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My 2006 Ford Focus is coming up on 90k miles and one of the items in the scheduled maintenance is to have the transmission flushed. The dealer wants to charge me $270 and my local shop, which did the 45k flush, does it for $190.

I was looking through this How To: Trans Flush on This Website and see that there is a filter to change also. Should the filter be changed along with the flush or is a flush just good enough for the 90k service?

Thanks!

 

[FocusKnot]

There is currently another thread going on that may answer your questions:

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=499041

 

[onlycodered]

Ha, $270! Do yourself a huge favor and do the fluid change yourself. Not a difficult job. Just did it on an '05 with 90k and it was easy as cake. Also, you can save some coin by getting an aftermarket brand of Mercon V. I went with Castrol and it works fine. I think it was $38 total for 7 quarts.

 

[amc49]

After one time to check initial trans run-in I have pretty much gone to not changing filters every time as they simply do not clog up. A drain plug in pan then makes it the work of five minutes to drain fluid but only the partial amount not all of it. It seems to be enough, the ATX on 3 cars now done like that and no trouble from them at all, one is at 200K miles. The other two at 150K. Maybe drive car a week and change fluid again to get a higher percentage of new and save the drained fluid there for the chainsaw, it makes great bar oil. And even more money made.

After changing filters on ATX on cars for like years at the garage you come to the conclusion they really don't need it unless something is going wrong in the trans. The steel screened ones are even easily cleaned to go right back on car, I've done that as well. Fuzz type filters I'll change based on the amount of grey grime there, but if careful you can even clean them, I've done it. You certainly don't need to do it every time. Maybe every other if you will. Had the idea forever but the CD4E in a Contour and having to yank trans to change that filter convinced me to start doing it.

 

[Dennyj1992]

After one time to check initial trans run-in I have pretty much gone to not changing filters every time as they simply do not clog up. A drain plug in pan then makes it the work of five minutes to drain fluid but only the partial amount not all of it. It seems to be enough, the ATX on 3 cars now done like that and no trouble from them at all, one is at 200K miles. The other two at 150K. Maybe drive car a week and change fluid again to get a higher percentage of new and save the drained fluid there for the chainsaw, it makes great bar oil. And even more money made.

After changing filters on ATX on cars for like years at the garage you come to the conclusion they really don't need it unless something is going wrong in the trans. The steel screened ones are even easily cleaned to go right back on car, I've done that as well. Fuzz type filters I'll change based on the amount of grey grime there, but if careful you can even clean them, I've done it. You certainly don't need to do it every time. Maybe every other if you will. Had the idea forever but the CD4E in a Contour and having to yank trans to change that filter convinced me to start doing it.

Agree and disagree on certain points here. I think a clogged filter is what was causing the "3rd gear lurching" after being warmed up.

So, look at it as you will, but it's good maintenance to do, regardless of mileage. I think it's more of an age thing. Maybe a, "I beat the piss out of my car" thing, lol.

OP - As said before, check the other thread. Awesome info between Sailor and amc there. DIY, or find a mechanic who does a cheap, by the job labor rate. Enjoy!

 

[elsolo]

Automatic transmission filters almost never need changing.

 

[FocusKnot]

I am pretty much right with you guys on this.

After five decades of owning cars with automatics, I have found that the first filter change was really the only one needed. The first filter seems to collect bits of metal, plastic, or whatever is in the tranny from the build and breakin. After that, very little seems be collected. I just do the fluid change only after the first filter and fluid service. I have had only one automatic transmission failure on my cars, and that happened under warranty and before the first fluid service.

 

[amc49]

Exactly.

I have virtually never seen a clogged ATX filter except when the trans was coming apart or destroyed to put tons of loose crap in there.

You CANNOT clog a filter with normal running, any clog there should be an instant trans close up look and maybe even tear down as things are NOT going right there. And may not clog even then if the trans magnet is killer. The CD4E I have tore up good by shredding like 6 drive shells, the filter was almost primo but the magnet was a lump like 2 inches across. Actual magnet size like 3/4", the rest was frag material. One of the shells was dimensionally still accurate so I reused it just as a joke to myself, it looks like a bomb went off inside it. That was '07, ATX still runs fine even now. Any one else who tears that sucker down is going to get a shock LOL.

It's the conventional wisdom (often wrong as hell) and the ATX parts makers who tell you you have to change that filter every time and most of you fall for it rather than believing your own eyes and thinking.

 

[elsolo]

The only restricted atx filter I ever saw was on a power glide that I owned, and it's just a screen, not a Dacron type filter. That trans shattered the band lining, the chunks would get sucked up and clog the screen.

 

[FocusKnot]

Thanks for the reminder about magnets AMC. I forgot to mention what I do there.

The magnets that are in computer hard drives are extremely powerful. I stick one (sometimes two) to the outside of the engine oil filter, and another one inside the tranny that I drop into the filter. They work great in both places collecting tiny, tiny bits of metal that otherwise would pass through the filters.

 

[amc49]

I've got one in an ATX pan right now. Hard to believe how hard those magnets can pull. I pulled some out of some bad drives in a server someone tossed.

 

[FocusKnot]

Yeah, they are really powerful. Most ATX pans have a magnet already either glued to the pan or as part of the drain plug (only a few ATXs have drain plugs...but that's another story). I toss an extra hard drive magnet in anyway just for good measure.

Those magnets work great for holding tools too. I do such things as glue one to the top of my ladder...holds screws and tools there...real handy.

I don't toss out any hard drives with removing the magnets first.