decision about ATF change for 2001 Grand Cherokee

[Donald]

Bought the Jeep 1 year ago with about 57K. The prior owner said he had a place change the ATF, but he [censored] about other things so who knows. Six months ago a pressure valve broke and the pan needed to be dropped to fix it. I brought the place 6-7 QTs of Amsoil ATF. Now at 66K I am wondering what to do. Do a cooler line flush or change what is in the pan. BTW the place that did the pressure valve installed a Magnefine (I provided it). The total fill of ATF is either 12 or 14 QTs, and I would only go with Amsoil, but my stash is down to a QT or two.

 

[tomcat27]

I'm guessing that you have the 54RFE transmission that actually has two filters in it? If so, thats a very reliable transmission. Do you tow anything heavy with it? Do you drive alot of miles? All of these factors affect transmission fluid life. I would recommend a 30k pan drop, changing the filters each time. The factory fill on that was probably ATF+4, and Amsoil ATF is long life, so you shouldn't really need a flush - but that's somewhat a philosophy. If it had ATF+3 as a FF (I dont remember when ATF+4 started) then I would consider a flush.

 

[Familyguy]

If it was me, I'd just drop the pan, change the real filter (cuz you'd be there anyway) and then refill.

Magnefine is one of those inline magnet thingies? Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I wasn't aware that transmissions produced much in the way of ferrous (magnetic) filings. The valve bodies are usually aluminum and the clutch material (that is supposed to wear doesn't strike me as something that would be magnetic either). Anyone care to comment?

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: Familyguy
If it was me, I'd just drop the pan, change the real filter (cuz you'd be there anyway) and then refill.

Magnefine is one of those inline magnet thingies? Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I wasn't aware that transmissions produced much in the way of ferrous (magnetic) filings. The valve bodies are usually aluminum and the clutch material (that is supposed to wear doesn't strike me as something that would be magnetic either). Anyone care to comment?



Yeah they do,thats why you see silver silt stuck to the bottom of the magnets on the pan.On a normal wearing transmission.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
I'm guessing that you have the 54RFE transmission that actually has two filters in it? If so, thats a very reliable transmission. Do you tow anything heavy with it? Do you drive alot of miles? All of these factors affect transmission fluid life. I would recommend a 30k pan drop, changing the filters each time. The factory fill on that was probably ATF+4, and Amsoil ATF is long life, so you shouldn't really need a flush - but that's somewhat a philosophy. If it had ATF+3 as a FF (I dont remember when ATF+4 started) then I would consider a flush.



I agree on the principle of getting any possible remaining ATF+ 3 out of there if it ever had any, but IMO you can do it just fine with a few short-interval fluid changes rather than paying for a power flush. You could even consider putting a drain plug in the pan so you can easily do a fluid-only change in between full-up fluid/filter changes. Besides, that makes full changes SO much less messy that its worth it anyway.

I don't know much about Amsoil's ATF, but ATF+4 itself would be very hard to beat. Its excellent stuff.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Familyguy
If it was me, I'd just drop the pan, change the real filter (cuz you'd be there anyway) and then refill.

Magnefine is one of those inline magnet thingies? Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I wasn't aware that transmissions produced much in the way of ferrous (magnetic) filings. The valve bodies are usually aluminum and the clutch material (that is supposed to wear doesn't strike me as something that would be magnetic either). Anyone care to comment?




MOST of the dust that automatics produce is non-metallic clutch material. But every other plate in a clutch pack is steel (in most modern automatics, long ago some used brass plates I think). So there's a non-negligible amount of ferrous dust too. Its a fairly small fraction of the total dust though, so I never bother with adding a magnet to my automatics- I just err on changing the regular filter a little more frequently than the manual recommends.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Familyguy
If it was me, I'd just drop the pan, change the real filter (cuz you'd be there anyway) and then refill.

Magnefine is one of those inline magnet thingies? Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I wasn't aware that transmissions produced much in the way of ferrous (magnetic) filings. The valve bodies are usually aluminum and the clutch material (that is supposed to wear doesn't strike me as something that would be magnetic either). Anyone care to comment?



A Magnefine filter has a magnet and a 30 micron filter of normal filter media. So it will certainly catch a lot more than ferrous particles.

 

[Familyguy]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Familyguy
If it was me, I'd just drop the pan, change the real filter (cuz you'd be there anyway) and then refill.

Magnefine is one of those inline magnet thingies? Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I wasn't aware that transmissions produced much in the way of ferrous (magnetic) filings. The valve bodies are usually aluminum and the clutch material (that is supposed to wear doesn't strike me as something that would be magnetic either). Anyone care to comment?



A Magnefine filter has a magnet and a 30 micron filter of normal filter media. So it will certainly catch a lot more than ferrous particles.


How many 30+nm particles do you reckon will make it past the normal filter(s)? Seems a bit too snake oily for me, but perhaps I'm just uninformed.

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: Familyguy
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Familyguy
If it was me, I'd just drop the pan, change the real filter (cuz you'd be there anyway) and then refill.

Magnefine is one of those inline magnet thingies? Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I wasn't aware that transmissions produced much in the way of ferrous (magnetic) filings. The valve bodies are usually aluminum and the clutch material (that is supposed to wear doesn't strike me as something that would be magnetic either). Anyone care to comment?



A Magnefine filter has a magnet and a 30 micron filter of normal filter media. So it will certainly catch a lot more than ferrous particles.


How many 30+nm particles do you reckon will make it past the normal filter(s)? Seems a bit too snake oily for me, but perhaps I'm just uninformed.



I recently dropped the pan on my cavalier to drain/fill it with Dexron VI. The transmission and fluid were only 6k miles old (the Transmission died, and had to be replaced. I firmly believe it failed because my grandfather insisted on not replacing it till 100k miles as per the owners manual, "because the engineers who wrote it knew what they weret alking about"). The dealer installed some magnet to the pan, and after only 6k miles there was a fair amount of silver magnetic dust stuck to it.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
I'm guessing that you have the 54RFE transmission that actually has two filters in it? If so, thats a very reliable transmission. Do you tow anything heavy with it? Do you drive alot of miles? All of these factors affect transmission fluid life. I would recommend a 30k pan drop, changing the filters each time. The factory fill on that was probably ATF+4, and Amsoil ATF is long life, so you shouldn't really need a flush - but that's somewhat a philosophy. If it had ATF+3 as a FF (I dont remember when ATF+4 started) then I would consider a flush.



I agree on the principle of getting any possible remaining ATF+ 3 out of there if it ever had any, but IMO you can do it just fine with a few short-interval fluid changes rather than paying for a power flush. You could even consider putting a drain plug in the pan so you can easily do a fluid-only change in between full-up fluid/filter changes. Besides, that makes full changes SO much less messy that its worth it anyway.

I don't know much about Amsoil's ATF, but ATF+4 itself would be very hard to beat. Its excellent stuff.


I would not pay for a power flush (whatever people really call that) and would just do my own own cooler line flush 2 or 3 QTs at a time. So the cost would 12-14 QTs of Amsoil ATF at $8-$9 a QT

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Familyguy
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Familyguy
If it was me, I'd just drop the pan, change the real filter (cuz you'd be there anyway) and then refill.

Magnefine is one of those inline magnet thingies? Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I wasn't aware that transmissions produced much in the way of ferrous (magnetic) filings. The valve bodies are usually aluminum and the clutch material (that is supposed to wear doesn't strike me as something that would be magnetic either). Anyone care to comment?



A Magnefine filter has a magnet and a 30 micron filter of normal filter media. So it will certainly catch a lot more than ferrous particles.


How many 30+nm particles do you reckon will make it past the normal filter(s)? Seems a bit too snake oily for me, but perhaps I'm just uninformed.


I have not looked at the filters on my Jeep, but the filter on my Camry was just a felt filter and I am guessing it does not get anything close to 30 microns. But thats just a guess.