86.5 Auto drops in neutral in every corner (Page 2/4)
skywurz APR 12, 11:59 AM

quote
Originally posted by Cliff Pennock:


😂

Anyways, I can't think of a way that both the trans fluid cooler and the radiator itself would share a problem causing them both to loose fluid. If the trans fluid cooler was leaking, wouldn't trans fluid leak in the coolant and vice versa?



As theogre pointed out if it was an internal leak you WOULD have all sorts of coolant inside your transmission.

However i would still look for damage on the radiator especially on the driver's side where the ATF lines attach. An external object could have gotten kicked up and damaged the tank and the atf line resulting in minor external leaks.

My road debris causing a crack can also ring true for the coolant tubes or atf tubes. However I find it less likely for a coolant tube to crack and weep.

You have 2 problems that could be totally separate from each other. I just like to look at the things or parts, that are in common with problem areas.
dremu APR 12, 02:25 PM
Also, wrt reading the dipstick, yeah, they're a PITA. On mine, I drilled holes through the end at the "fill", "full", and inbetween ... just like an 1/8" or smaller hole. Your Dremel and a diamond burr can do the trick. The ATF generally gets in the hole if the fluid is to that level, but if the hole is see-through, you know it didn't reach that.

Alternately, I've seen folks deepen the scores across the "fill" and "full" lines (again, Dremel with a wheel) to make them easier to see.

-- A
reinhart APR 18, 03:52 AM

quote
Originally posted by dremu:

Also, wrt reading the dipstick, yeah, they're a PITA. On mine, I drilled holes through the end at the "fill", "full", and inbetween ... just like an 1/8" or smaller hole. Your Dremel and a diamond burr can do the trick. The ATF generally gets in the hole if the fluid is to that level, but if the hole is see-through, you know it didn't reach that.

Alternately, I've seen folks deepen the scores across the "fill" and "full" lines (again, Dremel with a wheel) to make them easier to see.

-- A



I wipe the dipstick, put it back in the trans. Then I pull it, take a clean paper towel and rather than wipe the stick, I lay it flat on the paper towel. Lift the stick off a small amount and you'll see where the fluid ends.
reinhart APR 18, 03:55 AM
I had a tranny fluid leak in one of the rubber hoses from the tranny to the side wall. It only would leak after the car had been running about 15 minutes. The way I figured it out was it was a pin leak and fluid would shoot out like a fountain and land exactly on the exhaust creating white smoke from the engine compartment when the fluid got hot. Now if you're not lucky like I was and it's just hitting the ground (and only while driving), you'd never know you had a hot hose leak. I'd replace them both if they're original hoses still.
cmechmann APR 19, 08:50 PM
2 points
First. GM transmissions like to "swipe" fluid on the side of the dip stick from fluid lying in areas where the tube bends. If you turn the stick over with enough fluid on it, you get a bad read. Warm up, shut down, wait about 5 mins, start up idle. Dry stick. To help with fluid being in the tube, try to install and withdraw the stick as fast as possible. To the point of positioning the loop where it slides in the best. The quickness of it will cause the fluid to streak instead of wicking. On a dry stick, only the area that covers all the way across is the reading. That would be what is submerged.

Depending on how old the seal on the transmission filter is, could be sucking up air on right turns.
Cliff Pennock APR 20, 03:33 AM
I was finally able to get a reading from the dip stick. The tip of the stick was barely covered. At the lowest line on the stick it said "Add 5L" or so I thought. It was early, I wasn't really awake yet and wasn't wearing my glasses so I pored in 4L of fluid... Then I when I wanted to check the level again, I finally put on my glasses and only then did I see it did not read "Add 5L" but "Add .5L".

For cyrin' out loud, why would you omit the zero when designing this dipstick? The dot is hardly visible.

That and the fact that of course I'm stupid .

Aaaaaanyway. 4L is about 4 Quarts and I know the entire system holds around 9 Quarts? Don't know how much really needed to be added if the oil barely touched the dip stick? Is it dangerous driving the car now? Can I ruin the transmission? Should I drain a few Quarts first?
Cliff Pennock APR 20, 03:49 AM
I know the answer probably is going to be "yes, you need to drain the fluid".

So unless someone tells me that's not necessary, I was wondering if I could simply siphon out the excess fluid. Reason being I don't have a garage and everything needs to be done at the side of the road in the car's parking spot. On a public road that is. So if there's a shortcut, I'd take it.
Dennis LaGrua APR 20, 04:18 AM

quote
Originally posted by Cliff Pennock:

I know the answer probably is going to be "yes, you need to drain the fluid".

So unless someone tells me that's not necessary, I was wondering if I could simply siphon out the excess fluid. Reason being I don't have a garage and everything needs to be done at the side of the road in the car's parking spot. On a public road that is. So if there's a shortcut, I'd take it.



There are siphon tools that you can use to pump the transmission fluid out of the dipstick tube but that doesn't fix a possible clogged filter that is 20 or 30 years old. As a first step you can try adding some fresh fluid and see what happens and always check the level when the engine is at operating temperature.

------------------
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Cliff Pennock APR 20, 04:53 AM
I went ahead an siphoned out slightly over 3 Quarts, so I have effectively added 1 Quart (which seemed about right, considering how low the level was). I then let the engine run idle (it was still hot from my trip this morning before I added the trans fluid). and checked it again. It still seemed low so I added another 1/2 Quart. The dipstick is terribly difficult to read but it looked like it was now okay. I took it for a drive and the phantom shifting is gone. After the drive I checked the level again and it still looked okay. But like I said, reading the dipstick is a pita but it's either still too low or just fine. At least it's not overfilled now.

I will recheck the level this afternoon when I have to make another trip.
RWDPLZ APR 20, 07:01 PM
For future reference: Most dipsticks, between the full and low marks, is 1 Quart.