@MrMCar didn't wait until the transmission oil got to temp, used to fill them cold, so a little overfill is not likely a problem.

 

Also, I had read the reason not to over fill is fire: in a rear engine as Porsche, the over filled oil will leak out at the vent and can cause engine fire.

For E46, I just make sure not driving in R too fast to cause a fire

 

You can fill it to the fill hole (engine running) while cold, then it is slightly overfilled, which is fine. It’s what I always do.

 

The oil was 1.5 qt short, and I couldn’t believe it!



Last time I removed/cleaned/installed the valve body, I filled with engine off until oil dripping out the hole, then run the cold engine at idle, shifted through the gear P, R,D, back to P, and continued filling until it dripping then installed the plug and done. So how could it be 1.5 qts low? I think the level is not correct until the car is driven through all the gears, 1st to 5th, R, and this is impossible to achieve with car on jack-stands.

I parked the car on the 8* slope driveway, so after jacked it up I use the 24" I-beam bubble level checking the rectangular tube under the floor for front to rear, and front reinforcement plate for left and right. I purposely set the left side slightly higher than the right so the fill hole slightly higher to have slightly more filled oil to compensate for the warm oil temp.

I learned this lesson: filling with a hose and funnel takes too long: the 68F oil got over 120F during filling 1.5 qts. I used the same red hose that came with the HF hand pump kit that members suggested for the smoke test; it’s not a small hose and the oil is very thin, but it took forever for the oil to flow with the hose and funnel about 24” above the fill hose. Maybe I should have opened the engine hood last night to let it soak to 60F and during engine idling to slow down the temperature rising. I will use a hand pump next time, but I think it will be more messy than filling through the funnel.

Oil full capacity is 9.4 qt, and 1.5 qt short can make a big difference in this case. I drove 20 miles on FWY this morning, still in manual shifting as I wasn’t sure how it happened in D yet. The TCC lockup was perfect, so I hope the 3rd and 4th harsh upshift also fixed but this will be verified later when I’m coming back near home. Wish me luck.

 

The oil was 1.5 qt short, and I couldn’t believe it!



Last time I removed/cleaned/installed the valve body, I filled with engine off until oil dripping out the hole, then run the cold engine at idle, shifted through the gear P, R,D, back to P, and continued filling until it dripping then installed the plug and done. So how could it be 1.5 qts low? I think the level is not correct until the car is driven through all the gears, 1st to 5th, R, and this is impossible to achieve with car on jack-stands.

I parked the car on the 8* slope driveway, so after jacked it up I use the 24" I-beam bubble level checking the rectangular tube under the floor for front to rear, and front reinforcement plate for left and right. I purposely set the left side slightly higher than the right so the fill hole slightly higher to have slightly more filled oil to compensate for the warm oil temp.

I learned this lesson: filling with a hose and funnel takes too long: the 68F oil got over 120F during filling 1.5 qts. I used the same red hose that came with the HF hand pump kit that members suggested for the smoke test; it’s not a small hose and the oil is very thin, but it took forever for the oil to flow with the hose and funnel about 24” above the fill hose. Maybe I should have opened the engine hood last night to let it soak to 60F and during engine idling to slow down the temperature rising. I will use a hand pump next time, but I think it will be more messy than filling through the funnel.

Oil full capacity is 9.4 qt, and 1.5 qt short can make a big difference in this case. I drove 20 miles on FWY this morning, still in manual shifting as I wasn’t sure how it happened in D yet. The TCC lockup was perfect, so I hope the 3rd and 4th harsh upshift also fixed but this will be verified later when I’m coming back near home. Wish me luck.




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You're supposed to fill with the transmission level. However, I can never find a definitive answer on which reference surface to use for leveling. Is it the bottom of the pan or the edge of the pan? I have the GM tranny and whether I put the bubble level on the bottom of the pan vs. the edge of the pan has a huge difference. Or maybe the car frame is the reference for level?

I used my brake pressure bleeder to fill. Fill the apparatus, pump it up and it feeds the fluid fairly quickly. Works great but need to ensure the apparatus is thoroughly cleaned between uses.

 

Pretty sure it's the vehicle level, so the sills (rockers) are level. To fill I have a cap that fits the fluid bottle with a tyre valve and length of clear tube in it. Both items are a tight seal in the cap. Then I use a bicycle pump to inflate the bottle with air and with the tube at the bottom of the bottle it forces the fluid out the bottle down the tube. Most of these bottles seem to handle 5-10 psi without an issue.

 

I like this idea. In fact I might use one of the 1-gal oil container with the 2 holes cut out for compressed air in and oil out in the hose.
Q: anyone know roughly how much more oil is needed after the oil dripping out with engine off? This is the volume of oil that I have to pump in before the engine/tranny get hot. My guess is it is less than 3 qt to fill up the TC and VB.

 

I have the GM tranny and whether I put the bubble level on the bottom of the pan vs. the edge of the pan has a huge difference. Or maybe the car frame is the reference for level?

I'm sure the dealers use the lift on the frame or on the 4 jack pads. The oil pan is not a reliable surface as the bottom might not be horizontal.

 

Well, let's think about this. When we say the transmission is filled properly, it is in reference to the transmission and not to the rest of the car. Since the transmission is connected to the engine and together they sit on engine mounts and tranny mounts, we cannot definitely say the transmission is parallel to the frame rail. Either or both mounts can be crushed thereby tilting the transmission. A typical two-post lift uses 4 jacking pads that are infinitely adjustable. We cannot assume it's lifting the car parallel to the ground. So the question remains - do people take into consideration the position of the transmission when filling it? If you do, would you ensure the edge of the pan is level or the bottom of the pan? Or maybe this doesn't matter at all and just overfill by a little bit like MrMCar recommends? For me, when I filled my GM auto transmission, I jacked the rear of the car higher than the front so that the edge of the transmission pan is level when I do the filling. When I do this, the frame rail is definitely not level.

 

So the question remains - do people take into consideration the position of the transmission when filling it? If you do, would you ensure the edge of the pan is level or the bottom of the pan? Or maybe this doesn't matter at all and just overfill by a little bit like MrMCar recommends? For me, when I filled my GM auto transmission, I jacked the rear of the car higher than the front so that the edge of the transmission pan is level when I do the filling. When I do this, the frame rail is definitely not level.

From the practical point of view, I don't think even the dealers check the tranny/engine for horizontal and adjust the lift to have them horizontal. The best they can do is to make sure the 4 jack pads are on the horizontal plane.

So for the ZF factory instruction, I believe it refers to the car 4 jack pads (assume they are in good condition with same height). Obviously if the customer engine/tranny are sagging due to the bad rubber mounts then that problem needs to be fixed.

At best, I would use the oil pan top surface as the reference and I think it's parallel to the car frame, not the pan bottom which might be sloped for draining the oil or for the pump pickup port.

Edited: just found this oil filling instruction: