I first posted this in a thread on 1G, which apparently didn't have transmission filters. Today I replaced the OEM filter on my 2014 RDX with an authentic (Australian-made) Magnefine, which I believe offers better protection.



That's how it is positioned in the front left wheelwell. There is a 10mm bolt behind the filter holding the bracket. Note that some wire is also attached to the bracket from the other side.


Here is the bracket from the other side. The direction of the flow is from top to bottom/ from the cooler to the transmission


The filter cut open open the OEM filter.



The view from the buttom of the Magnefine replacement. After this I used the bracket to hold the Magnefine in place.

 

Thanks for posting the pics. How many miles are on your ride and how did you determine that the filter used , is an upgrade from OEM.

 

My RDX has 80K miles. The fluid was brownish in color, which is a sign that it's not fresh.

As to why I think Magnefine is better than OEM: (i) it has a magnet ring that collects all ferrous particles as the fluid passes through; and (ii) it is larger than the OEM filter, which I assume means more filtering area, so it will last longer before clogging and opening the bypass valve.

I also read about Magnefine filters on a number of forums where they were praised. However, there are fake ones floating around. I am speaking only about the original Australian one.

There is an article at the Four Wheeler magazine that discusses Magnefine: Automatic Transmission and Power Steering Filters - Four Wheeler Magazine

From another thread on this Forum: "I have used a MAGNEFINE filter, manufactured in Australia. Pictures and more information here: http://www.magnefine.com/
This filter includes a by-pass valve which will open if the filter begins to clog with debris. The size is length of 5 inches and diameter of 2.5 inches. The filter is available with three sizes of hose ends: 5/16” (8mm), 3/8” (10mm), and 1/2” (12.7mm). The 3/8” size is required for the RDX.
This filter contains “a 25 micron pleated paper” insert, no percentage rating given. In other words, there is no statement as to how effective it filters at 25 microns. There is an internal magnet inside the filter. The web site claims removal of 99.97% of magnetic particles. Even with the by-pass valve open, all fluid still flows past the magnet."

 

In a number of other auto cars that I have owned over the years, when refilling the auto trans I would remove one of the lines going to the trans and attach a long clear hose to that line that pumped from the cooler back to the trans. I would then crank the car and allow a couple of qts of fluid to be pumped through the line and hose to a bucket, I would then refill the amount that went through the line into the trans. By doing it this way I could refresh the fluid in the trans all at one time, instead of having to do a number of fills and refills. The reason I am bringing this up, I see the possibility of doing the above , through the line you have shown me, and change the trans fluid, when I replace the filter,,seem reasonable to you

 

Poolman, I'll probably do as you say. I started the car and let it warm up a little. Now I am not sure about my filter direction So, I'll just disconnect the hoses to see which way the fluid flows.

 

If the fluid flows from top to bottom, from your pic above, you have the filter in it's proper orientation. At least the arrow on the side of the filter is pointing down from what I can see of it. To be sure though, best to make sure of at least, which way the arrow is pointing.

 

Some additional info I found. The OEM filter number for my 2014 RDX AWD TECH is 25430-PLR-003. The stupid OEM filter doesn't show the direction of the flow. It doesn't have any markings at all!


The schematic of the transmission, showing the fitler:

 

Looks like an arrow coming out of it,,don't know if that means the line of flow, or where it goes to mount the part. If your not certain, you need to remove the filter and then have someone momentarily crank the car and check which side is pumping fluid , then cut the car off quickly. Gonna make a mess. Have you driven the car since doing the work, if it's operating okay, it should be okay. Don't know what to advise, but I would try what I stated to be sure.

 

Take the top line off and hook a long clear tube to it and put the end into a bucket, crank the car and see if it's pumping fluid, if so, you have it all correct. Cheers

 

I'll do as you suggest once my order of Honda ATF arrives. When I disassembled the OEM filter, I noted how bypass valve opened (the red arrow in the schematic below). I also found pictures online of somebody taking apart the Honda inline ATF filter. This seems to support my conclusion.








Another interesting tidbit is that AISIN Seiki Ltd. (the famous supplier to Japanese automakers, which among other things manufactures automatic transmission for a number automakers) makes it own ATF called AFW+, which works in Honda transmissions requiring ATF-DW1. AISIN recommends changing ATF "every 2 years or 20000km [to] keep your transmission and prevent major repair. Hence it will help car owner to save time and money." I don't think they sell AISIN AFW+ in the US though.

 

Yep, that looks like you have solved that problem. Interesting read on the forum about Valvaline Maxlif fluid, ,,might be doing that change, once my car is our of warranty.

https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...roller-966971/

 

I found a Russian page that discusses Chinese fakes of the 25430-PLR-003 OEM filter (they may reach the US shores as well)

https://www.9000rpm.ru/clauses/uchim...25430-plr-003/

So, this page has an excellent illustration of the filter inner workings.

 

After looking at your pics again,I'm thinking you did install the filter upside down.

 

are you sure. looks like the shorter side on the stock filter is the exit side meaning the arrow is pointing in the right direction for the after market one.

 

Yeah,probably right, I might be looking at it wrong. I was thinking it was looking down in the pic with the filter installed, when the pic was made looking up

 

Great thread!! Thank you very much. I ordered the OEM filter like six months ago but it sat there because I wasn't sure the location and orientation. Now I have both thanks to you!

 

I drain and refill tranny fluid every 30k miles. This time I am doing the inline filter.
Filter part #: 25430-PLR-003 Also doing motor oil and filter.

 

OK so when we took the filter off some fluid came out of it and it looked pretty clean as well as the fluid drained from the pan. Also the magnetic drain plug had no metal shards so I was very happy to see that. I am not surprised however because the car has 72,500K miles on it and this is the third drain and refill so the transmission has been kept well. Now with a new inline filter I feel even better. I used Acura original transmission fluid. The dealer scalped me at $15 bucks a quart with tax. But I saved on the labor, I have a friend who owns a shop so he did it for me at no cost. I gave his mechanic a tip. Next time I will order the ATF online and save some $ on that.

 

i ordered the honda brand for about 8 shipped to my door. So you can do alot better. Do you have the link to the Filter

 

https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/20...on_filter.html
I bought the OEM one $41.58 plus shipping

 

[QUOTE=osnova;16207853]I first posted this in a thread on 1G, which apparently didn't have transmission filters. Today I replaced the OEM filter on my 2014 RDX with an authentic (Australian-made) Magnefine, which I believe offers better protection.


How did you reach this area, did you take out left tire and then open the slot in the wheel well? I am trying to change the same filter in 2014 Acura MDX which has this filter at same place but not sure if I should remove the Battery tray as other are showing in you tube videos or go from bottom if thats possibility but by looking at your picture, you seems to have best way to change this filter.



That's how it is positioned in the front left wheelwell. There is a 10mm bolt behind the filter holding the bracket. Note that some wire is also attached to the bracket from the other side.

 

Sorry to bump this 5 year old post, but I just ordered a bunch of Beck DW-1 and a Beck in-line filter to tackle this job this weekend. I am wondering the same thing as the last poster except he was attempting to do this on an MDX, while I have the same RDX as the OP. Can someone please help on accessing the inline filter? Do we take off the driver's side front wheel, shield, and it should be there behind the bracket or is there something additional to do? I really want to avoid having to go from the top (removing battery, airbox, etc) especially since I want to run some plastic hose to the high and low side to dump the old fluid and (hopefully) suck the new one. Finally, has anyone changed the filter in the pan? It looks like there's another filter in there, but I see no documentation/experience on doing so. I didn't order that and will tackle that another time if this goes well.

Thank you in advance!

 

You definitely need to remove the airbox, battery, and tray for this job. It's not terribly hard, and you need the room to work. The filter is mounted to the transmission valve body/solenoid assembly, and removing the filter from that mount would be damn near impossible without going in from the top. It is secured by a metal strap and a couple bolts. There is a slight chance you could remove it from the bottom, but after removing the front splash guard and all those clips, it wouldn't even be worth your time to try it, as opposed to doing it the right way.

Not sure I understand why you want to add another hose to the system? There is a dedicated trans cooler/radiator downstream of this filter, and compared to other Hondas, this is the best setup I've seen so far. This vehicle doesn't cook trans fluid like previous flawed transmission setups, like pretty much every 2G Honda vehicle (Odyssey, MDX, TL, etc). The OEM system here works very well, proven by sustained low fluid temps and the fluid remaining in good condition after extended intervals. I definitely wouldn't modify the setup unless you're planning on regularly towing something heavy.

Lastly, it is impossible to replace the internal filter in the housing unless you have the transmission removed for a rebuild. Unless you are experiencing symptoms of transmission failure, there is no reason to worry about it.

If you are looking to improve transmission performance, you could look into replacing the pressure switches on the transmission valve body, as well as getting the transmission software update from a dealer per Acura SB 17-017

 

Thanks for your reply. I will plan on going from the top. There is no radio code for these RDX's right?

Clarification on the hose comment: I am simply trying to replace the fluid completely rather than multiple drain and fills. If I connect one hose on the inlet side to an empty bucket and the outlet side to a bucket with fresh fluid, it should dump the old fluid and take the new one. That's a method one of the previous comments on this thread mentions.

Thanks for the clarification for the internal filter. I thought it'd be at the bottom of the pan rather than inside the transmission.

 

Sweet, and not to my knowledge - I never had to enter a code when disconnecting the battery, but we have a base model - perhaps the navi might have one but I'm not sure.

Also, I've never done anything besides 3x3 drain and fills, so unfortunately I have no experience in the area. As long as you are not flushing it by applying external pressure, you should be fine.

 

I worked on this with my dad yesterday after reviewing another thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rdx-...filter-961112/

We followed the same process as V6X6 but pumped the fluid out from here instead of doing a drain and fill. The picture below shows what we did. The old filter on the left was where the fluid came out of and the filter on the right is going into the transmission. It was taking in some fluid, but it was too slow so we used a siphon pump to get new fluid in and simply turned the car on to get old fluid out. The poster from the other thread disconnected the line at the transmission, but we were able to get off the other end of that hose where it goes into the filter, twist the bracket/filter and get out a 10mm that you can't access. After that, the bracket came off so we could get off the hose clamp for the inlet side of the filter. Our fluid was extremely dirty (TLDR*: 129k on it) so if you're changing this filter I feel like you might as well do this rather than a drain and fill, but I guess this could be perceived as risky. We ended up using 11 quarts out of the 12 I purchased. I don't see how doing a 3x drain and fill could get you these kind of results.

*too long DID read: just purchased this RDX from an auction with hail damage, which is why the fluid is old. We would have changed it earlier if we owned the car earlier.

Good luck!

 

I'd agree with going in from the top. I was looking to replace the transmission filter and found some videos online. Some say to take out the battery tray, etc and get it from the top, but others keep saying going in from the driver's side wheel well is better. Maybe I'm missing something but I took off the driver's side front wheel, took a couple clips off to move the panel, and indeed the filter is there, but damn near impossible to get it changed. I took of two 10mm bolts so the mount came off, but there's a wire or something back there and there's no way I can get behind it or even see enough to be able to try removing it so I gave up and put it back together. Don't know how these guys are doing that and haven't seen the process on video. Gonna try going in from the top one of these days.

 

Just a tip if you do this job and go in from the top side. To remove the battery tray there are 3 bolts underneath (2 on top) and the tip is to only loosen the 3 bolts, don't remove them. These bolts have slots on the underside of the battery tray and you slid the tray off and back on again with the 3 bolts loose but not removed, must easier this way. You'll be working blind and by feel with the bolts underneath the tray so leave them place after getting them loose and just slide the tray up and off them.
I haven't replaced the transmission filter, but I did have to replace a transmission pressure switch, which involved removing the battery and tray. There's good access to the filter with the battery and tray removed.

Here's a photo of the bottom side of the battery tray and the slots that slide onto the three mounting bolts underneath the tray.