Had a great day today with the tranny. Pulling a trailer quite a while, and noticed that the tranny wasnt shifting very well. Got to where I was going and put the truck in reverse, and voila, nothing.

After looking around, and finding the tranny out of oil, I discovered that the dipstick tube had popped out, and thus all the oil followed.

Pulled codes, and got a p 0733, p0782, p0781, p1783, and p0640.

Smelled the dipstick, smelled like burnt toast, yikes. Put new fluid in, fixed the dipstick tube, and now the tranny still doesnt seem to shift like it used to, but it works.

So whats the word, did I just get hosed from a dipstick popping out and should I expect to do a tranny replacement in the near future?

Im bummed, baby my truck all the time, and a stupid tube pops out and tranny gets burnt......ugh!

 

How many miles do you think you drove like that? Do you think the tranny overheated any? Was it stop & go with a lot of shifting or mostly highway?

You shouldn't lose all your fluid out the dipstick, so you may have had just enough in there to save the tranny if you didn't work it too hard. I'd recommend flushing and changing all the fluid to get all the burnt fluid out of there.

Cross your fingers. You may have gotten lucky this time.

 

When I noticed the tranny not shifting I was on a country road, no stop and go, but it wouldnt shift into 3rd, so I was cruising at 35 mph. I didnt beat on it, because I knew something was wrong obviously. Probably drove like that 5 miles max. I agree on the flush, already planned that. I just am concerned that it isnt shifting like it used to, maybe thats just because all the crap in there now?

 

Well it can only get better or worse. I'd change the fluid and see if it doesn't start to shift better after you get the old stuff out of there. Out of curiosity, how much tranny fluid did you add? Have you compared that to how much fluid the tranny holds to see how low you really were?

 

I think I put in 4 quarts, yikes..........

 

I have no advice but I will be checking my dipstick tube soon.

Thanks for the tip and sorry you had this happen.

 

I had this happen to an older truck years ago.The bracket that holds the dipstick securely in its spot broke .So the result was that nothing was stoping it from coming out.Make sure this didnt happen to yours or it will surely happen again.On that truck the bracket bolted under one of the tranny to engine bolts.May need a new dipstick tube at the very least.

 

How many quarts do these things hold? Around 12? If I put 4 -6 in, at least there was a few left in there. There wasnt any on the dipstick before I put a quart in, but then it showed up quickly. The fact it wouldnt shift bothers me, must have been pretty low

 

Low enough to affect operation, and low enough to blow up your tranny are two different things. I've got a stick shift so I can't tell you how much your auto holds.

I've got several auto's at work and have had more than one with a fluid level too low to be read on the dipstick that did not end up needing a new transmission (yet).

 

17.7qts give or take depending on tranny cooler and lines. It will always come up quickly as it cannot go from the pan to where it needs to be unless the engine is running, that is why you must start the truck and cycle through the gears a few times and then check after it has pumped through the system and displaced the air in there. Good luck.