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Transmission overfull?

AdventureWagon

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May 13, 2019
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australia
Well we just got back from our trip away from Brisbane to Bundaberg, about 380km total. Got 100km into the trip and plumes of black smoke came from under the car so had to stop on the highway. Tears of red ATF were dripping down from the transmission area onto the exhaust crossover so I just got recovered and eventually got towed back home. Changed our booking from a campsite to a cabin and went the next day in the car. Cost a bit more but we would have saved $100 in fuel I guess hahaha.

So I just got done investigating, and can't find any loose connections for the trans cooler, no sign of pan or drain plug leaks, no sign of leaks from the bell housing, so I warmed it up a bit (just until the engine was warm), and this is what I found! Bear in mind the two at the top left are the cold marks and in the centre are the hot marks (dipstick ends just off the top left of the picture). I did wipe off and re-dip twice to make sure this wasn't a fluke. Motor was running during measurement.

trans_dip.PNG

Bearing in mind the trans temp would only have been just over cold at this point, I would say this is way overfilled. What do you think? I'm planning to drain the pan (2-4 litres apparently), then refill until it's at the correct level. Can't just drain a bit as there's no time to get a new washer on the drain bolt! I have the right washers and plenty of Dexron III.

Not noticed anything in terms of leaks until this happened, however most driving we do in it is just commuting to work, just stop stat 40-60km/h traffic. This happened whilst towing our 1 ton camper on the highway at 100km/h, in O/D OFF mode as per the handbook.

Cheers.
 
Last edited:
Well after draining and refilling I got out 5.5l but only needed 4 to refill to the cold marks and that warmed up to the hot marks nicely after a drive.

Have just been using the car as normal the last couple of weeks and it's been fine.

Did a 50km drive through a lot of suburban hills and motorway driving yesterday and that also went fine.

Plan to take it up a local mountain just to make sure but I'm hopeful my problem was just overfilling.
 
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