Inari

I took my 2006 Uplander to a new garage one month/250 km (185 miles) earlier for an oil change, routine maintenance, and inspection. The inspection results were shady, and the maintenance work was shoddy, so I'll never take it to that mechanic again. However, when I finally got my van hot enough to properly check the transmission fluid yesterday -- following the full procedure outlined in the user manual -- I found the level was several inches above the "hot" mark on the dipstick. The fluid still looks almost new, except for a few bubbles when I tested it yesterday, and there are no transmission issue re. changing gears. Is it safe to drive it to work and back today, until I can get the excess fluid removed? All my trips have been less than 10 km/6 miles one way.

Thanks,
Inari

kevinkpk

That is excessive. Biggest issue with overfilling is it will cause seals to leak.

12three

make sure you check the fluid on an extremely flat surface...
i have a spot that is flat enough to the naked eye... i check fluids in other vehicles in that spot all the time without issue but it is not flat enough for the uplander's trans... i get a very high reading every time due to the spot's microscopic downward slope

Inari

Thanks for your replies! Funny thing happened yesterday, after figuring out how to remove the excess. Before I had a chance to try out the U-Tube hack involving an old plastic gas can, nylon tubing, and a shop vac; my boyfriend, the ex-mechanic, came home from camp. He checked the transmission fluid for me. It was exactly inside the cross-hatching where it was supposed to be. It must have been on a slant each time I checked it, or maybe I didn't let it sit long enough to let the splashes at the side of the dipstick pipe drain down.

It turns out the people at the garage I took it to may be idiots and a little shady, but NOT that incompetent.
(What type of garage doesn't carry synthetic oil, and then charges the customer $7 to dispose of the old oil when they bring in their own!)

Inari