ocles_inc

@hillpc & @jfrahm You guys are giving me a lot to think about. Thank you.

Part of my concern is how much I'm willing to trust so broad a claim by a corporation regarding so complex a context, as in what sort of burden of proof would they have to assume to make this claim, and did much of it did they assume, and how did they carry out that grave responsibility?

I started out in business -- in life, actually -- being very trusting, e.g., "I'm sure large companies who make reassuring claims would know exactly what they're saying and wouldn't lie about it" to .... a nowadays-more-cynical approach, some of it due to having worked in a few large companies with -- as I gradually discovered -- horrible ethics. The more broad the reassurance is, the less reassured I personally feel. If I read on the label that something formally meets the "G 052 162 A2" standard I feel more reassured than "works on all Audis" for example. And that might well just be misplaced cynicism on my part.

@TozoM8 An extra-large thank you to you for helping me understand what happened to the paint in the transmission oil pan. I now should go discard the culprit part. Without your input, I might have destroyed the next transmission I'd have put in that car. THANK YOU!!!

It's very humbling how much I continue to learn, wow. I thank all three of you.

~Tanya

hillpc

I have started keeping track of how much fluid goes in each time I top it off, and keeping track of mileage. I only have 2 data points so far, but it's looking like maybe the leak is slowing down. Here's what I have now:

Jan 20, 2018 filled, start monitoring
Feb 24, 2018 1,270 miles/qt 128 days/qt
Apr 14, 2018 5,620 miles/qt 240 days/qt

Each time it took less than 10 fluid ounces (about 9 the first time, and 7 the next). Does anyone know how low the fluid level has to be to start damaging the trans? What would happen?

I can't tell if it leaks while I'm driving it, but I do know that the fluid level is higher with the engine off, from an experience in which the engine died (melted crankshaft rpm sensor wires on the exhaust pipe) while I was filling the trans. Fluid started gushing out right away, big time, before I could get the plug back in.

I'm considering making a remote level measuring setup, which would use steel tubing attached to the drain plug of the pan, which would come up into the engine compartment, with a low pressure gauge teed in up top. I could very slowly put increasing low pressure air on it, and see how much pressure it takes to blow out the liquid in the tube, since the pressure gauge will stop climbing when this happens. That pressure gauge reading could be converted to inches of height above the lowest point of the tubing. (I do something like this for measuring the water level in my well.) But it seems very tight down there to snake tubing around and up, and I don't know if I have the guts to have a tubing elbow screwed into the bottom of the pan where the drain plug goes, just waiting to get ripped off when it gets hit by a rock or something. Maybe I could install a new fitting in the side of the pan instead to avoid that.

If this fairly slow leak continues to be slow, I may live with for a while, topping off as necessary. I've only been driving the car regularly (to work and back) for about a couple of months now, and I love it. Sure beats commuting in my 2004 Suburban.