I would definitely stick with the original screen. I think they're less restrictive than the paper and you shouldn't ever have to replace, just clean (thoroughly). I personally ALWAYS pull the return line and pump ALL the old fluid out. Put 4 qts. in the pan and run till the 1st trace of air and shut it off and refill. That gets rid of ALL of the old fluid in the convertor and cooler and lines- much better than drain and flush, and you only have to do it once, not 3 times.

 

Since you did not spell it out completely ... Toyota Type IV is not the same as Dexron IV.

Salim

 

Can you tell me how you would clean the screen? I see guys saying to use brake cleaner or gasoline. But what exactly are you doing with it? It looks like there is no access to 90% of the filter. Are you just submerging it in cleaner and calling it good? How do you flush out the metal stuck in the screen? Do you need a new o-ring everytime?

Thanks!

 

I borrowed a baking pan from my wife and poured gasoline in it to submerge the filter. After lots of swishes and a gentle scrub with a brush, I poured fresh gasoline on the outside, so that the inner side gets flushed out through the hole. Followed by lots of shake and spin and then I let it air dry for hours.

Salim

 

Here is a brief history of this situation. Vehicle started having transmission problems which my parents ignored. It eventually stopped working nearly all together. All it would do was work for about 15 seconds and then fail. I did an initial filter clean but just replaced with old fluid (I know I know) which resulted in the transmission working but it would pause a second or two before engaging reverse and it was rough engaging from 3 to 4th.

Because I had success with the filter cleaning the first time I decided to do it right and I drained the fluid, cleaned the screen, replaced with new fluid and gasket, and did a fluid exchange to get as much of the oil ATF out. The result is there is still a delay in engaging reverse and now it is rough between 2nd to 3rd (around 30mph). The fluid level is correct and I'm still having these issues.

Is it possible this is computer related considering the roughness went from 3rd-4th to 2nd-3rd? Any ideas on the reason for the roughness and reverse delay?

 

carguy07, the way I cleaned the filter was to start by flushing the screen with gasoline. I had a large amount of stuff on the screen so I sprayed it with water to move the particles around. Then I went back with another gasoline flush and after a bit of time to dry, I gave it really good spray down with my air compressor. This allowed me to dry out all the clumps of particles which I then tapped the filter to break lose any clumps and have them fall out the hole. I did these last few steps (gasoline, air, tapping) a few times. The result was a really impressively cleaned screen. Thanks to Salimshah for the suggestion of using gasoline.

 

I think at this time you have caught up with maintenance part and now have to deal with diagnosis and repair. This is going to be a crap shoot without proper equipment and knowledge.

One can blindly remove and clean all solenoids. This can be reduced to all solenoids that are easy to access.

Salim

 

Once doing the drain and fill, or fluid exchange have you reseted the computer, by pulling the battery terminals off for 15mins? If not, this could be your problem.

 

By the way after rebuilding a ford tranny the home choice of cleaner is mineral spirits....(paint thinner) recommended in the transmission rebuild kit.

 

The battery was removed for 30 minutes (both sides). Did this after reading up more on resetting the ECU.

 

my 2000 rx experienced the same issue today. it will drive fine for like 5 minutes and shift fine but after 5 minutes it wouldnt do anything. so i shut of the car for like 5 seconds turn it back on and again the car would drive and shift fine for another 5 minutes. any ideas ????

 

I dont think the Castrol is a Synthetic blend. I cant find that info on there site anyway. But I do agree it`s a real good fluid, and a very good 2nd choice if you cant find the Toyota fluid anywhere.

 

I'm 99.9% sure that the Castrol Multi-Vehicle ATF is a synthetic blend. On the PDF attached it says "synthetic blend formulation", I've also read on many other sites such as BITOG that it is a synthetic blend.

But yes, it is a real good fluid, but it's BETTER than the Toyota Fluid by all means. The only reason to use the Toyota Fluid is for warranty reasons besides that there is no reason, fluids have come a long way since 99'. The formulation for toyota't type-iv has NOT changed, while other fluids have advanced by a lot. In the past it was better to use type-iv but now you can find much better fluids to replace toyota type-iv.

 

By Gosh your right! I certainly stand corrected on that one. And, I may just go back to that myself. Thanks for posting that information.

 

I had "roughness went from 3rd-4th to 2nd-3rd" this year. Dealer said my tranny fluid was way over fill. I diy my tranny fluid before and over fill it. They drained and fill at the right level and my RX was fine then. Check the fuild level again, may be it is just over fill.