I have a 1999 Dodge Durango 5.2L V8 with 4WD. It actually has 230,000 miles on it.

I haven't changed the fluid or filter in the transmission in this myself, and it hasn't been done at all in a while. When I got the pan off and checked the magnet there wasn't much debris on it at all and all of the fluid still looked fairly new.

My question is this, the last time it was taken apart was by Aamco to rebuild the tranny. The filter that was already in there was literally just the wafer part. It has three bolts holding it up to the valve body. The new filter I bought from Autozone was more of a box and the wafer was in the middle of it. The new one only had 2 of the 3 bolt holes.

This is what the new filter looks like
http://www.amazon.com/Wix-58613-Auto.../dp/B000C9WLEW

This is what the old one looked like
http://www.streetperformance.com/ART...lter_large.jpg

Am I missing something here? Since the chance I have felt the transmission slightly slip three times. I am wondering if its getting used to the new stuff or is something wrong? As an added note we used 4 quarts of ATF +4. This is what autozone said to use.

 

Check the fluid level to ensure that you have enough fluid in there in the first place. This is done by driving around until the tranny is warmed. Park it and set the E-brake on a level surface. Run the transmission through all of the gears with the engine running stopping at each one put the shifter into neutral and check the fluid level. ATF +3 is all you need in the 98-99 models but ATF +4 won't do any harm to the tranny just never go below the recomended fluid type.

 

The new filter you have linked in the thread looks just like the filter I use on my 5.9 tranny.

 

Just a cheaper filter is all.. lacking the plastic cover.

 

If the old filter is held up with 3 screws and the new filter has only two holes for screws, then take one of the screws and screw it into the valve body and then install the new filter.