i thought it was better to use the paper type (although isnt it more like cloth) to catch more fine particles that could make it through the mesh

 

Once again there are trade-offs

Max size of solid captured vs flow

So the best filters almost choke the supply.

If you switch to paper (element) filter, remember to change is frequently.

Salim

 

so how often would you say to change it out, mileage wise

btw i have a 99 rx300 awd with 213k miles on it

 

Some will say this is over kill, but I suggest twice a year. Spring and fall. Thats how I do mine,keeps the fluid nice and red. (btw) I use the Castrol foreign car fluid,works best in my trans.

 

are you talking about drain/fill or pan drop/filter replacement?

 

Dropping the pan and replacing the filter twice a year would be overkill to me, but a drain and fill is too easy to pass up. I do it with every oil change now.

If you have a paper filter now and drain and fill twice a year, I would probably replace it every 20k or so. Just my opinion.

 

yea i was thinking about doing a drain and fill every other oil change but i wasnt sure about doing the pan drop, unfortunately i have to go by miles rather than time for all of my maintenance because i drive a lot. Here soon ill probably be logging roughly 500 miles a week or more because of my 2 day commute to DC from western Maryland. I suppose 20k miles for a pan drop isnt too bad, thatd prolly be like 5 times every 3 years roughly

 

Drain and fill carguy,thats what I do.

 

Unohoo, are you stuck in traffic a lot? if you are,you may want to consider an atv fan on your trans. cooler. I would like to do this @ some point,the only thing holding me back is, I havent figured out yet how to wire it to only come on when it needs to. (temp sensor)

 

well currently it takes me almost an hour to go 14 miles back and forth to work buuuuut im moving in 2 weeks and im not sure how that route is going to be, eventually (within 6 months) i should have to drive to DC for work anymore, so no more rush hour

in roughly 2 weeks my commute should only be 2 days a week and the rest of the time will be easy driving in a small town in western maryland. Not sure if that would constitute installing a cooler for it, prolly wouldve been a good idea 2 years ago but since im moving away from the high traffic stop n go not so sure that its all that necessary ya know? what do you think?

 

Well,like i was saying i am going to install one just as soon as i can figure out what i mentioned previously.

 

well if ya do take some pics and make a DIY, im interested to see what it would take to rig up something like that

 

After replacing my windshield washer pump, I had to pull back the inner fender well plastic back to get to it. And the trans cooler is right their, It doesn`t look like too much room to mount a cooler fan in that small space.

 

With the reservoir there, it would be kind of hard. I just removed the reservoir entirely to help the flow of air to the transmission cooler.

 

Lexus- I bought about 4 computer fans a short while back to use for just this type of purpose. Fry's had them on a 2 day sale for $5. ea, normally $13. They are not a cyclone but they are nice fans and put out a nice flow of air. They are about 4 or 5 in. fans. They are nice and thin and would fit in that narrow area. Computers use a 12V fan so they work fine for automotive. I would probably just wire them to a rocker switch, but there are a number of ways you could do it. Probably not real easy to wire to run automatic but you could piggy back them onto the fan or the secondary fan that runs when the A/C is on. I would run some 26Ga. wire and an LED inside so you knew when they were on. They draw almost NO juice so it's no problem piggy backing them. They are actually a 2 speed fan and come with the switch but I can't imagine you would ever use the low speed.