Originally Posted by ekpolk
Originally Posted by Linctex
I just add washer fluid once a month when I'm looking at everything else under the hood.
That's got to be the stupidest way to spend 50 cents on every car made on that line.
Ding, ding!!! Pretty much what I was thinking. I'd much prefer to have a transmission dipstick, which I don't, understanding perfectly well that including one would be substantially more costly that this little fifty-cent gimmick. Stating the obvious, the consequences of AFT bleeding out (even if a rare occurrence today) make a stick seem genuinely worthwhile, while the "consequences" of running out of washer fluid are what -- a gunky windshield until you can pull into the next convenience store?
Again, I started the thread mainly for fun -- it's almost visual humor to me. I know that, as into gadgets as I am -- and I am -- someone out there out-did me with this one. . . What will they think of next???
Well - try a typical Honda manual transmission, or at least one from the 90s. No dipstick. Just a wide fill hole and a narrower drain hole. The drain bolt would come out with a 3/8" square fitting - either a socket wrench or breaker bar. The fill bolt had a 17mm head. But the fill hole was mounted sideways. The way to fill it was to use a funnel with flexible extension, or perhaps rig some tubing that would fit over the funnel end and fit into the fill hole. The usual way was to fill it until it started overflowing. The way to check the level later was to pop it open and stick a finger in there to see if there was still fluid at the top. But since a transmission doesn't tend to leak and overfilling won't damage it, it was unlikely to require checking the fluid level. Just change the fluid whenever.
My 2004 manual transmission has a dipstick. But the drain bolt was a huge PITA. It requires a T-70 Torx bit to remove.
Originally Posted by Linctex
I just add washer fluid once a month when I'm looking at everything else under the hood.
That's got to be the stupidest way to spend 50 cents on every car made on that line.
Ding, ding!!! Pretty much what I was thinking. I'd much prefer to have a transmission dipstick, which I don't, understanding perfectly well that including one would be substantially more costly that this little fifty-cent gimmick. Stating the obvious, the consequences of AFT bleeding out (even if a rare occurrence today) make a stick seem genuinely worthwhile, while the "consequences" of running out of washer fluid are what -- a gunky windshield until you can pull into the next convenience store?
Again, I started the thread mainly for fun -- it's almost visual humor to me. I know that, as into gadgets as I am -- and I am -- someone out there out-did me with this one. . . What will they think of next???
Well - try a typical Honda manual transmission, or at least one from the 90s. No dipstick. Just a wide fill hole and a narrower drain hole. The drain bolt would come out with a 3/8" square fitting - either a socket wrench or breaker bar. The fill bolt had a 17mm head. But the fill hole was mounted sideways. The way to fill it was to use a funnel with flexible extension, or perhaps rig some tubing that would fit over the funnel end and fit into the fill hole. The usual way was to fill it until it started overflowing. The way to check the level later was to pop it open and stick a finger in there to see if there was still fluid at the top. But since a transmission doesn't tend to leak and overfilling won't damage it, it was unlikely to require checking the fluid level. Just change the fluid whenever.
My 2004 manual transmission has a dipstick. But the drain bolt was a huge PITA. It requires a T-70 Torx bit to remove.