Check your transmission fluid
02-24-2011, 04:34 PM
#1
TECH Fanatic
Thread Starter
Check your transmission fluid I manually shift my car with the tapshift and don't ever really drive in Drive very often.
Well, yesterday I was driving for awhile, probably did about 15 miles, and in a relatively hilly area and for some reason I could no longer shift into 4th. It kept making the chime sound like when you try to shift into 4th when going less than 20mph or when you try to downshift into 1st at over 40 mph.
I looked at the DIC and my transmission temperature was 213 degrees.
I parked the car, finished my shopping, tried manual mode again, and it was working fine at ~195 degrees. I went ahead and drove home in Drive without any issues. By the time I got home it was at 203 I think.
Today, I drove around and was watching the DIC's temp gauge and it was acting as normal and not getting hot too quickly. I went ahead and followed the instructions in the owner's manual and checked the fluid. Sure enough, I was in the ADD zone on it. Went and got some Dexron VI fluid as the manual recommends and started adding it. It took 12 oz to get it to the MAX on the dipstick!
I have no transmission fluid leak of any kind, so this was pretty surprising. I'm also still on my original transmission with 39,300 miles. I don't know when the manual recommends a transmission fluid flush (guess I should take a look) but I found this really weird.
I would highly recommend each and every one of you check your transmission fluid and see how low you might be. I was really, really surprised I had to add nearly a pint to raise the level on the dipstick an inch!
Well, yesterday I was driving for awhile, probably did about 15 miles, and in a relatively hilly area and for some reason I could no longer shift into 4th. It kept making the chime sound like when you try to shift into 4th when going less than 20mph or when you try to downshift into 1st at over 40 mph.
I looked at the DIC and my transmission temperature was 213 degrees.
I parked the car, finished my shopping, tried manual mode again, and it was working fine at ~195 degrees. I went ahead and drove home in Drive without any issues. By the time I got home it was at 203 I think.
Today, I drove around and was watching the DIC's temp gauge and it was acting as normal and not getting hot too quickly. I went ahead and followed the instructions in the owner's manual and checked the fluid. Sure enough, I was in the ADD zone on it. Went and got some Dexron VI fluid as the manual recommends and started adding it. It took 12 oz to get it to the MAX on the dipstick!
I have no transmission fluid leak of any kind, so this was pretty surprising. I'm also still on my original transmission with 39,300 miles. I don't know when the manual recommends a transmission fluid flush (guess I should take a look) but I found this really weird.
I would highly recommend each and every one of you check your transmission fluid and see how low you might be. I was really, really surprised I had to add nearly a pint to raise the level on the dipstick an inch!
