5 pints don't even wet the stick.

[Mr. Machanic]

78 Big 10. 350 with HT350.
Changed tranny filter.
Manuals say 5 pints.
5 pints in, short spin around block, warmed up, engine running, in park and stick is dry.
I did take note that when the pan was off, the dip stick end was clearly visible and long enough.
I added a pint and could barely see fluid on tip of stick.
Am I doing something wrong?
Should engine be off after warming up, then check?

Thanks in advance.

[Mr. Machanic]

Forgot to mention...
The build code in the glovebox says tranny is:
MX1.

The possibility exists that it could be a HT400.

Would a filter and gasket kit for a HT350, also fit a HT400?

I ask because the volume for the 400 is 7.5 pints.
And with what I'm seeing on the dipstick, adding another quart would bring the level up to about where it should be.

When I finally got the pan broke loose, my catch basin was not able to capture all the oil. (A donation to weed control)
So, I can't judge drained volume to guess on 5 pints or 7.5 pints.

Thanks

[Mr. Machanic]

Now I feel silly, but typing/talking through it, got me the answer.
I poured what I was able to capture into an old 1 gal motor oil jug.
I went out and looked at the level and using the graduations on the jug's "window", I captured 5 pints+. And knowing I missed quite a bit, I can safely conclude the tranny takes 7.5 pints.
Which means it's not a HT350, but a 400.

Thanks again, you guys are amazing.

[Mr. Machanic]

Buggers....
Went on Rockauto to see about the 350 gasket and the 400 gasket.
Not the same shape.

Now this makes no sense and I'm back to my original question.

Thanks,

[Mr Diesel]

I would check another resource for listed capacity. Maybe it even has aftermarket extra capacity pan. Either way it's safer to slightly overfill a transmission than to underfill it.

[ehjorten]

A few things:
 - A Turbo-Hydramatic 350 transmission or Turbo-Hydra-Matic can be called a TH350. Originally you would see them as THM350.
 - A Turbo-Hydramatic 400 is a TH400 or THM400.
 - A TH350 has a different pan shape than a TH400. That should help you identify what transmission you have. The TH350 pan is basically a square with one corner chamfered off. The TH400 is a much more oddly shaped pan.
 - Most stock TH350 will take about 4 quarts if you are just dropping the pan. That is 8 pints. Perhaps you misread and thought pints instead of quarts.

[Mr. Machanic]

I did drop the pan in order to change the filter.
The pan is swuarr with a corner chamfered.
So it is a 350. And I noted the 400 was a completely different shaped pan.
I have 4 manuals and all of them state 5 pints

I'll just add a pint at a time until the stick is happy.

It's just strange.

[Shifty]

We talking pints or quarts here?   

[Mr. Machanic]

PINTS...
No where in this thread have I mentioned quarts.
And I do realize that 2 pints make a quart.

8 pints make a gallon, just like 4 quarts make a gallon.

And just as an update:
The end volume which made the dipstick happu was:
7 and 1/2 PINTS......which is about 3 gulps short of a gallon.

[Shifty]

I got the "only pints mentioned", I've just never heard anyone do transmission fluid in pints, pan capacity of a th350 is 4 quarts...so, 8 pints I reckon.

[Mr. Machanic]

Straight out of a Chilton's.

[JohnnyPopper]

Well there is your problem!

Glad you figured it out mate!

[Shifty]

JP ain't wrong! 

[Mr Diesel]

Chilton and Haynes are best used as a "guide" and not so much as an authoritative source or "manual", as we have been reminded of here. I used it as a reference for capacity and oil type in a transmission on a car once. Big mistake not checking another source, because it was absolutely the wrong oil and ruined the syncros in a pretty short period of driving.

[Mr. Machanic]

I get it.
But unless one is lucky enuf to find a service manual, there ain't many options.

A tad off topic but whrn I had first gen Honda Goldwings, club members would jump on the synthetic oil bandwagon, thinking they were being kind to their old engines. Problem was the clutches shared the same oil bath. That synth oil degraded the clutch material in the first 100 miles. Once the oil filter was packed full, the bypass opened and it was only a matter of minutes before the rod bearings were roached. I seen rods go clean thru those boxer motors and it aint pretty at 7500 rpm.
I don't think the manuals were to blame for that, but there were issues with Clymer, Haynes and Chiltons. And a Shop manual was like super rare.