Checking Transmission Fluid level too high?

kevplank · Post by **kevplank** » 20 Jul 2013, 12:46

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to the forum and it's already been REALLY helpful. I have two XC 70's. One is a 2001 with 247,000 miles the other is a 2003 with 169,000 miles. The '01' is in great shape over all. But it's starting to develop some shifting issues (big surprise). I have a new Servo cover that I plan to change soon. (I'm building a special tool to make that a lot easier). And I was planning to change the AT Fluid soon as well. I purchased this used a little over a year ago. I've put about 76,000 miles on it. (yes I drive a lot).
So I went to check the trans fluid (which I didn't even do when I bought it because I had a mechanic look it over before hand), and COLD it's indicating WAY over the HOT level. I thought there must be something odd about the way I'm checking it, so I started the car and ran if for a few minutes. Put it in reverse and drive and parked it again. The fluid was by no means "hot". I checked it again. Still WAY over the "HOT" level line. When the car gets warmed up is when I have the issues with shifting. Is it possible that there could actually be that much more fluid in it than what it's supposed to have? Or am I just not doing something right when checking it? Seems very odd. Could use some help on this one.

Post by **vtl** » 20 Jul 2013, 19:41

IIRC, "cold" is ~100F, "hot" is over 180F. If fluid is way over, just pump some out through dipstick tube. At his mileage you put in the car it's time to change fluid even if it was new when you bought the car.

Post by **chestermo** » 22 Jul 2013, 13:08

Make sure the car is level when you check it. And yes, too much fluid can cause foaming issues which can cause air to be sucked up by the pickup. This causes shifting problems etc.

kevplank · Post by **kevplank** » 22 Jul 2013, 20:02

Thank you! The car was on a very level area. Same place I checked the fluid for my 2003 XC70 and the fluid level on that one was spot on. I was planning to change the fluid on both of them pretty shortly anyway. But I was just shocked when I saw the fluid so high and thought that maybe there was some possible quirk with the fluid crawling up the stick or some other issue I was unaware of. I think I'll just get to the fluid change first and then make sure it's at the correct level when I finish the job.
Thanks again for the info!