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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

V160 gearbox oil cooler


PhilMorrison

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I was having a little panick about the loud rattling from the gearbox on idle, and found the info here saying it's quite common when using lightened flywheels (I use a carbonetics triple plate carbon clutch/flywheel ) so thanks for that info. I don't care about loud noises as long as they arn't going to become terminal because of them :D.. +1 for searching people :cool:

 

Anyway, because the noise seems to get really bad when the cars run for a while, I wondered if the box ever came with a cooler option? Or if anyone's experimented with running an aftermarket cooler? I have plenty of coolers, and I have a UK Supra diff oil pump floating around so it wouldn't be to hard to knock something up..

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I don't recall anyone ever using an oil cooler on a V160 here, plus it's normal for them to get pretty darn loud once they've had some heat put into them (on aftermarket clutch and flywheel obviously). The yanks don't seem to bother with them even when using for 1000+bhp drag cars, however your one has rather more sustained abuse so it might be new territory.

 

Hopefully one of the more technically minded people can advise

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  • 5 years later...

A thread resurrection back from 2008 here...

 

I was thinking as my car has a heat aided diffuser, there isn't going to be a huge amount of cool air running past the cooling fins on the underside of the V160.

I have noticed after say 40 mins of pounding around the track my transmission tunnel gets VERY hot due to the underside being sealed from the cooler outside air.

 

Does anyone know what the max temp these gearboxes can work at??

I am thinking of getting a Cooler installed and controlled by the Syvecs just to be on the safe side but it would be good to know.

 

Currently I have no issues with the gearbox but I don't want to be shortening its life if I am operating it outside the temp window..

 

 

 

 

 

For those that don't know I don't run a standard chassis... here is a picture of the trans tunnel

 

https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t31.0-8/902867_454567894617859_86649920_o.jpg

 

Here is a picture from the underside of the car when the flat floor was being made

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/530992_386588114749171_1025754743_n.jpg

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If you are using the stock ATF based Toyota oil I would say running much over 250F will result in shortened oil life and oxidation. personally I would run a more viscous oil like Motul Gear 300. The reason manufacturers run a low viscosity gear oil is to maximise MPG. Your usage is quite different, no doubt you are not after maximizing MPG, and are willing to allow a bit of time for the gearbox oil to warm up before expecting the slickest, fastest synchromesh action. Feeding all that engine bay heat down the tunnel in a sealed environment will raise transmission temps. You can either use a gauge and sensor to directly monitor the gear temp, log it via the ECU, or just use temp crayon or stickers and read the case temp visually and allow "a margin" for how much hotter the actual oil is. It's not an endurance racer, so I would guess that if it needs a cooler at all, a small one would suffice. I don't run a gearbox cooler on my Skyline, but using straight cut gears and dog engagement it doesn't generate the same gear oil temps as a helical cut box with cone synchros.

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If you are using the stock ATF based Toyota oil I would say running much over 250F will result in shortened oil life and oxidation. personally I would run a more viscous oil like Motul Gear 300. The reason manufacturers run a low viscosity gear oil is to maximise MPG. Your usage is quite different, no doubt you are not after maximizing MPG, and are willing to allow a bit of time for the gearbox oil to warm up before expecting the slickest, fastest synchromesh action. Feeding all that engine bay heat down the tunnel in a sealed environment will raise transmission temps. You can either use a gauge and sensor to directly monitor the gear temp, log it via the ECU, or just use temp crayon or stickers and read the case temp visually and allow "a margin" for how much hotter the actual oil is. It's not an endurance racer, so I would guess that if it needs a cooler at all, a small one would suffice. I don't run a gearbox cooler on my Skyline, but using straight cut gears and dog engagement it doesn't generate the same gear oil temps as a helical cut box with cone synchros.

 

Ah Cheers, Chris :) Yeah for the meantime I think I will pop on a temp strip on the underside near the drain hole and see how hot the case is getting, of course it wont be that accurate but at least I can see what is going on down there. Ideally I want to get a temp sensor so I can monitor it constantly on my steering wheel display or on the Dash2. I am pretty sure my dash reads the CAN signal from the Syvecs so will need to wire the sensor into the ECU.

 

I was thinking of mounting the sensor in the Drain plug, like this...

image

 

With regards the oil type used, I thought it was generally recommended against using anything other than the ATF oil for the V160 boxes.

You are right MPG isn't a concern to me :D and I always do a couple of laps for warm up (1 lap if its a dry warm day) so wont need quick changes right away.

 

The trans oil needs changing now anyway so I will replace with the Motul Gear 300 if you happily recommend it for use with the V160.

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Whoa, I am not recommending it, just saying if it were my Supra I would use something like Motul 300 or similar. You make your own mind up :) I would also run it in a road going Supra, too, if I had onbe, as I consider it gives better lubrication, albeit with a tad more drag. But that is not saying YOU should use it :) One has to be careful of recommending none stock oils, I don't want grief if the gearbox seizes or the synchros wear out, blah blah ;)

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Whoa, I am not recommending it, just saying if it were my Supra I would use something like Motul 300 or similar. You make your own mind up :) I would also run it in a road going Supra, too, if I had onbe, as I consider it gives better lubrication, albeit with a tad more drag. But that is not saying YOU should use it :) One has to be careful of recommending none stock oils, I don't want grief if the gearbox seizes or the synchros wear out, blah blah ;)

 

Haha thats fair enough mate :D

For now getting some temp readings is key, I may run the stock stuff again for one outing and see what the temps are like as I have some in my workshop ready to go.

 

I may be blowing the whole thing out of proportion and it may be fine but I would rather know whats going on with it then leave it.

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