Adding A Transmission Cooler To A Suzuki Sidekick; My Argument Why Every Automatic Should Have One

in #cars • 5 years ago

Stick Shifts Are The New Anti Theft Devices

Hey everyone! In today's post I wanted to address a subject that most younger people wont really understand but if your older you have seen the shift with automakers as well as public demand. When it comes to automatic vs manual I am not here to debate but just provide evidence that the market is changing and with those changes could come the all out termination of the manual transmission. With that concept I will also share how I installed a transmission cooler in a 1995 Suzuki Sidekick with a 4WD automatic transmission. These are not factory and later in this article I will argue why they should be.

A Changing Market

According to an article written by Robert Duffer of The Chicago Tribune titled The shift is on: Manual transmissions may be endangered but they're also beloved:

Manual transmissions account for just 2 percent of all vehicles sold in 2018, according to data from Edmunds.com. In 2006, 47 percent of new models in the U.S. were offered with automatics and manuals. Now it’s down to 20 percent and dropping sharply.

Supercar-makers such as Ferrari and Lamborghini no longer offer manuals for performance reasons.

Those auto makers are not the only ones to completely nix the manual transmission. In an article by Nathan Bomey in USAToday titled Audi kills its manual-transmission cars: How America lost its love for the stick shift:

Look no further than Audi. The luxury automotive brand, part of Volkswagen Group, confirmed that it will no longer offer any manual-transmission vehicles in the U.S. beginning with the 2019 model year. The final Audi models offered with a stick-shift variant were the 2018 A4 sedan and A5 coupe, Audi spokeswoman Amanda Koons said. From now on in the U.S., it’s nothing but automatic transmissions for the German brand.

Now although this is just in the United States, it seems the world market is also experiencing a shift. In an article by Jared Rosenholtz in Carbuzz titled Even In The UK, The Manual Transmission Is On The Verge Of Dying:

Back in 2012, only 506,720 cars were registered with automatics. By 2017, that number has more than doubled to 1,016,516. We did some research of our own, and we noticed that total registrations did go up in that time from 2,044,609 in 2012 to 2,692,786 in 2017. Even though we could blame some of the those automatic sales on the increase in car sales, the percentage of automatics compared to manuals went from 24.7% in 2012 to 37.7% in 2017.


This result is bound to be accelerated thanks to the UK's recent ban on gas and diesel vehicles by 2040.

With this shift in the market comes the downfall of the automatic transmission. Autos are less susceptible to torture or neglect than the manual transmission. With the advent of the check engine light these problems can be mitigated but an automatic transmission with 100,000 miles is sure to have some issues. One reason why the automatic transmission has a high failure rate compared to the manual is the way it is cooled.

An automatic transmission is tied into the cooling system of the automobile. It has cooling lines that go from the transmission to the radiator. So not only is the radiator cooling the motor its also cooling the transmission. Auto companies equip these vehicles with physically larger radiators, but in the end it really is not enough. This sort of setup puts stress on the cooling system, drive train and motor performance. Products known as transmission coolers have been marketed as a solution. In my opinion this issue needs to be addressed in factory, and future automobiles should have a separate unit to cool the transmission.

Now why buy a transmission cooler? It reduces the stress that is on the system, leading to better performance. Ever have your motor overheat and used that age old trick of turning the heater on full blast? This is the exact same thing, and the heater core is pulling more heat from the coolant and will allow the car to cool down faster, at your inconvenience. A transmission cooler is piped in line the same and works the same way as a heater core. Some coolers come with fans but I found out that those are mostly for heavier vehicles. Those that do not are cooled by air movement.

Living in hot regions, frequent stop and going (traffic) or offroading at slow speeds all heat up the cooling system more than driving at high speeds. The radiator is cooled mostly by air movement so if that is not optimal then the cooling system heats up. With an automatic transmission this can cause hard shifting, late shifting, jerking and the like. All very noticeable to the driver and bad for the transmission. When the transmission fluid is not cooled properly it breaks down and burns, and does not work as well often requiring a transmission flush of fluid. This can be very costly as transmissions can take large quantities of fluid and often several drain and refill procedures are needed to fully flush it. These are all very important reasons to purchase a transmission cooler to extend the life of the transmission fluid and transmission. Replacing a transmission is one of the most costly repairs on a car.

@beckymeep's 1995 Suzuki Sidekick 4WD is automatic and we often travel out in Death Valley where temperatures can reach over 110 Fahrenheit. On our last trip out we hit traffic in the desert and the Sidekick exhibited signs of transmission overheating. She purchased a transmission cooler because we also plan to tow with this vehicle. The Sidekick only weights 2750 lbs but the smallest transmission cooler available was for a vehicle with a Gross Vehicular Weight of 10,000 lbs. This was more than enough for this vehicle.

Opening up the box to the cooler, I noticed this kit came with pretty much everything. The rubber hose fit very snug and the the cooler seemed well built.

I went with a physically small cooler for fitment issues.


Opening up the instructions I was a little disappointed at efficiency when it came to placement. In front of the radiator it worked at 100% but was reduced drastically down to 60% behind it.

Looking at the motor, there wasnt enough room between the radiator and AC condenser, and the condenser had a fan mounted at the front, so between the motor and radiator was the only place for mounting.


Even at 60% efficiency the transmission cooler would be more than enough but this vehicle is also used for offroading at slow speeds. I had an old hard drive cooling fan laying around and thought it would work perfectly for this situation. Computer fans more often than not are 12 volts and thats around what a car runs at so they would work perfectly.

One of the fans didnt work so I substituted both with two physically larger fans that I had laying around. I marked where the new screw holes were and drilled them out.


Utilizing a few screws the pair mounted quite nice to the aluminum plate and it all was attached to the transmission cooler with zip ties. YES ZIP TIES! They work! The fans pull air off the cooler so that as the vehicle accelerates the fans just spin faster and are not working against the flow of air.


I checked on my desktop power supply how much amperage would be drawn at 14 volts and it wasn't much at all.

I then mounted it right in front of the power steering pump using the clips it had in the kit. They basically slide through the webbing of both the cooler and radiator and a separate piece is attached to the opposite end and it "ratchets" tight. From what I understand they are one time use so more would be needed if this unit was ever removed from the radiator.

The output on the radiator was the passengers side connection so I used the hose provided and cut it to the right length to go from that outlet to the inlet on the cooler. Once any hose was attached the hose clamps were tightened with a Flathead screwdriver.


The output of the transmission cooler was attached to the original line that came off the radiator. The line was not long enough to reach the cooler so I had to use a hose mender to attach extra hose. The hose mender I used was a brass barbed version that was laying around my parts box. Once the hose clamps were secured the entire process was complete. All lines were secured tightly to the vehicle using zip ties. The fans were wired into a vehicle Accessory position so that even if the car is off the fluid in the unit can continue to cool. The vehicle was then heated to normal operating temperature and the fluid level was checked. Luckily nothing needed to be added but be sure to check if you undertake this same procedure.

Since installing the cooler the transmission shifts very smoothly even under very hot conditions. This puts my worries at ease when it comes to the life of the transmission. I hope everyone learned something from this post and you purchase your own cooler to extend the life of your vehicle. Thank you for reading and stopping by!

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5 years ago in #cars by
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     5 years ago 

    Nice work. I drive a manual transmission car, though my wife's is automatic. It's been that way with most of the cars we've owned, me manual, her automatic. I think driving a stick is becoming a lost art.

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     5 years ago 

    I agree Its just sad that newer cars are not including them. We have a mix were I live as well but you never forget how to stick shift once you have learned. like riding a bike.

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       5 years ago 

      I go back and forth from my car to my wife’s. In the old days I might accidentally try to push the clutch in her car, but luckily I have not made that mistake in a long time. I do drive her crazy by using the manual option and paddle shifters in her car when going downhill. She hates it!

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       5 years ago 

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