transmission dipstick level reading

The best way to check transmission fluid level is with the fluid hot.

Are you checking it when it is running when you say COLD?

I have the same problem. The ATF level always above the HOT mark regardless the fluid is hot or not. Is it OK?

thanks for writing and asking ?

to make things very simple..

cold....level should between the two notches..of the cold hot ..level should be between two notches of the hot.

i prefer taking the readings when engine is hot....and as long as it s not the very bottom end.. shouldnt be a problem

miyanjee

...AND with the engine idling and in park of course!...

And after once shifting through each of the gears (at least that is how I learned to do it).

Merritt

IGNORE the dipstick when the trans is cold.

When the trans is warmed up, the fluid is pumped into all sorts of places, as the trans cools then the fluid drains from the far away places, and this makes it appear as though the level has risen.

Always check the trans when warm, engine running, and it Park.

Checking when cold will tell you the color of the fluid, but not much more unless you are a transmission guy. Ray, from the board here, will know what he sees on a cold transmission stick, but most of us will not know. The best information for us regular guys will come from a hot transmission.

It depends on how much too high it is. Much the same as the motor oil, it matters how much over filled it is to know what sorts of problems there can be.

So if I pull it out and it's dry then my trans will work OK?

I didn't say that. What I said was you can't judge how much fluid to pour in based on what the stick says when cold. If your trans isn't working right, looking at the stick isn't the way to find out, and looking at the stick in this case confirms your suspicions, it isn't your first indication.

When the trans is working right, and one is merely doing routine checking of the fluid level, the correct way to make this check is when the trans is warm.

If the trans is not working right, you usually find out when it is warm, and waiting for it to cool before pulling the stick seems counter intuitive to me, which makes your statement absurd.

Just so.

....and Ray's keyboard.

Well...maybe you got a point there guy... :)

C'mon Jeff...he was likely just trying to insert some levity into the discussion!... :)

OK, I'll share the factory rep's secret for diagnosis from looking at a cold automatic transmission dip stick: . . . . . . Translucent red - fluid is OK. Note: does not necessarily mean that the transmission is OK or that fluid level is OK. . . . . . . . Any color but translucent red - fluid is not OK and more checking is necessary, i.e., smell the fluid, research service and operating history, pressure test, stall test, manual shift test.

That's the same thing the regular guys get too, but some people have to hear it from the professionals.

Fluid=Black Smell=Burnt Manual Shift test=It's ALL I have! I HAVE to manually shift, or I won't GO anywhere!

Manual Shift test is good, BTW...

I thought you fixed that already...