If anyone is interested in seeing what the inside of Honda's ATF inline filter looks like, here is the one I removed from my '16 Pilot today with 90,000 miles. All in all I thought it looked pretty good. Sorry about the blurriness. All the debris and damaged filter material is my doing from using a hacksaw to cut it open, not usage. When I gave it a close inspection, all I saw was black filter material, nothing else. And certainly no accumulated gunk like you typically wipe off the magnetized filler plug. The bypass valve opened easily.
I've done a few simple ATF drain and refills thru the years, but always wondered in the back of my mind if I should change the filter. I know Honda has no prescribed maintenance interval on this part. The parts guy at the dealer told me the only time they sell these filters is when a tyranny is being overhauled, or a fastidious owner like me
wants to do more than Honda requires. Still I'm glad I did it. It may be my imagination, or just wishful thinking, but the car seemed to drive smoother when I took it for a test drive afterwards. Hardest part was getting access to the bracket bolt that holds the filter in place. Everything else seemed to fairly easy.


I've done a few simple ATF drain and refills thru the years, but always wondered in the back of my mind if I should change the filter. I know Honda has no prescribed maintenance interval on this part. The parts guy at the dealer told me the only time they sell these filters is when a tyranny is being overhauled, or a fastidious owner like me