I feel like a moron here, someone straighten me out.

I checked the trans level on the dipstick following the owners manual instructions, meaning warm up 20 min by driving, shifting threw gears, and checking on level ground. Did this many times, no reading on the dipstick.

When I let the truck sit for a while, and it's cold, I get fluid on the stick where it says COLD on the bottom. Weird.

So I go get a quart of Mercon 5, and dump in about half. Drive the truck, check per instructions, still nothing on the stick....

Any idea what I'm missing here? I'm hesitant to dump the whole quart in and overfill, seeing how much effort it is to drain. And FYI the trans works fine, no issues at all, shifts great.

 

Just checked it after the truck has been sitting for a few hours. Fluid is up to where it says COLD.

I guess I'm not getting the trans hot enough, should I run this thing on the highway at 70mph for 20 min? Usually I just check it after driving home from work which is stop and go city driving for 20 min.


I'll try this next.

 

check the fluid level in your transfer case also.the seal can go bad and let tranny fluid in. youll know if fluid pours out when you pull the fill plug.

 

Are you checking the tranny fluid with the engine running?

 

I have a feeling he's not..

 

Good catch but I actually did do it with engine running as well.

This truck was in a wreck a few years back, and part of the damage was the trans cooler was smashed and fluid was all over the road. The shop fixed it all but I'm GUESSING they probably didn't fill it all the way up, and just used the COLD level reading. I think it's low but maybe by a quart, because if it was WAY low I wouldn't get a COLD reading.

Anyway, I'm going to gets this trans boiling later today, running this thing ragged. How about some 0-100 runs on the freeway should do it.

 

Ahh well there ya go, it might just be a little low.. It's still on the cold side in NJ so you should take it out for a drive, get it up to temp before you check it. But you dont have to get the oil to boil or need to do 0-100 runs .

 

Ran it hard on the highway for 30 min after the added quart. Shows on the stick now at the very bottom of the hatched area, which is good.

Cold though it actually shows higher half way up the hatched area, weird, I still thought it should show higher when tranny is warm.

Anyway, I'm not adding any more I'm at the bottom range of normal hot and over when measured cold, average those out I'm good.

 

i would still check the level in the transfer case.

 

Very interesting. I had the same issue last summer. I would check the level when hot and running and I had nothing on the stick, wait until it cooled off and and it was on the stick in the cold region...? Fluid is red and has no odor and there is not a leak any place on my truck. I did not check the transfer case..yet.

I ended up adding 2 quarts before I got a reading when hot.

 

pull the top plug and see if fluid comes pouring out.

 

Well, I checked the inevitable today and removed the top plug. I would estimate 3-4 quarts of fluid came out of the upper plug on the transfer case. The transmission is again low when hot and okay when cold.
Today while I was under her draining the excess I noticed the drive line is shinny just before it enters the transfer case, I don't know if this is normal and I have just never noticed it or if this is abnormal, anyone have any input?



Hawkz28 have you found anything out opn yous yet?

 

I haven't gotten around to checking the transfer case, will do soon. I actually have to take the truck to the dealer soon for an oil change maybe I'll ask them to check.....

 

The driveline is normal. As your rear axle cycles up and down it will push and pull the slip yoke on the transmission/transfercase output shaft.

 

Thank you, that's what I wanted to hear!

I have priced both front and rear seals (minimal costs) and plan on dropping my transfer case in the near future. For now I guess I'll just keep flushing my tranny thru the transfer case...