Slightly overfilled tranny?

[wahed3001]

Hello,

I did the fourth drain and refill (within a two-week period) of my transmission (94 Camry I4 A140 tranny) yesterday and I think I might have overfilled it by a small amount. While hot and running the level is about 2/3 of a centimeter above the hot range. Is it okay to leave it at that level? What kind of problems these transmissions might experience if overfilled and how high above the mark do you have to be to cause any damage to the tranny? I've driven the car for a few hours and haven't noticed any difference in shifting. Thanks!

[touringcamry]

You probably should drain it out. I'm not sure what kinds of problems it could cause, but there's a specified range for a reason.

For the two notches in the hot region, the difference between low and high is 1 pint IIRC.

[wahed3001]

How about inserting a thin pipe through the dip stick and siphoning some fluid out?

[gonesurfing]

I overfilled the tranny in my 94 once. I immediately noticed that P-D had a moderate shift shock, one that wasn't there before. I drained 1 pint out and it went away. Apparently the A140 is sensitive to overfilling.

The easiest thing to do when draining and refilling is to collect the ATF in a completely empty container, and measure the amount. I usually pour the pan into a 2 quart paint bucket, and note the total volume. I then add exactly that amount back through the dipstick tube. This way once you get a fluid level your happy with, you don't battle the level every time you fill.

[wahed3001]

Originally Posted by gonesurfing

I overfilled the tranny in my 94 once. I immediately noticed that P-D had a moderate shift shock, one that wasn't there before. I drained 1 pint out and it went away. Apparently the A140 is sensitive to overfilling.

The easiest thing to do when draining and refilling is to collect the ATF in a completely empty container, and measure the amount. I usually pour the pan into a 2 quart paint bucket, and note the total volume. I then add exactly that amount back through the dipstick tube. This way once you get a fluid level your happy with, you don't battle the level every time you fill.

Did you notice any difference in shifting while driving? How did you drain the extra fluid? I wanted to loosen the drain plug and then re-tighten it but you're supposed to change the plug gasket every time you loosen it.

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by wahed3001

How about inserting a thin pipe through the dip stick and siphoning some fluid out?

I don't see why you couldn't do that but that tube is fairly narrow. You'd have to find something pretty small to fit in there.

[gonesurfing]

Originally Posted by wahed3001

Did you notice any difference in shifting while driving? How did you drain the extra fluid? I wanted to loosen the drain plug and then re-tighten it but you're supposed to change the plug gasket every time you loosen it.

I didn't drive the car overfilled, so I don't know how it would have shifted. P-D shock was enough to make me stop and fix it.

I've reused the gasket on the old car a few times now. So long as it's flat all the way around with no gouges it shouldn't leak. I loosened the plug until the last thread or so then very carefully let a little fluid out and promptly tightened it up.

I also tried to siphon it out using some tubing I had laying around, but I couldn't get it past one of the bends in the dipstick tube.

[dc_98_cam]

If you have one of the manual vacuum pump kits, they usually come with a small bottle for drawing up fluids ... not sure about guiding a piece of tubing down into the pan though.