I dropped the pan and changed the filter, cleaned out the pan (which, the pan had a thin layer of gunk all throughout) and the magnet (which was more like a donut that isnt attached to the pan at all, just a magnet plopped in there, much different than what was in the how-to.) it had a pretty thick layer of black gunk on it that acted almost like grease in the way it smeared and stuck to EVERYTHING when I touched it, but it was very attracted to the magnet so I assume it was all metal. Hoping that's not too much alarm there.
So I used Dawn to scrub it all out and very thoroughly wiped it and let it air dry for almost an hour, cleaned the gasket and mating surface, reinstall filter, bolt it all back up, refill and no leaks. I checked the pan tonight and still all dry, no signs of leakage.
Here's the issue... shifting has been a little odd, like it's so subtle I cant really explain how, sometimes it feels a little late, or it hangs onto a gear a little longer than it normally would have, but that's not really bothering me as it's all really really smooth shifting and only minimally off on timing if at all.
Over the past few days, off and on and especially up hills my car has been an absolute dog. Earlier today I slowed down to take a curve and it's up hill, so I put the gas on and the rpms were like 3k, but I felt like I had NO power at all, it was struggling to break 40mph. And when this lack of power is happening, there's a clicking or ticking I can hear that seems to change with rpms in speed and loudness. It feels as if Im giving it gas with one foot while Im holding my other foot on the brake... the engine itself is going and roaring as it should, but the car isnt getting much "go"
It's very intermittent because for example with this incident I let off the gas and then hit it a little harder and suddenly I had power back, no ticking or clicking. Sometimes I'll just continue on with it ticking listening to it, get to the top of the hill and coast down, but then on the next hill like 100ft away, there's no ticking or power loss at all.
Im not even sure if this is a tranny issue, so I checked my fluid when I got home tonight after a long drive and on the dipstick it was still nice and bright red, but it was down near the "Add" line.
How is that possible? I realize it wasnt FULLY warmed when I checked it during the maintainence because I only idled it for about 5 minutes then drove it around the block before I checked it after the fill, but I added about 7 quarts and a little bit from the 8th bottle, even if I didnt measure it exactly I couldnt be that far off from the 7.4qt drain and refill capacity, could I? Does having the transmission fully heated up, or a few tenths of a quart make that big a difference on the dipstick/performance? Just seems like Im missing a lot of fluid on the dipstick for how much I put in, according to the 7.4qt capacity listing for a pan drop, filter and refill.
Could that be the cause of the issue Im having?
