So lets say a fella didn't measure his out going trans fluid. He dropped the pan and let it drain for 3 hours. Changed the filter. He read in haynes it was 4 quarts to drain and fill. Yeah, he won't trust that again.

He put in the 4 quarts he bought. But his dip stick doesn't get to the word min.

1, would this guy really need upwards up 7-11 quarts total? I doubt that much came out. My drain pan is 15 quarts. There had to be at least a gallon of motor oil in it...from the wife's car. It didn't over fill with trans. Max 11 quarts could be in there. But no way of determining what was in there before I started(enclosed)

2, describe the harm of a 5 mile drive to get more fluid?

I drove it about 3/4 mile around the block...shifted it around rnd,1,2 several times, to verify my current reading.

 

This is a funny dipstick to read...inconsistent results.

right now 5 quarts on a engine fully to temp gets someplace between min and the bottom of the ok range. I've checked a few sources and most seem too agree drain/ fill should be 4 quarts.

However looking on forums I see 6, 7, and more in actual experience.

 

Yep. The longer it sits and drains, the more you will have to put back in. 4 is a good STARTING point...... Be sure and run the trans thru the gears as well..... don't actually have to drive it, just make sure it engages in 1st, and reverse. Be sure and check fluid level in neutral.

 

If I understand correctly - you can check it when full operating temp (after a 15 minute drive in city stop/go conditions, my engine temp gauge reads what it normally get up to...) find a level place to park, shift to 1st - wait 5-10 sec, 2nd - same wait, D- same wait, reverse - same wait - then land in neutral...with engine idling in neutral - check and it should be up to the 'max' of the crossed area (an approximate centimeter of dip stick). When I do that I seem to be pretty consistently getting to the middle of this section...with 6.5 quarts in....I seemed to be about the same with 6 quarts in...almost no difference at all on the dipstick.

Now, for whatever reason on the other unmarked side I'm much lower. I've read advice that says both sides should look the same, but that was not vehicle/transmission specific advice. However, I'm thinking that on this vehicle the way the dip stick sits one half would get less fluid contact, or...and this seems more likely, when you drag it out the back 'half' of the dip stick loses fluid to friction of being pulled from the tube.

Incidentally - for poops and giggles I ran the same check but landed in park and it indicates I'm overfilled. However, most (but not all) sources seem to agree you don't check in park, you check in neutral (though I do run into an occasional source that mentions checking in park. I can only imagine that when you gear select part you are sloshing something around, or transmission fluid is being drained to the pan.

checking on an engine that had merely been idled for 5 minutes and then ran through gear selection as described yielded much less consistent results...though that was 1.5 quarts ago....so maybe it would be consistent now.

Should my goal on a fully warmed engine (highway speeds 15 minutes be up to the max)

 

So long as it is in the 'safe' range, it's all good.

Unless you trans has been modified, you MUST check in neutral to get an accurate reading.

 

any concern that it's considerably different on one side of the stick than the other? This is consistent, if I put the stick in 'upside down' the side which reads higher is always the 'skyward' side of the stick....does my hypothesis about losing fluid when I pull up the dip stick hold water?

-Ray

BTW - I've only been on here a month, and I'm starting to realize a lot of my questions have had existing answers in the form of various sticky's...thanks for taking the time to help rather than just say "go read the sticky's buddy"

 

I have seen the 'varied' readings before..... I think it has to do with the angle the stick goes into the pan, and what part of the stick drags on the tube when you pull it. That's the only reason I can really wrap my head around for one side being significantly lower than the other.... (or, maybe the crosshatch on the stick just holds the fluid better.... who knows. )