I blew a tranny cooler hose on the interstate once and didnt know until it started slipping and saw the huge cloud of ATF smoke in the rear view. Got off the road and fixed the hose, added ATF+4, and that was about 7,000 miles ago and its workin fine yet, so if you do fix the leak you may be alright...

 

That's a bit reassuring. I'm gonna top it off too.

Does anyone know where "full" should read cold on the dipstick?

 

Best way to check is in normal operating temps with tranny in Neutral. Not sure where it would be when correct and cold...

 

I think when it is cold it reads higher... but yeah best thing is to check it like stewie said

 

Right. I know it must be hot, but I don't want to get it got knowin it's low. I want to get it more or less to a "safe" level and then run and check it.

 

Drive it around the block a few times, let it idle for a few minutes, just need things in a normal temperature, shouldn't take long.

 

Out of curiosity I pulled the dip stick with trans cold and the fluid level is 2" above the max line. Doesn't mean a damn thing, but hey I was bored.