I just did the flush on my 96 4.0 aerostar and everything went fine but when I try to read the stick it just is not right,it does not show an even mark on the stick but if I read it with the engine off I can read it great,just for kicks if you read yours with the engine off wear on the stick should it read?mine is about a half inch over full.what do you think?thanks for the help.

 

Plenty of threads on this lately... The stick will kinda read higher than the actual level is just after putting fluid in. You have to wait..Turn the stick over you will usually see the correct lower mark with a space then a higher mark , don't use the higher mark if you see a lower one...I'll go out and see what my 96's read not running...


Dick

 

thanks 99,I`ve never had a problem like this before with any of my other vehicals.

 

Looking at a cold tranny not running..The level was at the 2nd s in crosshatch. Between the s and h..

 

thanks very much for your help 99.

 

I'm going to check another one tomorrow...

 

Oh man I just wanted to post about this. I finished this a week or so ago. Reading this stupid stick was the hardest part of the job .

I felt like an idiot that I couldn't read a dipstick . But the only idiots I found were the engineers that designed this thing.

I have a RWD Aero with the long stick.

Here is how to read the stick:



You first want to fill the tranny to the cold mark on the dip stick so you can drive it to check it in the HOT area.

You want the tranny fluid to be between the two dots when the tranny is COLD and the engine is running.

The crosshatched area is where you want the tranny fluid to be when the tranny has heated up.

Notice my wording the tranny NOT the engine you won't get the tranny up to operating temps while idling you have to drive the vehicle.

That's what I've read anyways. As long as the fluid is within the two dots when cold it is safe to drive to check the HOT level. The most accurate readings are when the engine is hot.

Now how to read the fluid level on the stick this is what really ticked me off but I finally figured it out. Make sure the vehicle is on level ground.

First of all unlike most newer vehicles you have to check your fluid with the engine RUNNING and in park.

If you are checking the cold level start the engine and shift from Park all the way down to 1st slowly then back to park to get the fluid flowing. If you have just driven and are checking the HOT reading omit this step.

The reason for the engine running is the fluid is pulled from the pan circulated through the torque converter and internals of the transmission. This reduces the level of fluid in the pan and for some reason Ford calibrated the dipstick for this reading .

Now pull out the stick wipe it and insert it into the dip tube the wording on the handle tranny fluid and the crosshatched print should be facing up wait about 4 seconds.

Now remove the stick ignore the readings on the crosshatched side of the stick. Instead flip the stick over and look on the BACK for the lowest dry area you will need good lighting for this. Put your thumb on where the fluid ends and turn the stick with your hand carrying your thumb over. Look at your thumb that is your level.

Also shortly after adding fluid you WILL NOT get an accurate reading you must wait at least 10 minutes for the added fluid to flow down into the pan from the dip tube walls by gravity.

Also maybe you guys know the answer to this:

When the vehicle isn't running the tranny fluid is a nice deep red but when I check it when the engine is running it's a fainter red.

This makes the level even harder to see why does that occur?

 

I'm guessing the the fluid is thicker when cold, and thins out (expands?) when warm, which is why it looks fainter red when you check it hot. For better visibility, put a piece of white paper towel behind the stick.

 

Good tip I will use a white piece of paper next time.

Didn't think of that.

 

The ATF looks redder when cold probably because it's thicker & shows color better, a thicker oil film will look more red. The hot oil flows off the stick freely.
I found the level to be quite tricky also, seemed very easy to overfill, in the end I drained out about a pint & this dropped the level on the stick significantly. This lead me to think the area were the dipstick reads is low surface area. A bit like when you fill up a milk bottle (the old glass tapered neck bottles) as you get near the top it fills up much faster, due to the lower volume in the bottle neck.
Aeroman