Memorial weekend I got up from Detroit to Grayling, Michigan, about 200 miles away, only to find the tranny so low it would not take off in drive, but had to put it in first gear to move out from a stop. I put a gallon in and still did not see it on the stick. Put a second gallon in and a few more gallons in the side compartment. This is a 2000 Chevy Class C motorhome (cutaway van chassis) at 27 feet long, with a 454 V8 and auto tranny. So I headed home since I did not see much option at 5 pm on Saturday in Grayling Michigan on Memorial weekend.
Stopped every 40 miles or so and poured a gallon in while watching it run out the bottom and down the pavement. Tranny functioned fine all the way home. There was smoke coming up from under the hood by the time we got near home. Also I found the bottom coated and rubberized onto the exhaust pipes, and up the back of the motorhome was coated too.
A few weeks later I pulled the stick and there was fluid on it (all the torque converter had likely drained down by then), Drove it three miles to my local shop and they pulled the grill. They found the cooler lines rotted because they were inside of that plastic wire protector stuff. They installed new lines and cooler, pulled the pan and changed the filter/screen. They said the drained fluid looked fine and there was no bad stuff in the pan to indicated any damage had been done. Filled it with about 8-9 qts Amsoil synthetic ATF. I think it holds a total of about 12-14 qts, so it was fairly low.
So in August I took it on a 2500 mile round trip to South Dakota (Badlands). The transmission worked absolutely flawlessly and there was not one drop of leakage the whole trip.
Stopped every 40 miles or so and poured a gallon in while watching it run out the bottom and down the pavement. Tranny functioned fine all the way home. There was smoke coming up from under the hood by the time we got near home. Also I found the bottom coated and rubberized onto the exhaust pipes, and up the back of the motorhome was coated too.
A few weeks later I pulled the stick and there was fluid on it (all the torque converter had likely drained down by then), Drove it three miles to my local shop and they pulled the grill. They found the cooler lines rotted because they were inside of that plastic wire protector stuff. They installed new lines and cooler, pulled the pan and changed the filter/screen. They said the drained fluid looked fine and there was no bad stuff in the pan to indicated any damage had been done. Filled it with about 8-9 qts Amsoil synthetic ATF. I think it holds a total of about 12-14 qts, so it was fairly low.
So in August I took it on a 2500 mile round trip to South Dakota (Badlands). The transmission worked absolutely flawlessly and there was not one drop of leakage the whole trip.