MBS Extended Automatic Transmission Dipsticks now available

[GhostStrykre]

I would hold off doing anything until you know what the fluid temperature was when observe it at “6”. @TJC has a system set for fluid levels at different temperatures. It really makes a difference in 10 to 15 degrees with how much the fluid expands. You may be ok

well I’ll be. I am not terribly patient, for better or worse, so I got my MacBook all fixed up and running windows again. Got Forscan up and running and connected so I could see live temp data.

after a 30 minute drive home at highway speeds the transmission was at 190 degrees F. So still a bit to go.

I found @TJC’s image that you referenced and took a measurement. My results are the blue arrow at 190 degrees:

so slightly below the desired spot but may not be as bad as feared. I’ll continue to give it some more heat cycles for the tube to settle in and then take a measurement and make a conclusion. Thanks so much for the info! Very very helpful!

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[Stevedbvik1]

well I’ll be. I am not terribly patient, for better or worse, so I got my MacBook all fixed up and running windows again. Got Forscan up and running and connected so I could see live temp data.

after a 30 minute drive home at highway speeds the transmission was at 190 degrees F. So still a bit to go.

I found @TJC’s image that you referenced and took a measurement. My results are the blue arrow at 190 degrees:

so slightly below the desired spot but may not be as bad as feared. I’ll continue to give it some more heat cycles for the tube to settle in and then take a measurement and make a conclusion. Thanks so much for the info! Very very helpful!

A good shortcut to 215F is to drive it around at 70mph with it locked in 6th gear ( 3500-4000 rpm) for about 5-10 miles. Works every time for me.

 

[TJC]

well I’ll be. I am not terribly patient, for better or worse, so I got my MacBook all fixed up and running windows again. Got Forscan up and running and connected so I could see live temp data.

after a 30 minute drive home at highway speeds the transmission was at 190 degrees F. So still a bit to go.

I found @TJC’s image that you referenced and took a measurement. My results are the blue arrow at 190 degrees:

so slightly below the desired spot but may not be as bad as feared. I’ll continue to give it some more heat cycles for the tube to settle in and then take a measurement and make a conclusion. Thanks so much for the info! Very very helpful!

Let your truck sit over night and run the cold check to validate. Start truck run through the gears up and down at 5 second intervals. Immediately jump out and check you level. It should be on the very tip of the dipstick. Up to 1/8" will get you in the diamond between 4 and 5 at 215F.

 

[ControlNode]

I don’t know the temp exactly, but it was operating temp. Just shy of the midpoint on the temp gauge where it maxes out and holds during normal operation.

EDIT: I do have an OBDII cable, but would need to get my old MacBook set up with bootcamp and figure out Forscan to pull that exact temp. Forscan will tell me the active temp, I’m assuming.

What is your current mobile computer if the old MacBook is the old Intel based that supported Bootcamp. Asking because I've run Forscan fine in Parallels with Windows 11 for arm VM on both an M2 MacBook Air and M4 MacBook Air.

Nevermind, I saw your later post that you got the old one up and running.

 

[GhostStrykre]

Let your truck sit over night and run the cold check to validate. Start truck run through the gears up and down at 5 second intervals. Immediately jump out and check you level. It should be on the very tip of the dipstick. Up to 1/8" will get you in the diamond between 4 and 5 at 215F.

Ah thanks! Appreciate you and @Stevedbvik1 for all the tips. As well as your efforts in the image of the dipstick at temps. I’m hoping this quick record of my experience encourages others to invest in this product. This whole process has been made possible by knowledge gained from the MBS product and the associated community contributions. Really, thanks to you all!

What is your current mobile computer if the old MacBook is the old Intel based that supported Bootcamp. Asking because I've run Forscan fine in Parallels with Windows 11 for arm VM on both an M2 MacBook Air and M4 MacBook Air.

Nevermind, I saw your later post that you got the old one up and running.

yep! Old Intel based MacBook is boot camping windows for me. I was going to mess with virtualization on my newer MacBook Pro (I think I got it in like 2024 or early 2025). I’ve never done that before and was too lazy to learn it for this process and too cheap to pay for parallels lol. Gonna have to figure it out one of these days

 

[TJC]

What is your current mobile computer if the old MacBook is the old Intel based that supported Bootcamp. Asking because I've run Forscan fine in Parallels with Windows 11 for arm VM on both an M2 MacBook Air and M4 MacBook Air.

Nevermind, I saw your later post that you got the old one up and running.

I'm running Linux Mint with Gnome Boxes (VM) with Windows 10 on my Thinkpad, and it runs Forscan perfectly. My last Windows laptop is no longer needed.

 

[GhostStrykre]

Let your truck sit over night and run the cold check to validate. Start truck run through the gears up and down at 5 second intervals. Immediately jump out and check you level. It should be on the very tip of the dipstick. Up to 1/8" will get you in the diamond between 4 and 5 at 215F.

yep, just tested this morning per your instructions there. First draw on the dipstick I didn’t see anything, so I reinserted the dipstick and tried a second time. There was transmission fluid on the very tip of the dipstick. Barely so. Again, thanks

I'm running Linux Mint with Gnome Boxes (VM) with Windows 10 on my Thinkpad, and it runs Forscan perfectly. My last Windows laptop is no longer needed.

this is funny to me because I was attempting to run Linux mint on my Intel MacBook. So. Many. Errors. Downloading software from the Linux software center errored out constantly. Like, even Wine failed to install. 10 years ago I’d dig into it and figure out the fix with all the knowledge on the web. Now, my job is busier and I’m tired. I threw in the towel and retreated to windows lol. Oh well.

 

[TJC]

yep, just tested this morning per your instructions there. First draw on the dipstick I didn’t see anything, so I reinserted the dipstick and tried a second time. There was transmission fluid on the very tip of the dipstick. Barely so. Again, thanks

this is funny to me because I was attempting to run Linux mint on my Intel MacBook. So. Many. Errors. Downloading software from the Linux software center errored out constantly. Like, even Wine failed to install. 10 years ago I’d dig into it and figure out the fix with all the knowledge on the web. Now, my job is busier and I’m tired. I threw in the towel and retreated to windows lol. Oh well.

I don't know how long it's been since you attempted the move to Linux, but Linux Mint (Cinnamon) has come a long way! It is a very simple install, and all apps in the Software Manager Catalog work well. I steer clear of Wine for several reasons...​

​

1) It is not sand boxed. I don't want Windows API feeding into the native Linux OS. Too dangerous with viruses.​

​

2) I had trouble making WINE run reliably​

Gnome Boxes is by far the simplest VM to install and run that I have ever used. Install it < 5 minutes from the Software Manager, start it up, add a box, Select the OS.iso file to boot from and watch Windows or whatever install perfectly. Very very easy to do.

Once Win 10 is installed, do the following for seamless integration.
In your Windows 10 VM guest, you need to install

• SPICE Guest Tools for Windows
  • This bundle includes:
    • QXL display driver (better graphics + resizing)
    • Clipboard sharing
    • Mouse integration (no more grabbing/releasing manually)
    • Folder sharing support

You can get it from the official SPICE project:

• Look for: “spice-guest-tools-latest.exe”

After downloading

1. Run the installer inside Windows
2. Reboot the VM
3. After reboot, you should notice:
   • Mouse moves in/out freely (no capture)
   • Clipboard works both ways
   • Screen auto-resizes with the window

OR

• Open your Windows VM
• Go to: http://win.gnomeboxes.org
• An auto-download will begin with the correct SPICE guest tools

After stating all of the above, on a standard PC laptop, Linux Mint usually “just works.” Apple hardware does add a few installation wrinkles:

• Boot process differences
  Intel Macs use EFI in a slightly Apple-specific way, so booting a Linux USB sometimes needs extra steps (like holding Option/Alt and picking the USB manually).
• Wi-Fi drivers
  Many Intel MacBooks use Broadcom chips that need proprietary drivers. After install, you may need to enable them via Mint’s Driver Manager.
• Keyboard & trackpad quirks
  Things like:
  • Two-finger right click
  • Function keys (brightness, volume)
    These may need minor tweaks or packages.
• T2 security chip (on newer Intel Macs and Intel PCs)
  If your MacBook has Apple’s Apple T2 Security Chip (2018+ models), it can complicate things:
  • You may need to disable Secure Boot in recovery
  • Some hardware (like the camera or Touch ID) won’t work fully.
• Older Intel MacBooks (pre-2018): pretty smooth
• Newer Intel MacBooks with T2: more effort, but still possible
• Once installed Mint runs smoothly.

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