Hi Bill,

Yes I installed an after-market transmission oil cooler and oil filter.

The way it works is as follows;

The transmission oil line coming from the transmission is the top oil line going in to the radiator. The bottom oil line of the radiator goes to an additional oil cooler radiator mounted to the front to the current installed radiator. The oil line coming from this second radiator (in my case) goes to a Bulkhead mounted oil filter (Fram PH8A). Than the out put of the oil filter goes back to the transmission.

Several notes:

1) Make sure you buy an after-market oil cooler that fits. There is not much room between the grill and the current radiator. The radiator in a 99 XC does 3 jobs (or there are 3 different radiators). Radiator #1 cools the engine. Radiator #2 is an inter-cooler, which cools down the air coming from the turbo. And last the transmission oil is cooled in the same radiator as the engine coolant. I would like to note that some pre 98 Volvos have the engine oil cooled in the radiator as well.
2) Adding an after-market oil cooler adds additional oil to the transmission. About 1/3rd of a quart is need for the oil cooler.
3) By passing the installed radiator will void the warranty so do not by pass the factory radiator.
4) Also I installed and oil filter. These transmissions have only a screen mesh to collect metal particles generated form the transmission break-in. Leaving the minute metal particles in the oil will cause the transmission to wear out faster then if they were removed. Also pop a magnet on to the oil filter. This will help in removing the metal particle from the oil that the paper filer can not catch.

This is the first transmission I have heard of that does not have an oil filter. I have been told that there are other automatic transmissions on the market that do not have an oil filer as well but this is not the norm.

My estimation is that the average life of this (AISIN AW the manufacture of the Automatic Transmission that goes into most Volvos) transmission is around 100k miles. Give or take a few thousand miles. The most common failure mechanism is the transmission starts to shift radically followed by no shifting at all. The failure is quick, usually with in 400miles.

Good Luck,

Steven---