Fluid Drive was offered in at least two different setups- one was just
a fluid coupling after the clutch and before a conventional automatic,
which allowed you to take your foot off the clutch at idle and then
step on the gas to accelerate. IIRC, most of these versions used engine
oil for the fluid coupling, so a) it was filtered and b) it got changed
every time you changed the oil.

The other was a true semi-auto and would shift from low to high range
when you let off the gas (early versions) or when an appropriate speed
was reached (later versions). But neither had bands or multi-plate
clutches bathed in fluid which shed wear particles into the lubricant
and require filtering.

Honduh's automatic is, I gather, more of an automated manual
transmission (rube goldberg device) and so doesn't shed clutch material
into the fluid either. I still wouldn't own one.


william_b_noble wrote:

aaah, just for the record, I have a 1951 dodge with fluid drive (chrysler's
rejoinder to GM's hydromatic - a way of avoiding the patents) - it has no
filter, it uses 10 wt oil as the fluid and lubricant, and it's been going
fine for over 50 years. Of course it doesn't have bands and stuff. My
point here is that a filter doesn't make something last a long time by
itself.