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If you have it dealer installed make sure the show evidence of installing whatever coolers etc. That they are charging you for if they do charge you for the whole kit.. many times installing a tranny cooler or a larger radiatir is alot of labor hours on a new van, itd be tempting for some shops to skip it. All that is much easier to install as its on the assembly line.
^^
chances are there are already tranny cooler lines leading to the radiator as most are duel pourpose. All they have to do is remove the grill place the tranny cooler in place, fasten it and run the lines to it, and top off the fluid.
it's easy and quick. It should take them less than a hr.
Any shop can do this for you even the shop you buy the hitch from.
The Honda is rated to tow 3500lb
I saw this somewhere.
" I gave up on finding an aftermarket cooler and had the dealer install the wiring harness and AT cooler. I ordered the aftermarket hitch (Curt from thehitchstore.com, $177.00 with no S/H charges) and installed it myself. I spent about $850.00 for all 3 items which saved $450 from the dealer installed price of $1300.00 + for all 3 items."
also if you plan on saving any warranty it may have left you will need to have a cooler added or honda will void your warranty.
and honda had that transmission problem from 1999 to 2004.
I'd be leaning towards the Toyota.
Sienna, ifa 2004 to 2009 model. The description of what's included in the tow package is pretty useless. The tow package was standard equipment from 2004 to 2007, so those items didn't really matter because all Siennas produced had them. In 2008 (and if that description is still around for 2009), it's just plain wrong. For those years, the tow package was a $220 MSRP engine oil cooler.
the toyota can tow a little bit more at around 3800lbs to 4000lbs
Originally posted by Mach 5
It is a 2008. The description that I gave for the tow package is right from the 2008 brochure. I hope they'll let me/them slap an transmission oil cooler on it be ok. By looking at the brochure I thought we were good and had a 3500 rating, even made a point of bringing up the fact that we tow a pop-up. It'll be interesting to see what the dealer says tommorrow.The brochure is wrong. Your van has a transmission cooler appropriate for 8800 pounds of weight. It has a power steering cooler (a simple loop of pipe in front of the radiator). It has a 50A alternator. A few of us went around and around with Toyota on this for about 9 months or so after the 2008 models came out. The 2007 (tow package standard) and 2008 models (tow package optional) use the same radiator part number (the radiator includes the transmission cooler in the Gen2 Siennas)It DOES NOT have an ENGINE oil cooler, which is included on the towing package of all Toyota 3.5L engines (Sienna, Highlander, etc). In 2007 (first year of 3.5L engine in Sienna), all Siennas came with the items listed in your above post AND an engine oil cooler. In 2008, Toyota had the bright idea of saving us consumers $80 invoice or $220 MSRP and left off the engine oil cooler, making it optional. And then they had the nerve to not bother making any vans with the tow package.I would DEFINITELY raise the issue with the dealer, going to the manager or owner if necessary. One person that I know of that did that, the dealer took their nearly brand new, but used, van on an even trade on a brand new van with tow package. No money out of pocket except for some registration/tag title fees, I think.If shaming the dealer or Toyota to admit mis-representation doesn't work, and depending on the trailer you'll be towing, you could be okay with just switching to synthetic engine oil. Retrofit of the Toyota parts would be expensive, but would be cheaper than the depreciation of trading in a new van. IF the non-tow package van really is only 200 pounds (it was listed as 2000 pounds in the 2004-2007 owner's manuals, even though the package was standard and it was impossible to equip the van to tow less than 3500) AND you said you would be towing a pop-up camper AND the salesman said that this particular van would do that THEN you have a strong case with the dealership. I would work your conversation around those facts and go up the ladder as high as you need to go.We almost got caught in the same trap, as the 2008's were out about a month when the time had come to purchase our van. No one could confirm the components that you listed actually were the tow package (and we later learned out why no one would confirm it - because it wasn't true!). The website, the distributor website, the brochure, the parts departments, and the actual items visible on the van were all providing conflicting information. I was ready to buy a 2008 and add a transmission cooler, but I wasn't going to do that unless I was 99% sure that was the only real component of the tow package. Well, the issue was obviously not going to be resolved anytime soon at the time, so we demanded that any 2008 have the tow package. With one to choose from (about 650 miles away) with the tow package and not loaded to the hilt out of 600+ LE vans in the SE region, we said the heck with it and searched out a 2007 (tow package standard) that had the equipment we wanted (rear disc brakes, primarily). There were 3 of those in the state and we made a deal over the phone and bought it about 50 miles away. Our local dealer offered to get the 2008 model for us for $400 over MSRP (yes, over MSRP, not invoice). And, they tried to make it sound like they were doing me a favor.Toyota finally admited that the only difference between tow package and non-tow package on the 2008 models was the engine oil cooler. The brochure was never updated, to the best of my knowledge. The website did eventually remove an exact description of the components (which was originally the list you quoted), replacing it with some generic non-descriptive wording.On a side note, all Canadian Siennas (including Gen, even) 998 to 2009 come standard with the tow package, even after they made it optional in the USA in 2008 (the tow package in Gen 998-2003 USA Siennas was always optional and actually was primarily a transmission cooler).http://rvitch.com/forum/index.php?topic=61268.0
honda or toyota? do your homework and get the right year and or model.
Last edited by snofarmer; 09-23-2012 at 12:22 PM..
Moorhen, this is why a lot of folks get really messed up seeking advice from the internet. Have the dealership install the tow package. Like the picture shown above, the lines are run exactly backwards. You have the ATF go to the cooler first and then to the radiator. You can easily over cool ATF during the winter in the above pic and it won't take long and you'll be replacing that transmission at your cost. Too cold of fluid is just as bad as too hot. Have the dealer install it and it is covered by the warranty and if anything is wrong with the install it's the dealers problem, not yours.
Moorhen, this is why a lot of folks get really messed up seeking advice from the internet because folks cant comprehend what they are seeing or what others are saying.
In the pic it shows the tranny cooler lines going to the radiator first then the AUX cooler that is located if front of the radiator where it belongs then returning to the transmission.
Every vehicle I have bought with a aux cooler the lines went to the radiator first or it bypassed the radiator all to gather because the radiator would warm the fluid and these vehicles are used in the winter in northern mn.
Over cool that's a good one.
You can put a cooler on a vehicle that does not have the provisions built into the radiator and you can run it in the winter with out over cooling the fluid.
so yes be careful who you listen to on the internet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrapperL
Moorhen, this is why a lot of folks get really messed up seeking advice from the internet. Have the dealership install the tow package. Like the picture shown above, the lines are run exactly backwards. You have the ATF go to the cooler first and then to the radiator. You can easily over cool ATF during the winter in the above pic and it won't take long and you'll be replacing that transmission at your cost. Too cold of fluid is just as bad as too hot. Have the dealer install it and it is covered by the warranty and if anything is wrong with the install it's the dealers problem, not yours.
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