Searching gets me all sorts of different answers and when put it into application gets me different levels on my dipstick....

the car is 1979 300d non turbo. automatic


there is the just turn on the car run thru the gears in park for 5 mins answer.... this gets me a reading of about an inch about the top mark on dipstick

there is the drive the car around up some hills and stop and go for 15 mins then check the level answer... this gets me pretty close to in between the two ticks on stick but usually a bit below the lower tick

there is the drive the car for a good half to an hour to get it 100% completly warmed up then check the level answer.... this get me NO reading on the dipstick at all

and there is the drive the car until it reaches the first "tick" on the coolant temp gauage (120f or 60c) and then check the level answer..... havent been able to try this one yet because i just saw this now


from what i have gathered from all this is that checking the tranny fluid on these older merc's is not at simple as a car is these days and it has to be checked at an exact temp and time. is this temp of the atf fluid or the coolant temp? what is that temp?

OR MORE SIMPLY... just a straight confirmed and tested answer on how to correctly check the ATF fluid.

please help.

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