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You can register using your Google, Facebook, or Twitter account, just click here.What a wonderful rant. It is hard to believe NOBODY who designed this car or approved the design thought about the need to monitor and change tranny fluid. It is beyond stupid bordering on criminal. Come on, Elio indeed!I bet some people will figure out the problem pretty much immediately...
So the transmission in my 2004 Saturn L300 started shifting rough on my way home from work tonight. After 125k miles, it's not too surprising. I check the dash, and there's an idiot light on. Check the owner's manual when I get home, and it's a "non-emissions warning, get service immediately". I may not be an auto mechanic, but I'm not an idiot under the hood. Time for some basic troubleshooting. Step one: Look for leaks. Driver's side of the transmission looks damp from a small leak somewhere. The slow weeping kind, not the arterial spraying kind. Doesn't look *too* bad, I can deal with dumping some fluid in every couple months. Step two: Check the transmission fluid! There's the oil, brake fluid, steering fluid, wiper fluid, but no transmission fluid dipstick. Grab the flashlight, find a little black cap way down inside the engine on the top of the transmission. Funny place for a dipstick, and it looks kinda funny, too. It screws in. Unscrew it and pull it out. It's not a dipstick. It's just a fill cap. Where's that silly dipstick?
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Come on, Elio!
Nah Ekh, It's not stupid, except that it's not going to win anyone any converts.What a wonderful rant. It is hard to believe NOBODY who designed this car or approved the design thought about the need to monitor and change tranny fluid. It is beyond stupid bordering on criminal. Come on, Elio indeed!
You must own your own lift! That is the only way to access the "full level" plug. And to get a funnel into the "fill hole" ( where you would think the dipstick is...but isn't), several intake components must be removed.I dunno how you just found this out, unless you bought the car yesterday. I check all fluids the day I buy a car and no less than monthly after that.
No, it isn't. You could always dig one of those old-style "service pits" in your garage, so you can just drive the car in, pull out some boards, then climb down into the pit with your hanging light, and you're good to go!You must own your own lift! That is the only way to access the "full level" plug.
The fill hole on my Saturn L300 was quite conveniently located. I could actually pour the oil straight out of the bottle into the fill hole, if I was a bit steadier, and wanted to go real slow. As it was, the bottle kept "glugging" even though I was barely dripping it in. I sacrificed an old kitchen funnel. Maybe I don't have some particular option that would block it, or the engine model I have is a bit different than the one you had. I could quite easily see it getting blocked, as deep as it was inside the engine compartment.You must own your own lift! That is the only way to access the "full level" plug. And to get a funnel into the "fill hole" ( where you would think the dipstick is...but isn't), several intake components must be removed.
That would be funny. More likely, given how often I would use it, if I were even inclined to do it, would be some kind of ramp onto some cinder block risers. Wouldn't really need much for the stuff I would be doing. But that's not something I'm all that interested in doing.No, it isn't. You could always dig one of those old-style "service pits" in your garage, so you can just drive the car in, pull out some boards, then climb down into the pit with your hanging light, and you're good to go!
I confess. I'm a checker. Back when I was a kid, many of my beaters needed daily checks (and usually fills). In my world, a half hour a week checking fluids, tire pressures, etc. is as normal as taking out the trash or mowing the lawn.We've owned the car for 12 years. Change the oil whenever the light comes on. Add wiper fluid whenever the squirters stop squirting. Checked the brake fluid occasionally. Added some steering fluid when it started squealing while making sharp turns.
Other than that, nothing. My car is transportation, not occupation.
No. I will someday though. If I had one of those cars, I'd check it while I had it up on jackstands when I rotated tires.You must own your own lift! That is the only way to access the "full level" plug. And to get a funnel into the "fill hole" ( where you would think the dipstick is...but isn't), several intake components must be removed.