AW55-50SN woes-easy to repair? Topic is solved

[thismachine13]

I guess my thoughts are that I would rather catch crap coming out of trans before it went into the radiator.

[thismachine13]

Not sure that the PO knows exactly what maintenance was performed on his transmission but the fluid was muddy looking. Going to go out on a limb and say that no drain and fill had been performed previously.

I ended up using almost a whole large can of Gumout carb cleaner and the long spray spout inserted in the drain hole. A lot of grayish blackish fluid came after spraying. Installed the magnefine filter at the lower hose.

Refilled the trans and it quieted the trans down and shifter fine until the fluid got hot and began slipping. Nursed it back in to my house to drain more and found the same “muddy water” fluid. Filled it again this time I added half a can of Seafoam trans tune.

Took it back out and drove until the trans got nice and hot with no shifting issues. I’ll do one more drain and use the other half can of trans tune.

Al this to say another possible was to get fluid past the clogged filter might be a long spray spout and some carb cleaner.

Cheers!

[vtl]

The filter will remain clogged, there's simply no way to clean it while it sits in the transmission.

[mark99tj]

Do a Gibbons drain and fill-- there are youtube videos and many write ups on the internet. Based on what you have already done, this is well within your abilities. You can pretty quickly get almost all new fluid into the transmission with a gibbons.

I have a 2002 with 108k miles. I had a flare between 2nd and 3rd and it would engage drive slowly and/or hard when hot. I did a few drain and fills after I bought it 12k miles ago and that helped a little, but the problems were still there. Over this weekend I did a gibbons and after 15 quarts of new fluid, the fluid coming out on my last drain was nearly indistinguishable from what I was putting in. I have driven it about 70 miles so far and it is like a brand new transmission. It shifts smoothly between all the gears. I have a few areas I drive where I know I will get a 2nd to 3rd flare almost 90% of the time, and I drove that last night 5 times and didn't get a single one.

[abscate]

I guess my thoughts are that I would rather catch crap coming out of trans before it went into the radiator.

The radiator passages on the ATF side are pretty big on the OEM radiator, and huge on the replacements like Nissens. It won't matter where the filter is, I think, with either.

[vtl]

The radiator passages on the ATF side are pretty big on the OEM radiator, and huge on the replacements like Nissens. It won't matter where the filter is, I think, with either.

Yeah, it's not actually a radiator, like A/C, intercooler or coolant ones. It's a heat exchanger. Nothing really to clog there.

[precopster]

You won't like the amount of curve on the lower trans cooling line...if you introduce a straight piece such as a filter you will end up with some nasty kinks. Best to keep the filter on the upper cooling line which is straighter and easier to swap out.

I ordered a new filter last week as I have had some pretty dirty fluid changes and some trans DTCs in mild to hot weather. Codes seem to disappear in the colder weather we're now having. I probably need new solenoids if I want to keep my T5 long term.

[vtl]

New filter model (with metal casing) fits much better between intercooler pipe, radiator and engine fan. Older one was a bit bulky.

[thismachine13]

Had no issues installing the online filter in the lower line.

So far the drain and fill has worked well. If at some point the trans stops working I’ll drill it. I’lll use an 11 blade that we have in the OR to cut the filter instead of small holes.

[volvodork]

As far as spraying the crud off the filter, you won’t need that long of a hose from the can. From the new hole the filter might only be a couple inches away from the hole but trying to spray it off might not be that effective due to the angle involved but it’s worth a try to see if the whining goes away after. Worst case would be you just drain the fluid and puncture the filter if it doesn’t work and the benefit is you already have the access hole drilled and tapped.