Low CVT Fluid

[CalifLove]

Not to thread hijack but just wanted to share my experience...

I have a 04 SE... Funny, my mechanic told me during an unrelated service that the fluid was looking low... I didn't think much of it. (busy with life and blah blah blah...) Now about 10k miles later or so - the other day I was driving and the car just wouldnt go much at all... The engine would rev but no go. Smelled funny too, like burning oil but not quite...

I turned around, came home (was only about 5 minutes away from home at this time) and checked oil and tranny fluid. Tranny dipstick was dry as a bone...nothing, not even a drop.

Shoved it in there a few times..same, nothing.

I had my GF pick up some fluid from local dealership (19.99 ea mind you...blah) filled up 4 qts worth, drove around and checked it.. now it sits really high. Car does drive fine now... but im wondering to myself, it is possible that 3 qts can be in there and nothing show on the dipstick? If not, where is all the tranny fluid that was in the car before?!?!?! To loose 3+ qts seems crazy to me. I'm at 160k miles....

[nitely]

Crawl under you MO and look for signs of fluid leak in the front end. I'm almost sure you'll find some.

[njjoe]

Did you check it with the engine ON or OFF?

In order to get an accurate reading the fluid must be checked with the engine and transmission warmed-up and the engine running.

-njjoe

Originally Posted by CalifLove

Not to thread hijack but just wanted to share my experience...

I have a 04 SE... Funny, my mechanic told me during an unrelated service that the fluid was looking low... I didn't think much of it. (busy with life and blah blah blah...) Now about 10k miles later or so - the other day I was driving and the car just wouldnt go much at all... The engine would rev but no go. Smelled funny too, like burning oil but not quite...

I turned around, came home (was only about 5 minutes away from home at this time) and checked oil and tranny fluid. Tranny dipstick was dry as a bone...nothing, not even a drop.

Shoved it in there a few times..same, nothing.

I had my GF pick up some fluid from local dealership (19.99 ea mind you...blah) filled up 4 qts worth, drove around and checked it.. now it sits really high. Car does drive fine now... but im wondering to myself, it is possible that 3 qts can be in there and nothing show on the dipstick? If not, where is all the tranny fluid that was in the car before?!?!?! To loose 3+ qts seems crazy to me. I'm at 160k miles....

[Pilgrim]

Man, when you hear about low oil in a mechanical device, that's time for action. If I were you I'd do a complete fluid change and get the burned stuff out of there---immediately.