How to: drop, clean, and reinstall the 2nd Gen transmission pan and filter

Going to repost the article regarding transmission filtration.
Good read and reason I run one.



"In nearly 30 years of study, engineers John Eleftherakis and Ibrahim Khalil defined the failure modes of automatics due to contaminants and determined the typical types and allowable amounts of contaminants. The results of those studies have been published in various Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) technical papers since 1990."

"Trans failures come when contaminants decrease the operating efficiency of the internal valves that operate the transmission. The long-term issues are from the abrasive wear of small particles, which causes internal leakage and lower pressures. Larger particles can cause valves to jam outright. Anything that reduces apply pressure allows more clutch slippage. The advent of electronically controlled solenoid valves has made the problem worse because a solenoid is nothing more than an electromagnet that attracts the ferrous contaminants."


https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/129-1002-automatic-transmission-and-power-steering-filters/

 

I plan to add one when I upgrade my trans cooler.

$26 Magnefine 3/8" Magnetic Inline Transmission/Power Steering Filter

https://www.amazon.com/Magnefine-Magnetic-Inline-Transmission-Steering/dp/B0787KWZPS

 

Exactly. And somethings out there sound like snake oil. This isn't one of those. Everything about it make sense.

On the Tacoma the cooler lines are 10 mm. So if you want to used one get the 3/8 inch version.

Some expressed concern that this would somehow reduce line pressure and effect transmission operation. Since its the cooler line it has no relation to operation. Its is a low pressure (8 psi) line that then just dumps back into the pan. And as mentioned in the article its applicable to both the transmission and power steering and i use them in both since as mention there is NO filtration in the power steering at all. This is basically a bypass filter since not all the fluid passes thru it all the time. Only the small portion that is fed off to the cooling line so it can take a while to filter it all. The paper element is rated at 40 micron for all the non ferrous material.
What the magnet does catch is so fine you cant feel any abrasiveness at all.

These were tested and actually have both GM and ford part numbers and are mandated to be used whenever a rebuilt transmission is installed..
I have included pics of my PS install, the material pulled of the filter magnet after a change (recommended 30K miles) and what the internal components of the filter look like.
The original version used a plastic/nylon case that you could unscrew to examine the contents after a change. The new ones as show in my PS install are a sealed stainless steel canister design.

The ISO cleanliness scale is interesting and i have included a better description of how it works since its referred to often in that article



https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/28979/iso-cleanliness-code

 

When the transmission is new its recommended to be installed before the cooler. If more than 5000 mile after the cooler. And if a rebuilt transmission is installed after the cooler as well. This is just so that any material that may have accumulated in the cooler over time wont get past the filter.

 

Managed to get a better focused picture of debris on the pan filter. Fair amount of silver metallic shards. Any opinions what the black material is? Its both light and sticky and non metallic. Maybe the non metallic components of clutch disks ?? (it wasn't RTV)

 

I've been running this one, post-aftermarket cooler, for some time now. At some point I'm going to take it apart and inspect, but so far, so good.

Solid particulate is a major failure mode for hydraulic systems and placing it on the return line to the pan should have negligible affect on operation of the pump and trans (other than keeping it cleaner obviously), so I don't really see a downside other than spending $30 and having to install it (which is far outweighed by the benefit of improved filtration).

 

Kind of hard to tell from the low res picture, but could it be metal? Very fine metallic particulate can appear black.

 

It wasn't picked up by a magnet but that only means it wasn't iron/steel. Could have been aluminum, brass, copper or maybe lead.. And was soft and sticky when I rubbed some between two fingers. i know clutch disks can use various organic/inorganic fibers as part of the material. Too bad i dont have a cheap microscope I could use to get a closer look at the structure.

 

The cooler line is a bleed off the converter and then dumps into the pan. So negligible becomes none at all as far as effect on operation. It has no other purpose as far as transmission operation. If it somehow became blocked you wouldn't notice any change in operation until the ATF temp became to hot.

 

I changed the first one quite early (maybe 5000 miles) since i figured it had a lot of original material to remove which they call type 1 contaminants. From that point on I change them every 30,000 miles. i liked the old nylon cased ones since they were easy to take apart (top where the label is just unscrews). Haven't tried to cut apart one of the new metal cased ones yet. After seeing the results on the old nylon ones I dont know if I will even bother opening one of the new ones or maybe just the first one out of curiosity