Filter and gasket:
Ford Focus transmission pan gasket and filter. Local AdvacneAuto only carries Duralast, which Im typically not a big fan of but this kit feels decent. Google and youll find many vendors (WIX, ATP,) offer a transmission filter kit for the Focus. If I were to do this again, I would go with Motorcraft fitler + FelPro gasket.
- The gasket has a quality feel to it thick, the holes as sized just right to hold the bolt stead, and fits perfectly.
- The Duralast filters exterior material composition definitely feels cheaper than the OEM filter. Its a very simple contraption so it doesnt matter and its having the clean media inside that matter, which I cannot tell. The Focus filter differs slightly from the OE Mazda filter in that the protruding tube extension for the oil coming out is ~.5 shorter again cosmetic b/c it all goes into the pan.
Sorry, not thinking and put this on an old black towel for background
Amsoil
Dirty Pan/Filter:
Heres the pic most are waiting for. I bought the car with ~55K miles and this was taken with ~58K. The PO was a suburban NJ woman driver. I am willing to bet this transmission is on the better end of use/abuse b/c of the suburban roads and mild manner driver. The pan is not covered in sludge or anything and the magnet does have metallic particle build up but this is expected. You can decide if think it is worth cleaning. Im glad I did. Take magnet off and wipe clean, then spray down the pan with brake cleaner and let dry.
Clean Pan:
The OE gasket maker material is quite pliable. Hindsight, the easiest way to get it off is to simply rub it off with a non-scouring sponge. The pan has a slight raised grove so it is not super important to get it all off. As long as the raised grove is smooth and clean for the gasket to ensure a flat mount, it is a.o.k with me. I do believe it is important to clean off all of the gasket material on the underside of the transmission case (flat surface). I used a straight edge razor to scrape off the big chunks then rubbed the rest off with a piece of cloth.
Underside of transmission case
The bolts seem quite rusted at first and I was reluctant to take them off fearing the head might get rounded and Id need to use a extraction tool. I sprayed a little bit of Kroil and let sit for ~10 mins and it cleaned up nicely. Bolts come off very easily. Once you remove all of the bolts, the pan will still be nicely secured by the gasket maker compound. Knocking at it with a (small/light) rubber mallet is not enough. I positioned a long 2x4 again the pan horizontally and whack at the 2x4 with a nice sized hammer. Hit around at all sides and it will fall off easily. Just be aware that it will FALL once loose. You can leave 4 bolts to loose hold it in place but I didnt do that fearing the bolts might get damaged.
I make a habit of marking bolts and where they came from so I can put them back into the same threading. This didnt apply anyway b/c I re-tap/die everything nice and smooth mount. I might be on the crappy end of things b/c there is a good amount of surface rust and debris build up. When tightening, this can be a way of planning out and marking the order to tighten. It gets confusing b/c there are so many bolts and so close together. Take you eye off for a second and you wont remember which is which I ended up using a white chalk to mark each bolt as I tighten, then retighten all in a star distributed pattern.
To do a complete flush, all you need to do is remove a clamp (albeit a little difficult to reach and requires a little maneuvering) and loosen one hose. Theres a technique to this, which is hard to explain with text. You do NOT pull, ever. I can try to discuss it with you if anyone is seriously interested. You then plug in a 3/8ID hose ($.25/ft, you need ~3ft). The fluid comes out of the cooler at a pretty good rate (~2 quarts in ~10 secs very rough guestimate based on memory and eyeing it). Just be sure to cycle through the gears (P, R, D) when draining to get all residual fluid out.
Cooler out (back to case)
The round thing is the cooler. Hose to the left is the ATF inlet (out of the case) and hose to the right is the outlet (back into the case).
Remove air box and you see the inlet line back to case.
[img=http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/194/img1838jm.jpg]
I took an old washer fluid jug and (under) marked it by filling it with water from an empty one quart motor oil container. Run the flush line directly into this container so you know roughly how much came out. Makes filling a lot easier to track.
This much came out from draining the pan.
I just took a ~800 mile round trip (hence I wanted to do the ATF before I go) and so far no leaks. Up-shifts are SO smoother (barely noticeable) and the down shifts are quick and you feel the quick change. Very happy with the results. Now I need to add the cooler and filter to further prolong the tranny.
