So I finally got around dropping the pan and changing the ATF on my 2000 Dodge Caravan with the 3.3 engine and the 4 speed AT. Last time was at 75KM at a shop, now I have 103KM. Everything went okay, except, I do not have any magnets in the pan. I am guessing some curious kid took it off and forgot to put it on. I was watching them “almost” all the time, but my focus was mostly on the fact that I wanted them to use my own ATF 4 and not anything else, so I might have missed the magnet side of the things.
So the car has gone 25+KM without a magnet, fluid was okay, filter clean and no debris or shavings. The question is do I have to find a magnet and put it in there? What would happen without it.
If you know tell me where to get a magnet, I don’t think the boneyard would disassemble a whole unit for me.
You can obtain magnets at Staples, Office Depot, Radio Shack and order them from amazon.com to name a few. Some auto parts stores even carry them. Just make sure they are strong.
Yes, but I really tried hard and the pan has no leaks, and I somehow had decided to do this at 10PM on Sunday, there were no stores open.
So do I really need to open it up and put a magnet in now?
If you put one of those really strong magnets (like neodymium) on the outside of the pan, I wonder if it would work just about as well.
Buy a Magnefine in line filter and put it in the cooler line.
…and putting it on the outside should be fine as long as it doesn’t fall off. Old hard drive magnets work very well.
Here it is in a Wix