re: fine metal mesh screen filters … @“Rod Knox” … That’s the type of filter in my 40+ year old Ford Truck’s C4 transmission. I just cleaned it and re-use during xmission services, but I’ve replaced it one time b/c the mesh started unraveling.
My 2002 Sienna has never had the transmission pan dropped, nor do I expect it to. Based on statements by Tom and Ray to a Jaguar owner at the time I bought the car, every so often (not a fixed amount of mileage, but far less than 30,000 miles) I take out the plug, allow 3 quarts of ATF to drain out, and add three quarts. For quite a long time, I have been using Mobil-1 Synthetic ATF.
At roughly 219,000 miles the transmission shifts out nicely, and the ATF is always looking like new.
Several dealers (actually their mechanics to be precise) have said the same thing. It is a screen, not a filter. Though some who have personally replaced it say it sure looks like a filter to them. And, they all insist it very seldom needs to be replaced.
My view or philosophy is different than many have. I read too much of problems caused by changing things, especially if you let someone else do it. I want to avoid doing anything that can be botched by other people.**
I am very careful just taking out the plug and putting it back in.
I would not be doing this on a Dodge or GM car, nor Honda Odyssey for that matter. That is just my own view.
If I buy a used Sienna as I expect, due to changed import laws, I do expect to have the pan dropped just once, then do a drain and fill again as on the 2002.
**I worked in a very high tech electronics factory. They did studies on this issue. Our MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) commonly ran around 30,000 hours on black boxes. I cannot remember the exact numbers 18 years after retiring, but they learned that any black box that had to be torn apart for some sort of repair (such as a component failing hot and cold cycling during testing) after first assembly had a noticeably lower MTBF. We hated it when we had to tear one apart. Our repair operators were probably among the world’s best, but it didn’t matter much how good they were. The chances of inducing some sort of future failure was statistically significant.