To make a very, very long story short, I checked my automatic transmission fluid today while the truck was cold/parked & saw nothing, just a tiny drop of brownish fluid on the tip of the dipstick. Checked it again when it was hot and there was clearly thin pink fluid, no bad smell, but between truck heat & 95+ degree weather, the fluid was so thin I couldn't tell if it was between the lines on the dipstick or not... so I added about half a quart, and the fluid is still so thin I can't tell if it's at the right level. Truck is shifting okay, think there's a slight problem on the column itself.

Anyway, how will I know if I added too much ATF? Will it just bubble out the dipstick, or am I risking something more dangerous? I want to do a full drain & flush, but that's not on the calendar for another couple of months...

 

Not to be sarcastic, but the most obvious symptom of an over-full transmission would be the fluid level being past the full mark. If you let the light hit the dipstick right, you should be able to see the fluid line. If your fluid is so thin that you can't see it, it's either not there, or there's a problem with the fluid.

 

You said you added "about half a quart" so your ok, that's not going to cause any issues, you seen ATF on the tip of dipstick when checked cold, it expands when hot so it's nothing to worry about.

 

did you check the fluid with the engine running? and in gear? (although maybee thats just my jeep manual that says to do it in gear, i cant remember...)

 

You check the level with the engine running in PARK.

Josh

 

not on my jeep, the owners manual says in drive with the emergency brake applied

 

thanks all. i did check it while running & in park after driving for about 20mi and then shifting once through all the gears, which i think is the procedure described in the owners manual. there's now fluid up a little above the fill mark, albeit so thin that it doesn't actually "pool" between the two dipstick holes. just gonna keep an eye on the dipstick, but it's running/shifting ok, so should be good enough 'til i get to do the complete flush. just wanted to check in with y'all in case there was some, "overfilling will make your whole trans explode" kind of issue specific to our trucks that i wasn't able to find in my web surfing.

 

i just consulted my owners manual and it says "overfilling of transmission fluid can result in foaming and loss of fluid from the dipstick tube."

 

You must be lost... This isn't a Jeep forum.

Josh

 

if you re-read my first post i said i wasnt sure if that was just a jeep thing...

 

Doesn't matter... don't give out advice you know nothing about. The manual should state to operate the vehicle to operating temperature, SET PARKING BRAKE and put transmission in park or neutral.

What dumb company would tell someone to put their vehicle in drive with the parking brake set and then proceed to open the hood and have a little look-see?

Lawsuit waiting to happen.

Josh

 

Fluid on the ground. Seriously. The C4 in my 76 had a vent pipe. I also wasn't sure If I was reading it correctly either, so anyway when I happened to overfill the fluid it got hot and ran on to the ground.

Not to add to the fire, but I've read that to check the idle speed of an engine with an automatic (Ford Truck specific) to put it in drive with the parking brake on.

Would I get in front of the car like that? No, not without something big to keep the truck from moving, and not with my parking brake.

Carry on...

Josh

 

as i said in my posts i wasn't sure of that being just a jeep thing, also i was thinking of setting the timing.

there was no need of the rude comments posted earlier. i admit i was wrong, but still. people shouldn't be jumping down your throat over a mistake...

 

The leads on a Tachometer or specifically an Engine Analyzer are long enough to set up on the cowl so a person could get in the vehicle and see what the RPM is in drive.

Can't do that with a dipstick.

Josh

 

Oh I definitely agree, but I used to pull my dipstick from the pass side when I had that truck so I guess it would be safer than if standing in front to pull it if one was to want to put it in drive.