[Hacked] 4T65-E Trans Filter unknown miles/time

[Virtuoso]

We see a lot of oil filters cut open, a few fuel filters, and maybe some spin-on tranny filters.. but how many in-pan filters do we see? Not many! So I figured, what the [censored]?

I didn't want to cut the plastic with the dremel, and the metal portion was really pretty thick.. so I broke it open with a slit from the dremel, a screwdriver, and some pliers. Messy, but it did the job.

This was pulled out of our '01 Bonneville's tranny at around 150k miles. It's a Filtran model, unknown time/miles.. but you can probably assume it's got a few, if not all the 150k.

Unmolested bottom:

Beginning dismantle, you can see the side view of the top passages:

Better view of the passages in the plastic portion:

Close view of the "top" of the media:

Close view of the "bottom" of the media:

You can think of this media as a sock of sorts. Here you can see the hole the fluid enters from the bottom and is filtered through the media "sandwich":

Media opened up and laid out, inside view:

Close view of some of the inside; That copper looking piece would be more worrisome, but I've accepted that this tranny will be rebuilt by sometime next year:

Well, there you have it. I'll try to do the next one in a cleaner fashion, but it was going to take a lot of cutting for the dremel to get through that metal, and I only have one cutting wheel on hand.

 

[L_Sludger]

The Toyota/Lexus ATF filters I've got experience with have a metal strainer, so to those designs I suppose that flow is more important than filtration. I wonder how well the media "sock" filter flows in your application, maybe it's a compromise between flow and filtration.

 

[Donald]

I have not looked at an internal filter, but the Magnefine filters I have looked at had almost nothing in the media section and a small amount of metallic paste on the magnet.

I am thinking in most transmissions there is not a lot of cr*p in the ATF to be caught in any filter.

 

[RF Overlord]

My understanding is that the in-pan filter is there primarily to trap wear materials that occur during the transmission's "break-in", which is considered to be the first 10-15,000 miles from new. Change the filter around that time frame and it really won't ever need changing again unless the fluid becomes contaminated or the transmission needs an actual repair.

I remember seeing a link here some time ago to an article that backs-up my statements above...I can't locate it, but maybe someone here can?

 

[Virtuoso]

RF, I remember reading that same link not too terribly long ago. If I can remember, I'll try digging it up again.

I do believe too that there's probably not much to catch in a ATF filter after break-in. This one did have some metal particals (and that half ring thing...) in it, so it did stop some things from floating around. The media was still very stout and not brittle at all. The magnet was coated in clutch paste, but nothing surprising was in the pan. I'm curious what the "micron rating" of these filters are. Maybe I'll look into that.