Hi Guys & Gals,
I'm fixing what isn't broken again! I'm headed to the hangar to install a remote aux tranny filter on my 98. I did this with my 93 Exploder with an A4LD and that sucker still worked perfectly when I sold it with 230K on it. Just a remote oil filter adapter tee'd into the return soft lines between the aux cooler and return hard line. If anyone wants pictures, I'll post them. Trannys being the weak link in these things I figure a little help never hurts, and I plan on driving this one to 250K or better. The pan "filter" to me is about as effective as a filter, as a screen door is to stopping wind. I had 2 Magnafine filters, but both leaked after a short while, barely enough to drip, but the plastic housings were always wet and that made me nervous, and they are $20+ a piece. Although I like the magnet with filter idea. I guess I can stick a bunch of magnets on mine. Anyway, if anyone is interested, I'll post pictures and directions. I found a guy selling the remote adapter for $15, so total cost is around $30.
Chris

 

The tranny filter will not help, since the friction material that burns off the bands is too small to be trapped by the filters anyway. Changing the fluid regularly is a better alternative. About all the filter is for is to prevent any metal particulates from getting drawn through the transmission. The trannies are the weak link when not properly maintained. We have an Aero 3.0L with almost 200,000 right now and the tranny has had no work done on it other than regular fluid changes. It still shifts perfectly. Lots of people on the Aero forum have more than 200,000 on the original trannies.

Some newer trannies don't have a proper filter at all.

 

This truck had basic maintenance only, or so it would appear. The pan filter I took out when I first got it home had nothing in it, but the fluid was fairly dark.
I got the filter on today, and and it's getting an Auto RX treatment, we'll see what shows up in the filter. I don't like breaking crap loose, only to have it missed by a screen door pan filter. I disagree that the filter won't help, you wouldn't run an engine without one would you? And Ford sells a rebadged Magnefine filter for tranny and power steering pumps. A friend of mine that does nothing but tranny rebuilds for a very large Ford dealer puts them on after a rebuild, especially if it's a warranty item, said it reduced problems for them. He has them on his vehicles, and that's good enough for me. The filter in the pan is worthless to me, if it's big enough to get stopped by that screen, it's toast already. If you can catch smaller particles than the pan filter, then why is that not benificial? Worth 30 bucks to me, especially vs $2000+ for a rebuild on a tranny I have no history on and that now has 140K on it. I'll cut it open after the RX treatment, and see what it catches. I've already changed the pan "filter" and flushed it with cheap fluid, after the RX I'll put synthetic in it.

 

Interesting subject & one I've pondered over the years, as my Taurus AXOD tranny sure seems to be mighty sensitive to deposits.

Some things I've wondred about.

Seeing as how on a tranny rework or replacement, Ford makes such a big deal about back flushing the tranny lines & especially the tranny cooler, wouldn't it be worthwhile to install the inline filter before the cooler (assuming it can take the heat), so it can help keep those things clean & sludge free.

The other thing is about the inline filters back pressure, or pressure drop accross the filter media, or restriction to flow, or whatever we're supposed to call it, anyway it seems to me if we choose a filter that really gets to the small stuff, it's gonna have to have a LARGE surface area in order to filter out the small stuff with low pressure drop accross te fiter media, last a long time, without plugging up & restricting flow.

So seeing as how for instance the 5R55E tranny pumps 1 qt/30 sec at idle, we'd have to allow for more flow than that at higher rpm, over some OCI period.
So it seems to me we'd probably want to choose a system that has a filter bypass for those sudden high demand times, or really cold weather starts, ect, when the pump is having a hard time of it, trying to meet flow demand, or the fluids resistance to flow, in really cold weather, or in case the filter media plugged up, we'd still have flow!!!!

So how do we choose the right filter system that'll cover all those things & maybe some I've not thought of????

 

Yeah, and no i wouldn't run an engine without a filter, but the transmission is not an engine. Teh filter is a safeguard against larger particles. But the real enemy is the friction material and you would need one heck of a filter to get that stuff out, anything that could would have to be very large or else it would cause excessive pressures. Fluid changes is the best option, since a filter won't correct the chemical changes in the fluid either.

I'm not saying its entirely a bad idea, I just don't think that it will help that much or that is is cost effective.

 

Bear,
I agree, it's no engine. I considered the same thing that Hayden made at one time, just did it cheaper. I know it won't hurt, and with the Auto RX in it, it'll give the crap somewhere to go before I flush it. And if my tranny grenades and I even think it had something to do with the filter, you guys will be the second to know!
Here's a few pics in case anyone's interested.

 

Interesting appliation & one I hadn't considered.
The FL-1A should be able to take the heat, has a very large filtering media surface area that has low pressure drop & in depth filtering, along with a bypass valve too, don't see why it wouldn't work just fine.

What OCI do you intend to begin with????
The FL-1A filter is rated for I believe 7500 mile OCI's on engines, so are you considering that????

Will be interesting to see & hear what it's filtered out in the way of particles, so keep us posted.

Oh, is it on the input or outlet side of the tranny cooler????

 

Since the similar Hayden and Magnefine are all around 12,000 miles, and I change my oil at 6000, I figured I'd just replace it every other oil change. That's what I did on the explorer.
It's on the return side for the moment. Fluid comes hot from the transmission to the radiator cooler, and it's all hard line and fittings. Then leaves the radiator and goes through the aux cooler which has easily plumbed soft lines. It then goes through my filter and back to the tranny, cooled and cleaner. I'd personally rather do it before it goes through the radiator and cooler, but I'm to lazy to plumb it into hard lines. There again, I figure if there's enough crap to plug the coolers, the tranny's probably toast anyway. I think of that filter as more preventative to get smaller crap out before it circulates through the tranny a million times.
If I get ambitious, I have a bunch of fittings and gauges, I'll try to measure the pressure drop. But I'm banking on my Explorer running 140K with one on there and it didn't hurt anything, that I do know. I found a guy on ebay selling the adapter for $10, $17 with shipping, throw in 2 $3 fittings, 7 bucks in rubber line, a $3.50 FL-1A filter, and a little free time it's under 30 bucks. I know it won't hurt, and it has to get some of the crap out. That's my theory and I'm stickin to it! And it's just a homeade version of similar things availabel commercially. After I let the Auto RX do it's thing, I'll cut it open and take pictures if anyone's interested.

 

Would be interesting to see the pictures imo.

Did you ever cut any of the Explorer filters open????

Was the Explorers pan & magnet any cleaner after the inline filter installation????

 

I haven't had the explorer in 6 years, and I didn't have a filter cutter back then. I use one everyday now on airplane filters, so I'll cut them all from now on. I've been cutting my engine filters open since I auto RX'd it. I can tell you the time I changed the pan filter after I had the aux filter installed, the pan and magnet were spotless in comparison. That's my reason for installing it on the Ranger I guess. I'll see if I can provide any data other than my feelings about it. I've put over 20K on it since I bought it in July, so it won't take long!

 

And since I'm cleaning it now, I'll cut the first one soon, probably less than 1000 miles. Will post the results.

 

OK, good feedback.

Well you've answered two of the things I've long wondered about, without cutting a filter open & that was with the comment about what you found, or rather what you DIDN'T find, in the Explorers tranny pan & on the magnet, in the way of deposits!!!!

I had often wondered about how that clutch grit gets into the pan. wondered if it just dripped down, or was circulated with the fluid. So now we know it circulates with the fluid.

So with Fords emphasis on thoroughly back flushing tranny lines & the cooler on a tranny replacement, after rebuild, or a tranny flush & your findings with the Explorers pan & magnet being "spotless" clean, after the inline filter was installed & it lasting at least 140K, that's good enough for me, I'm sold on the idea!!!!

So if you feel comfortable posting a link for the filter mount, please do so, or feel free to PM me with it.

Seeing as how Nannie says I don't have enough to do, it sounds like two good worthwhile Spring projects for me to do on both the Taurus & Ranger!!!! lol

 

Good thread guys, very interesting ideas.

I have thought about adding a filter but never got around to it.

On the subject of magnets; If you ever retire a computer hard drive, they contain some very powerful magnets that I have used with great success on oil pans, diffs, and transmission pans.

 

you can buy the rare earth magnets off ebay in various shapes and sizes that work much better than the hd magnets that are bonded/glued on metal plate.

That being said, I run a remote trans filter on my roadmaster. I have it plumbed before the intank and external cooler. One plus to that is to prevent the coolers from being contaiminated with debri in case of failure. I have not dropped the pan since I've done the remote filter, although it's only been a few thousand miles. I used all parker pushlok hose, so no need for hose clamps.

On my GM 4l60e, IIRC the hard lines are not very big(my soft lines I used were -6an aka 3/8"). Operating pressure of the lines are 17-20psi. Should be a non issue with a standard oil filter for quite a few thousand miles, unless of course you have a failure that fills the filter up with crap..

 

I've done that too. Might as well salvage something from that old HD before chucking it, right?