Removing significant amount of excess transmission fluid

[DoctorRoboto]

All,

I have a weird problem with my ATF that I don't want to make any worse. I followed the process in the manual to check the ATF on my 1995 Mazda B3000, and it was GROSSLY overfilled. As in, 3 times higher than the high mark when hot. I'm guessing this is the work of the PO, but it could be something strange like a clog somewhere. So I followed others' instructions and bought a hand siphon, and started taking out fluid. Well, I just pulled out about 2.5 quarts of fluid, and it's now roughly around the top of the hash marks, which is what it should be while hot. It is currently cold.

I'm worried that something is clogged, or something else weird. How is it possible that I could have taken this much fluid out? And when you start the engine up and cycle it through the gears, and it gets warmed up, how much might I expect to see the fluid level go up or down?

I'm even more worried that if I did something wrong and took too much out, that starting up the truck and shifting through gears will cause some kind of immediate catastrophic failure.

Any recommendations on what to do?

Related symptoms - before removing fluid, truck definitely clunked into gears when shifting under any kind of engine load, or going up hills. Also did a bit of clunking when shifting from reverse to drive at a standstill, and vice versa.

 

[adsm08]

Immediate catastrophic failure can be ruled out by the fact that the proper method of checking the fluid after a rebuild is to start it and work it through the positions of the shifter. So basically if it blows up because you do that it wasn't going to last long anyway.

I assume you are checking fluid level with the engine running, since you are following a manual. Fluid level should drop significantly from engine off to engine on. 1-2 inches for many transmissions. Expansion amount is usually about the length of the hash marks from hot to cold. How much it may drop depends on how much is or isn't in the passages but if you haven't had the trans apart since it was last driven don't expect the fluid passages to take a lot.

 

[cowboycowboy91]

Same thing with my truck...

I went to a reputable transmission shop to get my truck trans service done and told the guy I wanted a pan drop/filter change. He told me that the filter is non servicable (which is bs) and that he would do a flush. I figured what the hell, I would just go ahead with it (stupid on my part). Anyways, I drove it home after the service and it was shifting so hard that the entire truck was jaring and shaking. Anyways, I checked my fluid levels at home and it was 2 quarts overfull...same as yours. I don't know if you ever had a flush done, but if you did, then that might have been your trouble.