Hi all,
I took my car for a transmission service a couple of months back and today I discovered the transmission oil is really low, so low that it just touches the tip of the dipstick. I'm 99% I don't have any oil leaks so is it possible it's that low without having an oil leak? Also, how warm does the car have to be before checking it? After idling for 5 minutes? 10? 20? After a 5 minute drive?

One last thing, should I keep driving and deal with it sometime this week or should I call the mechanic immediately? I haven't noticed anything wrong while driving yet, every thing seems to be running really well.


Thanks for reading. :)

short drive find a level bit of ground run the motor

cycle through all the gears

put thecar in park motor running handbrake on
check the oil

the level of oil should be between both low and high marks

in your case

only use mitsubishi oil suited to the triptroninc gearbox

if the transmission was really low on oil, you would know abbout it - it would slip its way thru the gears badly and be very annoying to drive, the car will rev quite high for the road speed you are doing too.

they also take longer to 'pick up' the gear you select (ie Drive / Reverse) when low.

does yours do that?
if not then its not dangerously low yet - but still get it topped up after checking it by the above means.
i generally find that once the temp needle in the dash for the waterr temp has reached halfway / normal position, the rest of the engine is warm enough to be checking things like transmission fluid - and it only takes a max of 5mins driving to get there.

short drive find a level bit of ground run the motor

cycle through all the gears

put thecar in park motor running handbrake on
check the oil

the level of oil should be between both low and high marks

in your case

only use mitsubishi oil suited to the triptroninc gearbox

I wish...

Just touching the dip stick will show little in driving at all.

Instead of park, use neutral as you will get less splash back onto the dip stick.

There are a few trans fluids our there these days suited for Magna's, they are basically all the same fluid.