Do you need to change your Transmission Filter?

I’ve been asked a lot about automatic transmission filters. Welcome to Mercie J auto care, where compassion and craftsmanship come together. I’m Rick Smith, master certified technician. So I’m basically going to share with you today why I am not a big fan of changing the filters in automatic transmissions. First of all, there’s a number of particularly front wheel drive transmissions that you don’t even have access to it anyway, but secondly, let me help you understand. On an engine when we fire the fuel air mixture what happens as we create some soot that gets by the rings, so we contaminate the oil. That’s one of the reasons it’s important on an engine, but in the transmission the filter really acts more like a screen. So a couple of things, one is multiple times I have seen leaks occur because the transmission pans are a little bit flimsy on some of the transmissions. So you can create a leak if you change the filter. Secondly, if you have buildup in the filter it’s because you have some other problem in the transmission that’s plugging the filter. It does not produce soot like an engine does. So in my opinion, you are better off doing a transmission fluid exchange where you pump fluid out and pump it in and we don’t disturb the gasket and we don’t need to change the filter. I hope this has been informational to you and until next time safe travels and blessings to you.