Transmission Filter?

[mekelly]

I own a 2007 Corolla CE that I inherited (it was my dad's). The car runs great and was well maintained. I got it 3 years ago with about 90,000 miles.

I performed a transmission fluid drain and fill 2 times. Did the 1st one, drove the car around for a day and performed a 2nd one.

The car has about 30,000 miles on it since that time (~118,000).

On my other vehicles (1994 Explorer, 1999 Expedition, 2002 LS430), I flush the transmission through the trans cooler line.

I am thinking about doing that this time as well as potentially dropping the pan and replacing the trans filter.

I have never dropped the pan or (obviously) changed the filter.

So, I have a couple of questions since it's been about 30,000 miles since last flush.

1. Is the trans filter truly a filter, or is it just a metal mesh screen?
2. Should I drop the pan, clean it and the magnets and replace the filter?
3. Just drain and refill again
4. Just through the trans cooler lines?

I have a very strong preference to NOT drop the pan (if it ain't broke, don't fix it). There's zero leaks and I prefer not to inadvertently introduce any through the trans pan! However, I don't know what the likelihood is that the filter might have started to get clogged (or restricting some flow) after 120,000 miles or whether it's worth dropping the pan to clean the magnets.

Understanding there's MANY different opinions out there (I've searched the forum on this topic), what do you guys recommend in my situation?

 

[mekelly]

No opinions?

 

[kyoo]

I own a 2007 Corolla CE that I inherited (it was my dad's). The car runs great and was well maintained. I got it 3 years ago with about 90,000 miles.

I performed a transmission fluid drain and fill 2 times. Did the 1st one, drove the car around for a day and performed a 2nd one.

The car has about 30,000 miles on it since that time (~118,000).

On my other vehicles (1994 Explorer, 1999 Expedition, 2002 LS430), I flush the transmission through the trans cooler line.

I am thinking about doing that this time as well as potentially dropping the pan and replacing the trans filter.

I have never dropped the pan or (obviously) changed the filter.

So, I have a couple of questions since it's been about 30,000 miles since last flush.

1. Is the trans filter truly a filter, or is it just a metal mesh screen?
2. Should I drop the pan, clean it and the magnets and replace the filter?
3. Just drain and refill again
4. Just through the trans cooler lines?

I have a very strong preference to NOT drop the pan (if it ain't broke, don't fix it). There's zero leaks and I prefer not to inadvertently introduce any through the trans pan! However, I don't know what the likelihood is that the filter might have started to get clogged (or restricting some flow) after 120,000 miles or whether it's worth dropping the pan to clean the magnets.

Understanding there's MANY different opinions out there (I've searched the forum on this topic), what do you guys recommend in my situation?

I've dropped pan cleaned & swapped filter on both my 07 rolla and my 11 rav4. no problems, no leaks. did the full drain through the return line as well. I'm no mechanic but it's not a bad job honestly. drain, drop pan, clean, swap filter (like 3 bolts), put pan back on. filled it up, then disconnected the return line, let it flow into an empty water jug while I added more trans fluid.

if you're not going to drain the old fluid from the return line, not really different from a drain & fill, IMO. all said though, can't say I've noticed much either way. re: filter being a filter vs metal mesh screen, I'm not sure what the difference is.

 

[mekelly]

I ended up replacing the transmission filter and I am glad I did. The filter definitely had some debris in the mesh. No where close to being clogged after 117,000 miles, but I certainly felt better changing it.

Additionally, the magnets were covered with the grayish fine metallic powder you'd expect to find. Which means they were doing their job. Was very happy at how clean the filter was (even though I know it's a 'rock catcher', not a true filter. Given that it had never been changed and all of the initial trans break-in wear would show up, it looked great. Cleaned up the pan, magnets and installed a new filter and gasket.

In summary, a drain and fill is better than nothing (but not very good). A flush is better as almost all the old fluid is replaced. In my case (117,000), a pan drop and filter change made a lot of sense. I plan on keeping the car for a long time so I'll do another flush in 30,000 miles but I probably won't drop the pan. 30,000 miles from then (60,000 from now), I'll drop and clean the pan/magnets, replace the gasket and do a flush. The filter should not need replacing at that point. Don't know that I feel the transmission shifting any differently as it was working great before the service but certainly have piece of mind that I am doing everything I can maintenance wise to ensure it lasts a long time!

 

[kyoo]

^ that's what I'm doing. I'm at about 40k since the flush + filter swap, will just flush it, probably from here on out, including draining from the return line.