Gentlemen,

With the beast open for fiddling with my door light issue, I figured I might as well check the oil. then I got the brght idea to check the transmission fluid, which I almost never do (bad bad bad, I know).

Truck is stone cold, after ditting for several days. It's mid 70's. So I expect to find it betwen the "cold" level markers. Nope. It's up over the "do not add" marker!!

Now, the last service this had was a couple of years ago, I changed the transmission filter. It was stalling when I shifted into reverse and someone suggested a blocked filter was somtimes the problem. It improved the behaviour, but didn't completely remedy it. Anyway, at the time, I thought I had re-filled it properly, but....

I suppose I must have, somehow, overfilled it, grossly, and have been driving it like that since then.

The last couple times out, it didn't want to shift into reverse at all. I'd move the shifter to R, but the tranny wouldn't shift until I gave it some gas, then it shifted with a clunk.

I was thinking - oh, great, tranny rebuild time (it already got a rebuilt unit 5 years ago). But - dare I hope that being very over-filled can cause this behaviour and all I have to do is drain it?

Thanks.

 

Was the engine running or not, when you checked the fluid level?

 

Uh, well, uh, you see, uh......

some of us aren't that smart.....

 

Is that a yes, a no, or a weak attempt at sarcasm?

 

Well if you put in the 13 qts it calls for without first draining the tq converter (independent drain from the actual pan) then you might have overfilled yeah.

Not shifting into a gear until you hit the gas is a symptom of low fluid. If it is banging going into gear now... dunno yeah it might be rebuild time or just find a low-mileage used one and just take a weekend with a buddy and a case of beer to swap it out for 1/3 the price.

 

Sorry - it was self-directed sarcasm. I checked it with the engine off even though I know perfectly well it needs to be done with it running. Brain wasn't fully on last night.

Cold, and engine running it's just a hair above the top cold level and into the bottom of the hot level. Minor overfill. Nothing to worryu about, I don't think. And of course, it shifts flawlessly this morning. I'll have to check this our in more detail once I deal with the other current issues.

Thanks.

 

I wouldn't say there's any overfill. If you checked it in the winter the level would be slightly lower.