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A transmission filter is an integral component of your car’s transmission system, helping keep dirt and metal shavings out of your transmission fluid, as well as protecting against costly transmission damage in the future. It helps ensure that dirt does not contaminate it and develop into internal damage that could cost more money to fix later.
Filters and fluid should be changed every 30,000 to 100,000 miles; this may differ depending on your vehicle’s make, model, age and other factors. Therefore, it’s advisable to review your owner’s manual to find optimal maintenance schedules as soon as possible!
The Filter
Filters are an essential part of every transmission system. Their purpose is to prevent metal shavings and dirt from contaminating transmission fluid and disrupting gear changes; additionally, it removes shavings that have collected due to general wear-and-tear on your vehicle’s transmission.
As soon as an engine starts running, a pump transfers fluid from its pan through a filter and into various passages within the valve body, where pressurized fluid acts on control devices that switch gears in the transmission.
Filters are constructed of fibrous material designed to trap any contaminants before they can reach the fluid being filtered. Depending on its purpose, different filters may contain various materials in its construction.
Modern automatic transmissions often utilize internal filters with improved filtration capabilities, providing larger surface areas than external filters to capture more particles and contaminants.
As part of their system, oil pumps also contain a gasket designed to ensure a tight seal and pickup tube connecting directly with an oil pump. Both components must function smoothly for proper functioning; once damaged or clogged up they should be promptly replaced.
Filters come in various forms; metal plates with mesh-type inserts or cloth-based filters may be utilized. Most commonly, however, filters made of woven wire mesh or cloth provide precise opening sizes and filter out impurities from air.
Clogged filters can lead to serious transmission fluid problems that will have detrimental repercussions for your vehicle and the transmission fluid itself. Signs of clogging include automatic transmission slippage, burning fluid smell and possible leakage of transmission fluid from inside your transmission.
Filter replacement is one of the easiest and cost-effective ways you can protect and preserve the condition of your vehicle. By regularly changing out both transmission fluid and filter, it will help avoid expensive damages that might otherwise arise from neglecting to check how they’re functioning properly and keep costs to a minimum.
When your transmission requires repair or maintenance, it’s essential that it be handled by an experienced auto mechanic. At AAMCO Colorado, our technicians are committed to keeping your car running like new and are delighted to offer all the services necessary to keep it that way.
The Gasket
Gaskets are used to seal off gaps between two or more parts, preventing leaks or other issues from negatively affecting their function. Gaskets come in various materials depending on your application needs and should always be tested prior to being installed into service.
Gaskets are typically constructed out of flat materials like rubber or silicone, with various cross-section shapes such as round, square or rectangular being commonplace. Some designs even feature tongues which fit into cutouts on mating surfaces for additional sealing capability.
Resonators are an essential component of engine parts, particularly head and exhaust systems, protecting against potential engine damage by keeping out dust, dirt, fluids and gases that might enter the combustion chamber and potentially lead to clogging issues.
Material selection for gaskets can have a substantial effect on their performance. Selecting an optimal material requires considering strength, flexibility, resistance to chemicals and internal pressure as well as durability and adhesion with other materials – it must also withstand extreme abrasion, impact and temperature conditions.
For instance, PTFE is often preferred when making gaskets due to its excellent chemical and thermal resistance and wide variety of shapes available for specific uses. Natural rubber is another popular material choice as it’s both versatile and durable, working well on both metal and plastic surfaces.
Some gaskets come in various forms, including jacketed or double-jacketed varieties as well as spiral-wound and Kammprofile designs.
Some gaskets are designed to withstand high pressure levels, with some featuring a PxT rating factor to indicate their maximum allowable pressure and temperature values. These features are particularly helpful in applications involving hydraulic hoses or pressurized lines as well as mechanical loads on flanges.
When replacing a gasket, take care in applying it correctly for optimal performance from your new part. As a DIY mechanic, replacing all gaskets in an assembly at once may lower risk of subsequent failure and ensure optimal results from this replacement step.
The Pickup Tube
The pickup tube is an integral component of an engine oil pump that transports oil from an oil reservoir to the oil pump itself. It consists of a transporting tube portion which delivers it, and a pump end featuring an insert cylinder with outer diameter D and oil outlet in fluid communication with transporting tube portion; as well as an attached tapered formation running between these elements and transporting tube portion.
Located Formation has an upper surface designed to axially locate an o-ring seal, supplied preassembled on a pick-up tube to seal against oil pump housings. If it rolls off during engine assembly it can cause significant damage that will require costly engine rebuild or replacement costs.
Oil pumps come equipped with various types of pickup tubes that share one characteristic in common: They tend to be small and restrictive, limiting how much oil can flow out of their pump at one time.
Restrictive oil pump restrictions can lead to cavitation at higher engine speeds. To address this problem, larger pickup tubes and an expanded inlet screen for pickup must be added into your oil pan.
BLOX Racing’s Mega Flow Pickup Tube can help address this problem. Constructed of heavy duty aluminum, its purpose is to deliver an unbroken oil supply for your engine.
This tube comes equipped with a stainless steel screen to filter particulates from oil, helping ensure that proper fuel flow in your engine. This feature further makes this tube superior over others on the market.
This tube can be used with both 4.6 and 5.4 SOHC engines and will clear most windage tray/stud setups. Additionally, this tube works with higher volume pumps but for optimal clearance it is advised that you slightly bend it to ensure a proper fit.
The Seal
Seals are an integral component of transmission filters, serving to keep dirt and metal shavings out of transmission fluid. Constructed from rubber material, these seals should be installed correctly so as to extend its lifespan and avoid transmission failure.
Seals belong to the Carnivora order of mammals and have evolved to live aquatic environments. While their eyesight remains just as sharp underwater as in air, seals also possess various senses that help detect prey such as whiskers – thick hairs that vibrate whenever a fish or other animal moves near.
Scientists have recently discovered that seals utilize whiskers on their flippers to detect vibrations in the water and track prey more effectively. Furthermore, scientists found these whiskers are more sensitive than humans allowing seals to detect vibrations up to 100m away.
Seals possess a highly developed sense of hearing due to the nerve endings located at the base of their whiskers and can detect vibrations caused by objects moving in water.
Seals use their sense of smell to identify their prey with precision even when blindfolded and wearing headphones, and can detect their prey with pinpoint accuracy even without vision or hearing aids. Smelling it sends information directly into their brain which pinpoints where their prey lies in the water – this allows them to locate it quickly even without visual clues.
Seals have the ability to detect chemicals present in their environment, which allows them to find sustenance even in areas with high levels of contaminants such as PCBs, DDT, or DDE which have toxic effects on seals as well as other mammals.
Seals have the ability to detect hot engines by sensing the heat emanating from them, helping avoid fire and further damages caused by them. This feature of seals makes them valuable in helping avoid serious engine fires from occurring and further engine damages from occurring.
Seals are an integral component of transmission filters and must be installed correctly for it to function effectively, or else your transmission may no longer operate correctly and will need replacing altogether.