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Automatic transmission overfill, questions Posted by Justin VanAbrahams [Email]  (#32) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Justin VanAbrahams) on Thu, 2 Dec 2010 10:20:55
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About 1.5 months ago I had my parents take their '02 9-3 to a local shop to have the transmission flushed. Car had about 118k on it. Transmission never misbehaved, fluid looked great, it was just a preventative step as they need to get at least 1-2 more trouble-free years out of the car.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend. Dad calls to say the CEL came on it, and there's a little gear next to it - it had set an automatic transmission fault. I went by Sunday to check it out. Fluid was massively overfilled - I sucked 20oz out and it's still slightly overfilled. We drove it around some, code cleared. Now, the fluid is up to the "X" in MAX on the hot side when hot. Fluid is dark brown, looks like slightly used engine oil.
The shop used BG Products "universal ATF," which is a reasonably high-quality Dexron III compatible fluid. It was their choice. It is not red like normal ATF, but a deep maroon - definitely not dark brown when new.
Dad took the car and a 20oz Mason jar of fluid to the shop to day for a WTF session. Shop tells him overfilling the transmission is not a problem, and that it's older and you can tell nothing by the color of the fluid.
I am calling BS - I have a '62 Falcon, a '67 Fleetwood, and an '84 diesel Suburban and all of them have bright red, like new fluid. At least in the case of the Suburban, that fluid has been in the Turbo 400 for 2.5 years and perhaps 8,000 towing miles. I'm pretty sure you can tell a LOT from the color of the fluid, always.
Not sure what the next step is. I don't think much damage could be done to the transmission in <2000 miles, but I certainly don't want to find out the hard way. We're probably going to send a sample out for analysis, as that should tell us whether the fluid is just brown naturally, if it's baked, or if it's full of clutch debris. :(
Any thoughts?
posted by 207.15.18...
, Thu, 2 Dec 2010 10:20:55 <-- Viewing This Message, Fri, 3 Dec 2010 15:45:37, Thu, 2 Dec 2010 10:57:24
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