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It would not be possible to get to the filter with the tranny in the car. To gin access to the filter, the case has to be split at the center seam right next to the ID tag you can see on top the the case. The filter itself is held in place with one 10mm bolt. As in a lot of cases, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As for prevention, pulling the plug and draining would be the utmost importance. In hindsight, if I had done that before I started the engine after the head gasket change, I probably would not have had a problem. Simply because the car had been sitting for several months, the crud had settled in the bottom right where the pump sucks it up. In my opinion, an inline filter(which I considered) would do little to help since the fluid it would be filtering would have already gone through the pump filter. It might even create a problem by restricting the flow to the cooler and causing an increase in internal fluid temp. Also, I don't feel a cleaner like seafoam would be necessary. On this tranny, even though the pump filter was completely plugged, the tiny filters in the valve body were squeeky clean. I am not an auto trans mechanic but, from general inspection of all internal parts, I could see no problems. I could still read the numbers printed on the clutch surfaces. All gears and bearings look good. Bear in mind, this is a tranny with 180K. I'm beginning to think the root cause of a lot of tranny problems is a plugged filter. My standard proceedure in the future will be: every other engine oil change, I will drain the tranny and refill with fresh fluid. In my mind, that will keep junk from collecting in the bottom. 3 1/2 qts of ATF is a small price to pay
I appreciate anyones thoughts on this
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