I noticed last weekend while changing my oil that the small hose clamp on the hose coming out of the tranny cooler was loose and that some transmission fluid had leaked out. When I checked the level, it was just above the min level. My question is, when I got the truck I got the tranny serviced and I am pretty sure my mechanic put ATF +3 in it, and I went to the store today and all I could find was ATF+4; that's even what the guy looked up on the computer as well.Would it be okay for me to use it to top it off without damaging the transmission? Is there any chance that I've damaged the tranny since I may have driven a little bit before realizing the leak? Thanks a lot guys for the help.

 

you will be fine with ATF+4 , top it off ASAP...

 

you should be using ATF+4 in your trans. its much better than ATF+3

 

Thanks a lot guys. I haven't driven the truck since I found out it was low, so hopefully no excessive damage has been done. I got a couple of quarts to top it off, so hopefully that should be enough. Thanks again for the help.

 

Whatever you do make sure you don't OVERFILL it. Add the fluid slowly and keep checking it. When you're checking it make sure the truck is running and is in neutral. Not park. and I don't think this needs to be said, but make sure you set the parking brake.

 

Thanks a lot man. I'm thinking about just changing out the fluid altogether. I'm in a fluid power class right now and we've been talking a lot about overfilling and underfilling pumps in systems and how that can ruin everything in a very short amount of time. Also, if it has gotten down too low and excessive amounts of metal shavings have developed(I hope not), that could be very bad as well. In light of all of these thoughts, I'm a little paranoid knowing all of the problems a lot of people have with these transmissions. Do you guys think that would be a good idea, even though it's only been like 4000 miles since it was just changed and adjusted, to go ahead and change the fluid/gasket/filter, just in case?

 

change your oil to amsoil!

 

your tranny will be fine. a little low won't hurt anything.
it never hurts to change the fluid and filter. a little expensive though, at $5/qt.
do yourself a favor and put in a $5-10 drain plug in the pan. it makes its sooooo nice next time.
ATF+4 replaces the ATF+3. it won't hurt to mix them. just don't use anything other than this.

 

Thanks man. I'm going to go ahead and change out the tranny fluid today with Valvoline ATF+4 Full Synthetic along with changing my oil with Royal Purple. Hopefully I'll be able to tell a difference using these two full synthetics. Thanks again guys for all of the help.

 

-1 on the valvoline synthetic ATF, I would go with mopar ATF +4, I think you can get it, at walmart............