler. In this photo, the existing light duty power steering cooler is the looped thing below the bumper.
Taking the front off was cool:
Next, we remove the light duty power steering cooler. The heavy duty power steering cooler is on the snow:
Power steering fluid turns out to be less viscous than I hoped, so there was a bit of spillage when I did the swap:
Next, we bolt on the transmission cooler:
The last part was pretty tricky – the return hose from the internal transmission radiator needs to be routed to the output of the transmission cooler, and a new hose is added between the output of the internal transmission radiator and the input of the transmission cooler. Clear? I had to pull off a cowling under the van and use the jack to get enough clearance to get underneath. Thankfully, transmission fluid is plenty thick at 25 degrees, so there wasn’t much of a mess:
We saved about $100 by ordering the parts online rather than buying them at the local dealership, and cut out about $400 in labor. Not too shabby!