No dipstick?

[sandman2234]

Newer? My 1976 Kawasaki KZ900 used a sight glass. No dipstick. I don't know that they were the first but all the 900's and KZ1000's used a sight glass. The Z1 was the first of the 900's. Sight glass is right above the brake pedal on this Z1b.

I can go one year older on the Z-1 as I had a 1975. A friend had the 1973 and it also used a sight glass. I got to meet a lot of interesting people on that bike, and a lot of them had blue lights on top of their cars!
David from jax

 

[RobertN]

What is it with no dipsticks these days? Do they not trust people to look at them? I changed the transmission fluid in my daughter’s car and there is a fill plug on top that access to is tough. It’s a 2016 Ford Fusion, 150,000 miles. Then there is a plug on the side you remove and fill it until it runs out. Then drive it to warm it up and remove the plug and check it again. A dipstick would be much easier.

That's the way my old 1941 Farmall-A was. Open a valve on the side of the oil pan. Fill until oil started to ooze from the valve. Then shut the valve and you're done.

 

[tradosaurus]

No transmission filter either, apparently just a large screen. When I changed the fluid I only got about a third of it out. I’ll have to change it again soon to get it a little better. I’m not sure what I spent for the oil change and transmission fluid, maybe $50 to $60. I wonder what a dealership would have charged her?

Just did a transmission fluid drain and fill on a 2022 Honda Civic, 2015 Honda Odyssey, and a 2023 Toyota Corolla. The Corolla I had to fill through the fill plug only accessible by taking the front drivers tire off.
Many mfg's touting lifetime transmission fluid where they hope the transmission's lifetime is just beyond the warranty.

 

[arto98607]

Pretty much all cars and trucks have this now. It's a bit of a pain, but you don't change trans fluid that often.

I think it's so they don't have to figure out where to run the trans dipstick. Engine bays are tight these days. Also it reduces BOM cost by a few dollars to leave the dipstick off. Few people change the trans fluid. Most dealers will tell you it's "sealed for life". Even fewer will do it themselves. So I don't think it's to discourage home mechanics.

Maybe discouraging DYI car owners from changing the AT oil was not the only or main reason, but it certainly works in the dealership service department favor big time!

Manufacturers also save few dollars also due to it, and when several AT's over the years fail prematurely due to delayed or skipped maintenance, they will make few more dollars one way or the other...

 

[DarkBlack]

I say keep it simple. A modern transmission doesn’t loose oil due to getting sucked into the PCV system, or combusted past worn piston rings or valve guides, like an engine. Most (not all) also have little chance of being overfull from a leaky head gasket blowing coolant into the fluid.
So, I see no problem with omitting dipsticks from transmissions.
If your fluid is going down, you’re gonna have an oil patch on your driveway, and you’ll need a repair to go with the fluid change.

 

[Alan46]

I've heard the dipsticks all went into politics.



Bruce

The reply of the day!!! Thanks for the laugh

 

[DarkBlack]

I changed the CVT fluid in a family member’s vehicle last week. No more work than an engine oil change. Removed the drain bolt. Emptied the used fluid into old containers and verified the drained amount was reasonably close to the manufacturer’s specification quarts.
Poured in the specified quantity of new fluid. Reset the change reminder on the vehicle touch screen.
Didn’t even bother removing the check bolt.
Easy peasy. Third time I’ve done it on this vehicle.
I’m sure this would bother some, who would insist I needed to remove the check bolt, pour in extra to drain out of the check bolt, heat the engine up, and recheck levels…

 

[Alan46]

I think we've reached the point where automatic transmissions are no more likely to leak than manuals. When was the last time you saw a dipstick on a manual transmission?

That would be never!!!

 

[kozal01]

My 2015 F-150 is the same, no trans dipstick. Its a pain to check and fill but still doable. Still not a fan of it though.

 

[Oaktree]

My 2015 F-150 is the same, no trans dipstick. Its a pain to check and fill but still doable. Still not a fan of it though.

Had a mid-00s Grand Cherokee, no trans dipstick there either, though there was a tube. Just a cap on it.

 

[ericm979]

Have one at my repair business now that requires removal of the battery and tray for access to the fill plug. Like most of the transmissions without dipsticks, it requires overfilling and draining to the proper level upon reaching the exact correct temperature read on the scan tool or with a thermal imaging camera. Sounds complicated, not really. Just expensive to have the proper equipment and service information. They are really forcing out the casual DIY repair guys.

I did that for my VW. It wasn't difficult, and I already had the scan tool to read the trans temp sensors. The temp range for checking level was pretty broad.

I did an experiment once on a different VW that I installed a trans dipstick on. I checked the dipstick as I was letting it idle to warm up the trans to set the level. The level on the dip changed way more than I expected as the fluid warmed.

 

[ranchito]

correct me, but on some automatics, there is no drain plug and changes involve vacuum removal for fluid change from fill plug. i once attempted to change auto fluid on an older import truck for a friend...i could not find the drain plug.
what kind of idiocy is that?

You are absolutely correct. GM 60 no plug. GM 80 has a plug, but I'm not sure I would want to try opening it if I was in the rust belt. Mostly, if I am doing a transmission service, I want to drop the pan to check for wear material inside, clean the magnet and change the filter. I just did a 96 F250 that had a harsh 1-2 shift with evidence of silicone on the re-usuable gasket. Inside the filter was not properly installed. Really glad I was forced to open it up to fix the weepy gasket on this otherwise dry low mileage truck. This one will get a vacuum evac at next couple oil services as I am changing it over to synthetic Mercon V.
Some of those with drain plugs also have a removable standpipe behind the plug. This is how the fluid level is set on those. Common on Euro vehicles.

 

[ranchito]

Had a mid-00s Grand Cherokee, no trans dipstick there either, though there was a tube. Just a cap on it.

An aftermarket dipstick and calibration chart is available. Got one and it works well.

 

[yanmars]

The Blue Light Special. Recalls the K Mart years

 

[kozal01]

Had a mid-00s Grand Cherokee, no trans dipstick there either, though there was a tube. Just a cap on it.

It technically has a dipstick but its on the trans and you have to check fluid levels with the engine running and at operating temps or else it will dump fluid out of it. Its fun reaching past the hot catalytic converter that's a couple inches from the fill port. Although once I had a pump to get the fluid in it it was faster to fill than through the dipstick like the older stuff I had.

 

[mike0000]

“Old Smokey” Our 99’ Mercedes Diesel has one of the “sealed for life” transmissions. Screw that, it did come with a filler tube but no dipstick, I had to buy the MB measuring “tool”. I’ve changed it every 60k miles since buying it used at 116k (when it became unsealed and got its first filter and transmission fluid change). It’s getting ready to pass 300k, the engine and the Transmission have never had serious work done to them.

 

[fishdoggy]

Bought my 2021 F150 with the transmission that is supposed to have problems, so at 54,000 miles I sucked out 4 quarts of fluid from that fill and check port behind the catalytic convertor. The oil looked like chocolate milk, so I did it again after about a month. 8 new quarts out of total of 12 so it is better than it was, never would have lasted till 150,000 oil change like the owners manual says. I will do it again this summer.

 

[4Liberty]

View attachment 5473167View attachment 5473168What is it with no dipsticks these days? Do they not trust people to look at them? I changed the transmission fluid in my daughter’s car and there is a fill plug on top that access to is tough. It’s a 2016 Ford Fusion, 150,000 miles. Then there is a plug on the side you remove and fill it until it runs out. Then drive it to warm it up and remove the plug and check it again. A dipstick would be much easier.

This is a burr under my saddle for sure. I’ve got a 2018 Ford Escape with the 1.5 Ecoboost. At the time we got it I decided that I’d have it dealer serviced and not touch it. Was a dealer I’d previously worked at and left on good terms. Until the day one of the new service writers tried to sell me a transmission flush on our 2012 Focus. It’s a stick. There were a bunch of other things they tried snake behavior on so I started service myself. Turns out if you read owner manual 30K is the service interval for the Transmission and they never mention the PTU if you have AWD. I was told “lifetime fluid”. It’s not, the filter is. They want to be able to sell $8,000 transmissions. I have since dropped my oil changes to 3500 and I change my transmission and PTU at same time. Cheap insurance and lessons learned. There’s other stuff they dont tell you too that doesn’t apply to transmission. Fords customer service has gone in the bucket a while ago.

 

[saddlesoreass]

View attachment 5473167View attachment 5473168What is it with no dipsticks these days? Do they not trust people to look at them? I changed the transmission fluid in my daughter’s car and there is a fill plug on top that access to is tough. It’s a 2016 Ford Fusion, 150,000 miles. Then there is a plug on the side you remove and fill it until it runs out. Then drive it to warm it up and remove the plug and check it again. A dipstick would be much easier.

Never change transmission fluid especially on an old high mileage car

 

[bgr]

Thinking about it, I believe the reason for no dipsticks is that all dealers have lifts to service the car on. You can't check a dipstick with the car up in the air. Also designing a dipstick for several models with tight access engine compartments is going to cost some engineering time and money. So cheap it out. Most A/T dipsticks are hard to read once some oil has been put down them and the MFGs may have thought that a side level plug was more accurate and faster when a trans was being refilled on a lift.
My 6.0L Chevy 2500 had the engine dipstick and housing rust and break off after 3 years. They don't make them very well anyway.
Having said all that, there is nothing like a dipstick for checking fluid quality.