PA Deep Trans Pan fill issue

[808muscle]

I have never been able to get a good reading on the dipstick with this PA deep pan. Theoretically it should take nearly 16 quarts to fill. I just installed my rebuilt trans and PI TC. Poured one quart into the TC then added 12 more to the trans. Had the car running up to temp and it read between the cross hatch area. I followed the procedure of going thru the gears as I filled it too. Took it for a drive and now it reads overfilled. How is this possible with only 13 quarts in there? Seems I should 3 quarts low not overfilled. Any ideas?

 

[07 Boss]

Was the tranny cooler empty? That's the only place fluid can hide. Did you rebuild the tranny or a shop? Did they throw it on a tranny dyno? If so there might have been fluid in the tranny. Here's my take on it. The dipstick is probably not the best measuring device in that depending on where they drill the hole for the dipstick it might be off. When i did my PA pan I had really fresh fluid in my tranny. So I drained it into a clean bucket, swapped pans and poured it back in adding the extra 4 qts. Then I noted where it was on the dipstick.

Let me ask you another question. Was the car running when you checked the level?

 

[808muscle]

Yes car was warmed up and running. Tranny was just rebuilt not dyno tested at all. Tranny cooler could have had some fluid but we blew out the lines. I really don't trust the dip stick.

 

[07 Boss]

Yes car was warmed up and running. Tranny was just rebuilt not dyno tested at all. Tranny cooler could have had some fluid but we blew out the lines. I really don't trust the dip stick.

Yeah, I wouldn't trust it either. You can't do the normal fill method with the drain plug either because of the extra capacity.

Here's a thought. Did you put a deeper filter on there when you swapped pans? You should have or you may run into situations where the fluid may slop around in there and the pick up is not at the bottom of the pan. Anyways you can use the normal level checking procedure and then add the extra gallon. The normal check level procedure accounts for a proper amount of fluid in the system and the depth from the bottom of the pan. It doesn't matter how deep the pan is for this as it measures whats sitting in the bottom as it's running and in gear. Only use this method if you have an extended filter in there.

And for the record, I used to use the PA pan, and now I'm currently with the stocker.

 

[GTAmuscle]

Proper way to check ATF level in any vehicle is to have it running and in neutral. Mine with the PA will drop a bit while doing it this way.

I had the exact same problem as this when I had my 5R55S out and was doing the deep pan, servos and converter. I poured in about 12 quarts and was already reading high.