Do I need to replace my transmission filter?

What's the opinion of 2nd gen tacoma owners on replacing the transmission filter? I have over 130k mile on mine now.

thanks

 

There is grate debate on this subject going back as far as the 1960,s where my dealership experience began as young man trying to learn all I could hanging around the shop of a new car dealer. Automatic transmissions have Phenolic lined bands, that grip drums, in sequence that causes the Trans. to shift gears up and down. This constant shifting causes heat and ware, in the simplest terms ATF is of a very high detergent, and red, these bands shed this softer Phenolic material as a normal coarse of there lives. these particles accumulate in the Pan as a very fine
powder and are picked up and circulated threw the transmission constantly, as ATF wares out, varnish is also created and accumulates in ware spots. If the ATF is changed in a high millage trans. all of the varnish is washed into the pan and the filter is stopped up, and a stopped up filter causes fluid starvation, overheating and Trans. Failure.
So either change the fluid on a more frequent schedule, and have less possibility of failure, (fluid breakdown) I have seen GM trans with 300000 mi. still going because of proper maintenance.
If the Trans. fluid in your Taco is burnt, ( you will know, because of the smell) or has been slipping. a filter and fluid change are probably to late. your truck has no real filter, only a washable wire screen. Personally I do not believe in these 100K trans. fluid changes. I think it is marketing Propaganda.
Good Luck

 

Thank you but so do i clean the screen filter or replace it or just do a fluid flush.

I already did one partial fluid change. My transmission is working well

 

This is a personal judgement call, If the ATF is not burnt (very dark and stinks), and the transmission shifts well. Cleaning or replacing the filter can only add to the life of your Automatic Transmission. but know this, there are still several quarts of ATF in the Torque Converter, and fluid lines, simply dropping the pan, cleaning or replacing the filter and replacing the fluid only accounts for about 1/3 of the total fluid volume.

 

The trans filter is a screen type filter that can be cleaned. Most of the domestics use a fibre filter that requires replacement.

 

I did a full flush 14qts (pump new fluid through til new fluid started pumping out) and did not drop the trans pan. Lots of opinions on either side of the fence. If you want to replace by all means do it.

 

Thanks for the replies. I will do a full flush and clean the filter seeing how I have over 130k miles.

 

I'm a bit confused with this filter/screen. I'm going to be helping my neighbor do his tranny fluid change and when we went to O'reillys today, they had a filter (P/N FK382) that they sold to him. Do we have a filter with fibers in the middle that we throw away or a screen that we can just clean with brake cleaner spray or something like that?

 

You don't need to buy a filter. The filter used in a Tacoma is just a screen and not a fibre filter. Unless the truck has a ton on miles on it or has been abused there's really no reason to take the pan down.

 

I ended up replacing my trans filter when i did a full tranission flush since its a relatively inexpensive item.

 

Depends what you consider a ton of miles... IMO the important part of dropping the pan is to clean the magnets(and the other sludge in the pan)... and while your in their you might as well replace or clean the filter, as they are cheap.

I am always surprised how much debris the magnets pick up even over relatively low mileage intervals.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...th-pics-for-second-gen-4-liter-trucks.289913/

 

For those that cleaned the filter, did you reuse the o ring? If not, do you know the size/part #?

 

I had the dealer do a full flush around 100k, then a few thousand miles later I did a pan drop with a new (screen) filter. Added half a bottle of Lubegard also

 

The metal screen (filter ) is around $20-30 , I think it comes with a new O ring .

 

The filter is cheap and easy to replace. No sense in cleaning it.

 

Did the old gasket material come off easy? Was planning on using a razor blade.

 

It's just form a gaskit material. Similar to silicone glue. Razor blades work fine.

 

Yep the screen goes the full size of the housing you will never get it completely clean.

 

what is the torque for the filter bolts