Hey all!

I've been furiously restoring this e320 since I got it almost two years ago now. I've replaced everything on this car it seems like, including having to replace window regulators (which actually was fun).

One of those jobs was replacing the dreaded O ring for the trans wire harness, that was almost the first job done. No problems with the trans for 2 years since.

I had this sitting for almost 6 months in the garage before going back at it again and when I started her up a couple days later I had a dime spot of oil on the floor. When I moved the car I noticed a few more. Nothing serious, really small spots.

I crawled under her and noticed some wetness around the bellhousing of the trans to the engine but I also noticed the wetness was up the sides.

I ordered a transmission dipstick to check the level and found that after pushing the rod into the dipstick past the last curve, the measurements were showing that the transmission was packed with oil past the 80 degree right past that to the metal coil.

"No way" I said to myself, I had to be reading this wrong. The trans job was done by a pretty good group (indy garage) and that was 2 years ago! Not to mention, I moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada all the way here to Albuquerque, New Mexico and there's never been a single issue of any problem related to an overfill.

So I must be using this stick wrong. So I went online and tried to find as much info as I could about this trans dipstick and what I found was a confusing mishmash of all sorts of conversations with most saying that the dipstick itself cannot be pushed past a point it shouldn't go. ie...if I've got it pushed to the oil pan opening that is correct as it cannot go further and ergo, I've got a transmission with too much fluid in it!

Even worse, I've got a transmission that I topped fluid into while I was thinking I had the dipstick in the right position sitting in about 31 inches in. (it goes in farther)

So now it would appear I need to pull the drain plug and empty out fluid today.
Am I correct? Does this dipstick go all the way in until I cannot push it further?

The tape marks on the photo demark where I believed the stop point was for this dipstick but I'll bet I'm wrong there too. I kept trying to feel a stop point and that was due mostly to my imagination and not wanting to accept I've now got an overfilled tranny.

48 inches long.


This was where I thought I felt a small resistance to moving the dipstick further but that's more or less in my head. I marked it at 26.5 inches

 

Dudley says: yes I do even my horse knows that.
And to further the info relay between us, I'm planning a 30 minute drive today to ensure I'm over that 80 temp to ensure I'm getting an accurate reading. The garage is level, I'll keep the engine running and in P

I'll reasonably push this until I can't any longer. From everything I've read over 3 days that should be sufficient to get it where it should be. And damn me if the 1/2 liter I've put in has overfilled it.

 

Hey everyone. I went for a 50 minute drive came back and redid the readings and they are a bit high due to my adding a half liter in on my earlier misreading. This is an earlier picture with an arrow indicating where I saw my new reading.

 

I did that. As of last night, I've pulled almost 1.5 liters out of that tranny through the dipstick using a brake bleeder and some 1/4 tubing. The level reading has gone down to just at the tip of the black diamond.

So I've taken out the 1/2 that I put in, and a full liter that the shop 'topped off' before I moved here.

Still more to remove but the system was so warm that the tubing couldn't get a proper enough seal to extract anymore. Will try again to take more out today and go for another cruise to ensure it's all good. But certainly the shop that replaced the wire harness O ring overfilled this and that was half my problems in reading the stick. I just wouldn't accept that the shop could have overfilled the tranny to the point that I was getting massive off readings.