My feeling is that if you want to be cheap and not change the filter - well it is your car - your choice. However I think you are missing the point a bit about the process of changing the filter.

The process of draining through the lowest point - carrying heavier crud with it is important. Sucking oil out of the top of the transmission might leave heavier elements in the transmission. Not wiping out the lowest point in the transmission might also leave crud behind.

As I said the filter only protects the valve body. Have you seen the price of replacement brake bands for a 722.3?

Please don't misunderstand me - I'm not preaching - I'm just playing the FSM's advocate!

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I'm glad to be educated by you guys....and I enjoy the dialogue. And I'm the very last person in the world who wants unnecessarily to pay for a transmission repair!

When I insert the topsider tube, it goes to the bottom of something. Is it the pan I'm hitting or something else? Also, I had assumed that the crud sticks to the pan until it is cleaned. Is that not correct? Maybe to make sure I extract as much dirt as possible I need to do the extraction as soon as I shut off the engine....I usually wait a bit.

As you might suspect, I use the same procedure for changing my oil. Of course, in that case, the topsider gets out as much as you would when using the drain plug. I can't imagine there's ANY advantage to using the drain plug to change the oil.

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 159k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 178k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 145k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 75k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

And maybe I just need to overcome my torquing fears somehow....

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 159k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 178k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 145k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 75k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Do you guys tighten by feel or use a low-range torque wrench?

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 159k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 178k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 145k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 75k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

I start with a socket and 3/8" extension like a screwdriver, and my gloves are usually lubed with ATF. I use a hybrid head gasket-bowtie pattern like:

3 - 1 - 4
5 - 2 - 6

It must take a dozen rounds of snugging before it won't snug any further. Then I take a ratchet by its head and go a couple of three more rounds. I've never had a leak, I've never had to straighten a bent pan, and I've never had a gasket stick.

I use the same feel with Mopar and GM pans except those have 15 or more bolts. With those I start at a corner and tighten every third bolt until I've gone around a half dozen times. Then I start with the ratchet. I use RTV on the FWD Mopar because the ATF level is above one edge of the gasket. 220K miles on an original 41TE is a bigger achievement than 260K miles on a 722.3 The 41TE's starting to shudder when accelerating though

Sixto
87 300D

Nothing like being an advocate for something you haven't seen!!!


That might be why you are so confused.


Here is a direct quote from the Operations Manual:

The lube oil flows from the flow-off edge of control valve-working pressure to torque converter, from there to the oil cooler and back again to the transmission.

Army and TangoFox007, you guys are making this almost as fun as an oil thread!

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 159k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 178k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 145k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 75k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Army is so convinced that the transmission filter is just a decoration, I am waiting for him to recommend that it be removed and polished every six weeks.

What do you mean? This is an oil thread!

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Yeah right - I have seen the service interval requirements in the FSM...

Wow finally a reference to a real source of information has been made!

Which operations manual? To which transmission is this quote referring 722.1 or 722.3/4?

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

The one that is applicable to the subject vehicle, of course.