usmarinedelta

iTrader: (1)

A quick rundown. I had my pressure switches swapped in twice in less than a year and less than 20k miles because I'm that careful with my car. Even an oversized transmission fluid cooler with an inline magnefine filter. I decided I'm going to change my fluid every 15k miles, the oem filter is also pretty much new with less than 20k (max).

Today I removed the drain plug to notice that it had a thick layer of gunk over it, I honestly didn't expect any. Especially since I had an almost new oem filter in there and a mangefine filter. I assume this has something to do with the fluid allowing more friction modifiers. The fluid came out cherry red as if it was new. After the change at 15k the car shifted fast and smooth, a little better than my previous 3x3 with DW-1.

I'm either thinking it's the fluid, but it's been great as far as shift quality, or it's the fact that I have the oem filter and magnefine filter in there which maybe restricting flow?

I hate cars

FWIW, I removed the factory filter shortly after I did the Magnefine. That's probably not your problem though.

You need less FM. If the 2-3 people blaming Type F for all of life's troubles scares you, try a Dex III fluid like Redline D4 or Amsoil "ATF" or any DexIII you want, it doesn't have to be a synthetic.

The filter is a great idea, the cooler will help the fluid live a longer life. The two together will extend how long you can run the fluid. Now add a good fluid with less FM and a synthetic base oil and you can have a true 50,000+ change interval with no downsides.

When I first pulled the drain plug from the factory fill, it was terrible. I went with a Dex III fluid before the car had 20,000 miles. The first change with that fluid showed a good bit of junk but the second wasn't so bad. I figured there was enough junk floating around to gunk up the magnet. It stabilized to just a little stuff on the magnet until I went to the Type F. After I drained the first 1x3 out (doing my 2x3 of Type F), the magnet once again looked about the same as it did with the previous fluid. However, on the 3rd drain and fill, the magnet looked nearly perfectly clean. It's looked that way on every change since then.

I guess I could have saved a little writing and just said the plug may still look bad right after the first drain and fill, give it one more before drawing any conclusions.