Add-on transmission filter woes...

[MisterBen]

So today I changed the drivetrain fluids in my 2009 Tacoma, including the transmission fluid.

I installed a Magnefine about 15k miles ago (don't remember exact mileage). Recently I noticed a wet spot on my frame, and it turns out the Magnefine was leaking. It was probably just on the truck too long, but I haven't had a chance to disassemble it yet to see what it looked like.

I decided that I didn't want to spend $30/year on Magnefines when I could just install a spin-on filter and do that. So, I picked up a Wix filter mount at the local Napa. I installed it today, and did some re-plumbing on my aux cooler install.

Well, I guess I didn't get the fitting tight enough (I tightened them by hand, instead of waiting to install when the mount was on the truck). I have a very slow weep coming out of the threads, so it looks like I'll have to take them off and re-tighten them. I used teflon tape with it, but it did not hold. Hopefully I can get them tight enough on round 2, though I was a little worried about getting them too far into the adapter and harming flow.

On the bright side, I'm no longer afraid of servicing a Tacoma transmission! Other than being a little tedious, it went great (sealed unit).

Unfortunately I have to drive it a couple days. Hopefully I can get it fixed tomorrow so I don't have to drive it weeping, though I was hoping to do the spark plugs and clean out the throttle body. I have to take it to the dealer to have them look at the brakes as well. Ugh!

 

[oilboy123]

Learn to do your brakes, for they are not that hard.

 

[JHZR2]

+1, do the brakes.

The fittings should seal with another 1/8-1/4 turn... no big deal.

Pictures of the install please????

 

[Astro14]

At the risk of being a dork for not having a picture of the install...I just installed a remote filter mount in my 4 Runner (great place for the filter...crummy airbox mods to make it fit...) last month. I ended up using the same filter as the 3.0 V6 uses - fewer things to remember. M1 102. It has a 3/4" thread and the mount takes a wide variety of filters. Space is at a premium in that engine bay.

No leaks after 3K. fittings were made snug with a wrench while mount was held in my hand. Hoses tightened after install/cutting.

Quick turn on a wrench should fix yours right up.

 

[AzFireGuy79]

Yeah these toyota transmissions are cake. You just have to get over the "no dipstick thing" and life is good. I did a write up on this several years back. For the last 60K miles I have been using Redline D6 atf and a amsoil Bypass filter. Fluid looked brand new after draining @60K. Sending a sample into blackstone for analysis later this month.

As others have stated, just go back over your work and tighten every clamp. Not a big deal. I also just did my brakes @98k and it's cake as well, as are most brake jobs. Save yourself some money and take it on.

 

[MisterBen]

Well, I wanted to have the brakes flushed, and I've heard rumor there can be complications trying to bleed the brakes with the ABS unit. The dealer doesn't charge a whole lot to do it, and if there is something wrong I want them to look at it--the truck is still under warranty. The pedal has gotten really low lately, so I'm either out of brake pad (very early), or there's something wrong I would think.

I've done brakes before on old vehicles. Master cylinders and drum brakes, though--no discs!

I'll get pictures of the install. I have a couple 90* elbows on the adapter, so I'll have to remove those to tighten everything up, unfortunately.

 

[oilboy123]

You don't really bleed the ABS unit. Just make sure you don't let air in which is easy. So really you are doing brakes just like a normal car.

I never do anything different on ABS brakes than I did on non ABS brakes. Never had problem.

Yes if the pedal is low you have issues.....

 

[MisterBen]

Well, I've had a very busy past several days, but here are pictures. Everything seems to be holding out OK so far.

First, here's a picture of the disassembled Magnefine. The filter looks great. I think the leak was coming from the threads where the body screws together. That's my best guess based on what I saw, but who knows.

And here's the install. It's on a frame member behind the skid plate on front passenger side. My Channel Locks chewed up the brass elbows pretty good. A case for the Knipex PliersWrench I guess!

ETA: My brakes needed a clean & adjust on the rears. Pedal is still a little mushy, but it always has been. Truck does stop better now.

 

[Astro14]

I don't know about the '09 Tacoma, but on many older Toyotas (like mine) the rear drum shoes are adjusted by application of the parking brake. Looking at the star wheel and adjuster, you can see the linkage, not to the wheel cylinder, but to the parking brake actuator. So, if you never use the parking brake, the rear shoes get out of adjustment and you get a low pedal. Ask the tech that serviced yours about this...

 

[MisterBen]

The technician said they adjust themselves when you are backing and apply the brakes. I always thought it was with the e-brake (it used to be). I set the brake all the time. I guess I don't go in reverse with the brakes on enough, or hard enough, or something. Who knows?

 

[bigmike]

Ben,
Every magnefine I've installed weeped at where it screwed together. Don't know why, but it is concerning. I wished they made it a sealed unit. I take brand new magnefines and put 2 pipe wrenches on them and tighten them up before installing. None have leaked after that.

Nice filter setup you have there. Let us know how it works out for you in the long run.

 

[Smokescreen]

Nice install.

It looks a lot like mine. I have had my trans filter on for 8 years now, makes pan drains a snap and my original trans shifts like new even with 340,000 kms on it, and I use this vehicle daily and monthly for towing 3500-5000lbs loads.

 

[Jim Allen]

Is that a Pure 1? I read PL10241, which is a P1 number but I've never seen one with that tag nor that color.

Anyway, if it's a P1, you went backwards a little in filtering ability because you are without the magnet. The MF has a 35u absolute filter but the magnet catches 99 percent of all the iron (all sizes... the 99% figure comes from Magnefine), which makes up 51 percent of the contaminants, so it's overall efficiency would be higher (though I have no clue how to calculate that exactly). If it's a P1, it's around 20u absolute.

On the other hand, the spin-on has 10 times the capacity of the MF, so you can run it basically forever. The MF is rated for 30K miles but you can run them lots farther if your trans is broken in and has had it's first oil change or has previously run a filter to clean it up. Eleftherakis and Khalil calculated the average lifetime (120K miles) amount of contaminants generated by an automatic (including break-in and the built-in gunk... it would be less if the fluid was changed after break-in. I took that number and compared it to the capacity of an average spin-on oil filter and they were roughly equal. It might be a little scary to run it to the ragged edge, but if the filter has a bypass, you really don't have much to worry about.

Another filter to consider is Parker's (Racor) LFS line, which are synthetic media filters designed as an ATF filter, which is 10u absolute. I tested both the MF and the Racor in my two trucks. The Magnefine reduced the ISO cleanliness code of the oil my '05 F150HD from a already clean 15/14/12 (it was a fairly fresh change right after I bought it with 7K miles) to 13/12/9. That's an 81 percent reduction in the particle count in 2200 miles. I installed a Racor LFS spin-on filter kit in my old '86 Ford diesel and it dropped from a 16/15/13 (again fairly fresh oil) to a 15/14/11 in only 274 miles, a 66 percent reduction in the actual particle count.

Finally, MrBen, I'm not criticizing your choice at all, just adding a little more info to the discussion for other people. I would question why you would feel the need to change the MF every year. Anyway, your system puts you way, way ahead in terms of transmission fluid and trans longevity. In many cases, the fluid is changed mostly to get the contaminants out, so depending on how you use your toyota (towing, etc) you may well be close to "lifetime" on your OCI now... certainly a lot farther than if you did nothing. Oxidation will be indicated by a severe darkening of the oil, but that's not likely to come for a while unless you get the oil hot often.

I have one seeping MF filter now and garnered a replacement. I'm not sure how prevalent it is but I have seen it come up in places other than here and experienced it myself so... it's a concern. I had the opportunity to make the head of the company aware of the problem, and he seemed legitimately concerned, so hopefully it will be addressed. I really like the idea of the MF

 

[bigmike]

That filter looks like the old style P1. It had a blue sparkling can color like that.

Jim, I'm glad you made them aware of it. They make a good product but I would like to see the weeping addressed. A better or different o-ring is all that would be required, more than likely, but it'd be even better if they made a "sealed" unit.

 

[bepperb]

Looks like the old P1's.

I disagree the Magnefine is better than the PureOne. Ferrous metal is important, but so is friction material and yellow metal. I'm not sure the failure path of Toyota's, Honda's problems mostly stem from friction material clogging lines.

 

[Jim Allen]

Who said better? I just said the P1 was 20u and the MF was 35u with a magnet that gets 99 percent of the most harmful contaminant... namely iron. Iron is one of the more harmful because it can really chew on aluminum, not to mention be attached to electromagnetic valves and cause hysteresis, or jam the valve outright.

 

[mongo161]

Well, IMO, you can always pick up a Filtermag and put it on the new oil filter canister. Supposedly, Filtermags help with catching any iron or steel that happens to pass on to the filter.

I've been running a Filtermag on my Oil Filter for a couple of oil changes.

 

[MisterBen]

Yes, that is an older P1. I have a dwindling stash (1 left now) that I got a few on sale some time ago.

The Magnefine says on the side of it to replace at 12 mos/12k miles. I assumed I had just exceeded its service life and that's why it was leaking. Instead of $30/year on it, I figured a $5 filter would be cheaper. After disassembly, the Magnefine is in excellent condition (other than the leak). The magnet picked up a fair amount of stuff (all the black on the paper towel in the picture came from the magnet).

The truck has 25k on it, and this was its first fluid change in the transmission. The fluid looked pretty bad. It was quite dark, and even looked like it has some stuff floating in it... which is a little bothersome.

I'll probably change the filter once a year, and stick with this fluid for another 25-30k. After that, I plan to switch to synthetic and probably do 50k intervals. I might go with a nicer synthetic filter or something and leave it on for two years at a time or so. The filter could probably be permanent, but I don't want to wear out the media (if that's possible).

I do plan on installing some sort of magnet. At the very least, a couple hard drive magnets on the transmission pan. I will probably get a Filtermag or something for the spin-on filter. I would do hard drive magnets just on the filter, but am a little leery about one coming off. It's a bad spot for that to happen, I think.

I drove the truck quite a bit after the filter install (a couple hundred miles, at least), and so far everything seems to be working fine.

On a somewhat unrelated side note, I changed the other drivetrain fluids as well. They were changed very early, but figured it should be done again per factory spec. The transfer case and rear diff fluid came out looking perfect, but the front diff was gross. I hadn't really run a lot of miles on 4WD until this last winter on a road trip, and it shows that the diff hadn't been broken in enough yet. So, for these kinds of trucks, it's probably good to change the fluid again after you know you've broken in the front diff!

 

[bepperb]

There are already magnets stuck on the inside of the transmission pan. Some Toyota's have a filter, some a screen, I'm not sure what you would have. But three magnets should be there.

For the spin on filter, I do put some huge 1970's hard drive magnets on my oil filters, and get a non-wipeable stain on the inside of the can. So they do, um, something I guess. I'm not convinced that the paper media wouldn't pick up what's on the can, but I guess the paper is that much cleaner for free.

 

[MisterBen]

Originally Posted By: bepperb
There are already magnets stuck on the inside of the transmission pan. Some Toyota's have a filter, some a screen, I'm not sure what you would have. But three magnets should be there.

For the spin on filter, I do put some huge 1970's hard drive magnets on my oil filters, and get a non-wipeable stain on the inside of the can. So they do, um, something I guess. I'm not convinced that the paper media wouldn't pick up what's on the can, but I guess the paper is that much cleaner for free.


Good to know about the magnet! I know both the front & rear diff have them, so it doesn't surprise me the transmission would too.

I don't think a crazy hard drive magnet would come off the filter, but I guess I'm just over-cautious. I would think there are some tiny particles that may be too small for the filter to pick up that may be caught by the magnet, but those might be too small to do any damage. Never hurts, I guess!