[aironjack]

Hello all,

This weekend I change a lot of things in my car and now it runs better, I am actually going to post a complete howto with pictures next week.

But I am worried about my transmission. I took the transmission fluid out using an electric pump plugged into the dipstick, we put the fluid in a can (that I don't know if It had anything inside before). We cleaned the pan and changed the filter too.

When we were going to put new transmission fluid, I had read in the forum to put only 2,5 quarts in it. But we measured the fluid inside the can and It was almost 4 quarts. So we put 3.

I drove the car around a 100 miles back home and when I was parking there was a weird noise coming from the hood and when I changed gear, it disappeared. I thought we had put too much fluid or maybe too less?

I really need to know how much fluid I need to put in, is the fluid checked in Park gear? how much can affect the transmission an overfilling? How long does it take to heat the transmission to have a good reading?

Thank you very much, I really need help,

 

[Grumpy]

The basic rule of thumb is to put in the same amount of fluid that was actually drained out.......assuming of course that you checked the fluid level for being correct first, which you didn't appear to have done. I suspect that you MAY be down about a quart. To check the fluid level (which by the way is in your Owner's Manual) drive the car long enough to get the tranny fluid up to normal operating temp (about 20-25 miles), park on a flat/level surface with the parking brake applied, with the engine idling run the gearshift through the gears, hesitating for a couple of seconds in each and then putting the gearshift in Park. Let it idle for a couple of minutes, and with the engine still idling, pull the dipstick out, wipe it off, stick it back in fully, pull it out and check that the level is between the Min. and Max. lines. If it's low, top it up in SMALL increments, like a quarter of a pint at a time. If it's somehow above the Max. line you'll have to suck some out to bring it down to under the Max. line. If you don't have an Owner's Manual for your car you can download one from here: https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/owners_manuals/default.asp

 

[mikebontoft]

mm... I know this is true about oil changes, that if you suck out all the oil from the pan even, then it's actually more because they don't expect people to completely drain out the thing.... so maybe it's the same thing with the tranny fluid?

and I'm guessing it's an automatic, because i don't remember a fluid level dipstick anywhere on my manual spi..... so yeah, maybe it's possible it's still lower than what it really needs...

 

[aironjack]

Thank you Grumpy for the explanation, and yes I don't have an owner's manual, thank you for the link. The car didn't come with one, it's used one. I checked the level before flushing the transmission indeed and it was in maximum mark. The transmission is for sure automatic mikebontoft, manuals don't have dipsticks.

I will go and check the fluid, to see if it is correct or not. Thank you,

 

[aironjack]

I checked the fluid today after driving a while and changing gears and all the stuff and it is overfilled. I bought a siphon pump but the tube is too thick to put it all the way inside, so I will need to get a thinner one to plug in.

So 3 quarts is too much for an SPI transmission with a partial flush. It seems that the magic number is 2.5 quarts. I will keep you informed of my progress.

Thanks again,