Hey guys, when I installed another auto tranny in my car I drained what ever fluid was in the pan and then filled about 5L. So I start it up let it idle, pull the dipstick appears the tranny is still pretty low, put another liter. Came up a bit still not even at the low mark. Put another 1/2L and its at the low mark, but the outer edge of the dipstick is wet. Now I have added 6.5L of ATF and it is still not full. I do not really understand how this works? I am doing it with the engine on btw.

 

I do not want to overfill it, nor do I want to run it dry.... ATM noticing my awd has alot of delay, but when it warms up, seems to work.

 

If the TC was drained would it need to fill the it I guess. Better question is how many liters does the whole tranny hold?

 

It is a 94 legacy turbo, and it has another turbo tranny in place.

Max capacity (including torque converter) is 9.5 Quarts

 

https://www.amsoil.com/mygarage/vehiclelookup.aspx?url2=1994+SUBARU+LEGACY+B

 

best to let it sit for a few minutes to let the fluid drain down the tube. Make sure you check it while operating engine and cycling through all the gears. For a best level check the fluid needs to be at operating temperature.

if this is a new to you trans you have no way of knowing what they did to it during removal. even after draining the pan, tipping the trans front up can drain the TC and or drain fliud out the rear.

 

personally, i would fill to the cold full line with the engine off. then run it to circulate the fluid throughout the trans and re-check it. there is little chance it has enough fluid if it does not have enough when sitting still and cold.

 

the volume actually increase when hot but not a lot, 1/2 a pint or so. so if you get it close cold then you can tweak it when hot and running.

 

the dip sticks are hard to read, the red fluid appears clear on the stick, look at both sides. someone mentioned that an ice cold dip stick, placing it in ice water, made it easier to read but i don't know.

The ATF dip stick only takes about a pint of fluid to read from the low mark to the high mark. So, it is really easy to over fill.