Tranny Filter, is it suposed to do that???

[wonderer]

I just installed a remote tranny filter from Summit Racing, the one that is really just a filter holder with a screw on filter attached.

I'm a fairly intelligent guy and believe I understand the laws of physics fairly well but ...

After installing the new in-line filter and changing the tranny filter and oil, I had one heck of a time trying to top off the fluid at the right level... Oh and yes it is installed the correct direction, if you go out there when its cold and put it in drive and try a stall test, (one foot on gas one on brake), you can easily tell which line is coming from the tranny and which is the return, one is practically hot and one is still cold.

Now, it seems to me that before I added the filter, you could use the 2 holes on the stick when engine is cold to get the right level and the other checkered area when it was hot.

Is it actually dropping level on the stick as it warms up??? The fluid is shrinking? or is there some other thing opening up and taking some of the fluid?

Has anyone else experienced a weird reading on the dipstick after installing one of these?

Would be grateful to anyone that can answer these questions.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Ranger Digger]

Are you checking the fluid the right way? To check the level properly in an automatic, the engine and tranny need to be at operating temperature and the truck needs to be parked level, tranny in park and engine at idle. If you are not running the engine when you are checking then it will probably show higher then actual fluid level cold because it has all run into the pan. If you check just after you shut the engine off, then there is still fluid in the lines and since you added capacity to those lines it will cause the level in the pan to be lower.
You need to check it the proper way or you will not get an accurate reading from the dipstick.

 

[wonderer]

umm yes

With engine running and cold, it reads higher than with engine running and warm. strange ...

 

[Nate1]

(Dont smack me!) Mabey your filter absorbed some tranny fluid, or had a pocket of air and it filled that when it pumped through, so you lost a little fluid? Dunno. Just thinking out loud.

 

[Opera House]

Is the filter mounted high,

Horizontally, or upside down? I could imagine it draining down and forming an air lock in the filter for quite a while till it warmed up. Air doesn't go through oil soaked filter media very well. I have no problem with mine that is mounted vertically on the frame rail. Think location, location, location.

 

[wonderer]

It's no longer defying the laws of physics!

Think it could have been air in filter/converter/lines or I didn't read the stick right...

While I was topping it off, one of the reasons I had a hard time reading the stick, was that the oil was still all over the inside of the dip stick tube from adding new oil. By the way, I managed to add 6 quarts of new fluid.

I also didn't let it run a second longer than it took, (don't know what hydraulics do w/o fluid), through it in reverse, then 1rst, then back to park and read stick... After a while it became apparent, there was stuff on the stick so I didn't worry about being quick anymore. Maybe this had something to do with it?

Anyway, I just went out there and fired it up cold and it read slightly lower on stick then it did 15 min later!It's no longer defying the laws of physics!

Drives the same, filter gets hot, hoping I'll have results like Hank; after a 100 miles or so, maybe start to feel the shifts between 1 and 3, cant hardly even see them on the tack at this point.

I mounted the filter vertical in the drivers wheel well about 2 inches in front of the tire, (has about that much room to spare when steering turned to the right also).

It's vertical for a couple of reasons, so when you spin the filter off:

1) You don't make much of a mess... I promised myself to be careful about spills. After this last bloody massacre and 2 other tranny filter changes, the garage floor is beginning to look like a meat locker's slaughter room lol. The book says to place a large oil pan under the area where oil will be falling… Large? LARGE? They don’t make em that large!

2) Also when I change that filter , I plan on pumping a few quarts out the filter hole , so I can add some fresh stuff to the system.

I worry that maybe someday a rock from the tire or someone else's tire, will hit the filter ,so I'm gonna build a guard for it, nothing great , just so rocks will bounce off of guard and not filter. Even a thin piece of tin and 4 sheet metal screws will do, (don't know how I'm going to get em loose after a winter of driving on salty roads though).

I just hope I don't ever need tire chains!

Thanks for the response,
Mike

 

[Maniak]

I noticed you have a '92 (same as me).. I found a place to mount the filter that is far away from the tire... The only reason you can even see mine is that I don't have the innerfenderwell. I was worried about rocks etc hitting it, which is why I mounted it where it is.. I have yet to find any dents on the filter from rocks flying up (I drive on a dirt road to/from home every day)

Here are a couple pics of where I put it. It might be worth moving it (if your worried about it getting hit, etc).

Here is a pic of where it is....

Here is how I mounted it.. I just used 1 bolt and that is actually the bolt that used to hold the charcol canister there (which is now relocated in front of the overflow tank)

As you can see from this pic.. It is far way from the tire so it won't get hit.

Just an idea...

~Mark

 

[Ross-N-Chicago]

I have a 91 and I mounted mine vertically just in front of the pass front wheel on the frame. Gets plenty of cold air to cool the fluid too. It's out of sight and very easy to change. I swapped new filters after 300 and 1000 miles and used Amsoil ATF and filters for the remote. Shifts are great, downshifts a little faster than before. It took me adding fluid a couple times (8oz at a time) to get it right. Fluid is so bright and cherry my X just smiles at me

 

[wonderer]

It's on the frame...

Thanks for the tips, I’ve already got it mounted , on the frame just in front of the wheel.

I was thinking about making a heat sink/cooling fins, for the filter to help get rid of heat AND protect it. This may work out for the better in both cases, this we’ll see lol. I’ll post results here if it turns out well!

 

[Dmann99xls2wd]

Trans filter

Do you have to use a specific transmission filter from Summit?

Can you use a Fram engine oil filter? Maybe a larger capacity Fram for a 1 ton truck or a 460 or a diesel something like that?

Do you filter the fluid hot (before the trans cooler) or cool (after the trans cooler)?

How often do you change the filter?


Thanks

Dan

 

[glfredrick]

I don't recommend that you use Fram anything... Cut one apart and see what is inside!

They are not built very well, but do have the largest following becasue they are sold at every store in the US.

There are filters out there that are TONS better...

 

[Maniak]

I change the tranny filter @ every oil change.. (Every 6k miles).. I haven't had it on long enough to change the filter in the pan yet, but I'm planning on doing that every 3 oil changes (drop the pan, change the internal filter and the rest of the fluid).


As for filters, use whatever you like. I currently run Mobile 1 filters, and the nice thing is that my oil and tranny filter are the same filter so I don't have to buy 2 different types.

~Mark

 

[X~FACTOR]

Originally posted by glfredrick
I don't recommend that you use Fram anything... Cut one apart and see what is inside!

They are not built very well, but do have the largest following becasue they are sold at every store in the US.

There are filters out there that are TONS better...

What is exactly wrong with Fram? What do you run?

 

[glfredrick]

I used to sell oil filters for a living. I have cut a good number of different filters apart. The Fram are built inside with cardboard ends where other better filters have metal ends on their filter material. Also, the Fram has less pleats than others. Plus, the Fram has only a piece of bent (thin) sheet metal for a bypass spring and what you get is junk...

I normally use name branded filters, but even some of those are suspect. Wix is good, Deutz (also sold as STP) is good, Mobil 1 is good, others such as Pennzoil, etc change manufacturer so often as to make it difficult to know who is actually building them. Check out the link on the other posting for the filter test. It is the real deal and mirrors my own findings.

 

[X~FACTOR]

Damn it! I always thought I was buying the best with Fram.

 

[glfredrick]

Caveat Emptor - buyer beware...

Just because a product has the best marketing and bright packaging does not mean that it is a good product. Just cut one up and you will see for yourself. And what is worse, the higher line is no different!

BTW, that also goes for oil...

When I worked in the hydraulics industry I had access to around $1 million worth of oil testing machinery. Synthetic is worth its weight in gold...

The stuff in the yellow cans is the ultimate horror! It broke one testing machine and cut a recirculating ball test in half in under 1 day. Amsoil and Valvoline were borh chugging along with no noticable wear after a couple of months... Again, slick marketing - not such a slick product. Almost any engine mechanic can tell you which kind of oil you were running when you bring in the parts for a rebuild!

 

[X~FACTOR]

Yellow Can? So you recommend Valvoline? How about Castrol?

This is getting very informative.

 

[glfredrick]

Yellow cans + Penzoil (and Quaker State ranks right up there with it)

I did not test Castrol but have seen no adverse side effects in my own use. (I ran it in my motorcycle)

I now use total synthetic in everything. It flows out much better in very cold weather, it lubricates better, it has long chain molecules which resist break down better, and I have seen it far out perform any dino lube.

Drawbacks are of course, price, high detergent content (tends to wash out the gook that some other oils leave behind that seal up stuff = seal leaks in some instances), it gets in places that regular oil doesn't - again, this might mean a leaks for some folks without good gaskets/seals, and sometimes is difficult to procure.

As a subjective anecdotal story, I once purchased a new Chevette (not known for longivity), and after around 12,000 miles of break in time switched to Amsoil all the way around. The differential already had 3 chipped teeth on the ring gear and the spiders were making noise. (Yes, I drove that car hard, plus I lived in Wisconsin and had to deal with the terrible condition of spinning on snow and ice coupled with the instant traction of hitting something that grabbed.) I figured the rear end was junk anyway so I was just going to drive it until it finally quit. It never did... I also ran Amsoil in the engine and changed oil once per year (around 25,000 miles!) with one filter change at 6 months (plus adding 1 qt. to replace what was used). I finally sold the car with 240,000 miles, still running the same rear end, and still only using 1 qt of oil per year! The car then ran around town for 2 more years and the daughter of the person who bought it took it to college in Arizona. That proved something positive about synthetics (outside the lab) to me...

Penzoil plugged my Royco particle counter. (a machine used to count particulate matter in a sample of oil). I had never seen this before. Neither had the factory service tech that had to come out to repair it. He asked me what I had run through it... I showed him the bottle of oil - he ran another test and plugged the machine again. Quaker State was almost as bad. Both oils failed the viscosity test. Both oils failed the lubicity test. Both oils failed the recirculating ball test (run a ball bearing under load on a spinning shaft with an oil drip - measure for wear at intervals.) Penzoil cut the shaft in two! Quaker State wore a huge groove in it. Onthe other hand, Valvoline had a shiny spot but no measurable wear. Mobil (not synthetic) had some wear, but within normal acceptable limits for dino oil. Amsoil and Redline didn't even leave a mark on the shaft after 30 days of running - which completely amazed our tech department!

This, of course is only my experience, but I have lived with my results in very high mileage vehicles now for years. I rarely ever even purchase a vehicle that doesn't start at over 100,000 miles and I have driven several way past 200,000... I also build my own engines, transmissions and axles... so I have to live with my own work. I see the difference in my oils/engines and those of others who use different products.