Agreed, I think that's without dispute.. the question now is will it be an annoyance in a coastal environment 20 feet above sea level that is in the 60s during the day and 40s at night year-round.

 

It would be a problem if your commute to and from work isn't long enough for the condensation occurring as the engine and transmission warms up to dissipate... The climate you have described sounds wonderful to me..

 

You'll be fine. Many vehicles in CA have transmission coolers. With it's size, the Fit won't need any extra warm-up time.

 

Where would one go to get a tranny cooler installed?? A trailer hitch place??

 

No UHaul in this region would do it - apparently it's not part of their standard offering. One shop had a guy that used to do it and they just charged a general labor rate - but he screwed up enough cars they stopped.

Dealers and most chains won't do it because there's not one available from Honda. But an independent mechanic should be able to give you a quote - expect to pay a little over $200 depending on what size cooler you buy.

 

Do the trans. cooler install yourself. It is as easy as an engine oil change. Trans coolers are extremely inexpensive on eBaymotors.com. I agree with all of the supportive posts- your plans sound fine and you should be OK- just be patient and don't push it on your trip. Remember to allow plenty of distance for braking. What is your CA destination?

And as others have said, please update this thread with your progress.

 

Triskelion is 100% on the money about doing your own installation and getting a good price on ebay... We did have an argument once upon time about whether to mount one on the hot side from the transmission to the radiator or the cool side from the radiator back to the transmission...

 

I put a trans cooler on one of my other cars within 6 months of buying it. I never towed with it, however it's a supercharged car with an auto transmission, is fairly heavy (4k lbs) and I raced and auto crossed the car. Install isn't bad at all and well worth while.

 

Installed a heavy-duty trans cooler.. picking up the trailer tomorrow, driving off in 4 days! Also found a leaky valve cover.. fortunately there's still 6k miles left on the warranty :/

 

Nice! Did you install it yourself or have a shop do it?

-Dustin

 

Also, on which side did you mount it?

Great job btw!

 

That cooler looks large enough to keep the radiator fan from coming on except when going up long steep grades or when the A/C or defroster is on... I'm predicting that you won't have any cooling or transmission problems on your cross country move or afterward.

 

I had a shop do it, I had neither the time nor patience to mess around with it! It's close to the center but a little bit towards the driver's side. Here's a better picture, you can see it poking out behind the license plate. It may partially block some airflow to the condenser, so the A/C might not work at 100% efficiency. No big deal, it rarely cracks into the mid-70s where I'll be going.



I also picked up the trailer today. I drove it around the city in D3 a little bit ~40 mph. I didn't notice any issues with performance or braking, which was good. I'm going to load it up over the next couple days and take it for a spin on the highway to be sure.

On another note, Honda didn't seem to give a sh*t about the trailer hitch today. The service guy was like "oh, you can find those for the Fit? Cool!" And then he fixed my car under warranty

 

Very nice.. never thought that would work out so well. Good to know for the future

 

Just watch your speed and take your time kng229 and you'll be fine. Good luck with your road trip!

 

Well, let's wait and see until I get into the mountains But at this point I absolutely wouldn't see an issue using it for short-distance moves or picking up large items from a store.

Thanks! I'm going to be driving like an old granny on the way there for sure. It may take a bit longer, but I am already pushing it and don't want to tempt fate any further!

 

I managed to get the trailer totally loaded up today and go for a short trip on the highway. I'm not sure exactly how much weight I put in the trailer - if I had to make a wild-ass guess I'd say 500 lbs. I sold most of my furniture for the move, but there is a big plasma TV, kayak, coffee table, and a bunch of other smaller and lighter stuff.

The added weight did seem to make a difference. With the empty trailer, it was almost like it wasn't there except for the noise the hitch makes driving around. With the loaded trailer, it does take longer to brake and get up to speed. In D3, 50mph caused the engine to spin at 3500 rpm, 55 bumped it to around 3900 rpm. It was a bit unnerving to hear my engine spin that high at that speed; nothing sounded wrong but I'm just not used to it. It started raining, so I made sure to give myself plenty of time to slow down exiting the highway and it was no issue.

I actually found driving the trailer at low speeds (0-25) on side roads the most difficult. When going over bumps or a bad road the trailer's shaking reverberated through the Fit as well. Neither the car nor the trailer were ever at risk, but like the engine revving it was not something I'm used to.


Next update will come on Saturday when the trip begins...

 

BTW, have you towed a trailer before?

 

Only with another UHaul truck. Never with a small car!

 

I hear ya bud... I've never done it with a small car either. Handling and stability will definitely be different for sure. Just a few weeks ago I drove a 20' UHaul truck towing an SUV on an auto transport trailer from CA to AZ. Both the truck and SUV were packed...

And though I've towed UHaul trailers with cars and SUVs before, this was the longest (in length) and heaviest I've done... Was definitely a test of nerves at times - like fishtailing on bumps, changing lanes in congested city (LA) freeways and crawling on hills where even loaded semis would pass me by. I can say this was the only time I drove at or under the speed limit all the way...

Anyway, as I said just watch your speed, steering, your tail and your brakes (distance and use of)... Keep us posted bud! Be safe!