Dip stick discovery!

[H. Miller]

We are new (6 months) to motorhomes. After discovering that the "normal" transmission tube had no stick on the dip stick and rereading the owners manual it became apparent that we were to check the fluid level electrically. Then comes the problem of getting the fluid temp. high enough (even on the road it runs very cool).
DISCOVERY: Had the bedroom engine covers off and saw a dip stick looking affair - it had a tag saying "this transmission is filled with Transynd" and it ran off toward the transmission. It has a stick and we are now able to "cold check" the transmission.
Wonder what else is down there?

[Gary RVRoamer]

Not sure what you mean about the "normal" transmission tube not having a dipstick but suspect you may have seen something like that in the Allison owner manual. The transmission is delivered to the chassis builder without a dip stick because Allison doesn't know how long the access tube will be or where it needs to go to be accessible. The chassis builder (Roadmaster, in your case) adds the long tube that reaches an owner accessible area and provides a properly calibrated dipstick to go with it.

[H. Miller]

The "normal" transmission dipstick is the one located with ALL the others on an '04 Monaco product. Engine oil, power steering and water recovery tank. That dipstick handle has a slot for installation of the "stick" but none installed!! This has been discussed in several threads with one owner going so far as to dismantle the tube to make sure the stick had not come loose and gone into the oil sump. Appears Monaco did not always put a stick in the system leaving only the electrical Allison system for checking oil quantity. The tube plugged by this dipstick handle is merely an oil fill recepticle.
Rechecked the additional dipstick yesterday (with a flashlight) and it goes directly into the transmission. It is found between the transmission and the rear of the engine (toward FRONT of motorhome)

[wa8yxm]

Note that on many vehicles there is an "Optional" electrionic dip stick.. I have actually seen ONE of them in my 50 years of driving (Not all of those were on the road, some were on the farm)

IF yours came complete w/o the dip stick, contact your dealer and have them send you one.

Page 2: Getting it hot enough, 30 minutes of driving is more than enough to get it hot enough, don't worry too much about that, If you can hold your hand on the top tank of the radiator for one minute,,, NOT HOT ENOUGH, if you touch a moistened finger to the top of the tank and immed pull it off cause it's burning (or nearly burning) That's hot enough (Normal engine temp) transmission is cooled by the same "Water"

[Ray,IN]

I've always been under the impression that A/T oil was routed through the radiator to heat the oil quicker in cold weather, not cool the oil. With an engine coolant temperature of 230*just how much could it cool tranny oil?