Ok, so I got a TH350 with about 15k miles in my camaro now, and it was on ramps for about 2 weeks with the tailshaft off while we were changing misc. seals, putting the torque arm adapter on and stuff like that. Anyway, I'm assuming the transmission is completely empty now because we took the pan off and left a bucket under it overnight to make sure all the fluid was out. I'm pretty sure everything is empty from the steep angle it's been sitting on the ramps, and I've heard a couple mechanics say when you have a car at an angle all the fluid will run out of the torque converter. That kind of makes sense because after a couple days there was quite alot of fluid(8+ quarts) in the bucket that I left underneath the transmission. Anyway, long story short, I do not know alot about transmissions besides how to change the fluid and the filter. Assuming that the trans is completely empty, how much fluid do I need and how do I make sure the torque converter is filled up with as much as it should be? I've heard the TH350 holds 11 quarts, but that sounds a little much, any info would be awesome.

 

You would have had to put the car at a VERY steep angle to drain the entire thing. 11 quarts sounds a bit high to me, but I would add 6 or 7 quarts to what may be left, then start it and check the cold level on the dipstick. Be prepared to add more right away. Unless the level is really low, you won't do any damage to the tranny by letting it run in park for a bit while you are checking/adding fluid.

- Justin

 

I know that the 700r4 holds 11 quarts between the transmission itself and the cooler so I wouldn't be at all suprised if your transmission also held 11 quarts. I'm assuming that the 8 quarts is an estimate and you didn't actually measure it right?
If that is the case personally I would just put the pan back up, put in 5 quarts (that is what the pan holds), start it, and work from their.
I'm not sure on this, so someone else feels free to jump in and correct me, but the pan only holds 5 quarts anyway, you need the car running to suck pump the fluid throught the rest of the system. If you try to dump 8 quarts in without the car running you are probably going to end up with two of them all over the engine bay.
I cannot see it hurting anything running it low on fluid for a minute so long as you arn't driving it around. I would just buy more fluid than you need too, you don't want to have to run out to the parts store to grab fluid when your car is that close to being back on the road.

 

when I say 8+ quarts I didn't actually measure it but the bucket I used holds roughly 3 gallons of water and it was well past half way full of trans fluid. I've put 5 quarts in, I suppose I'll add 2 or 3 more and keep a couple around just incase. I used the dipstick that came with the transmission and it fits a bit weirdly in the camaro so I'm not quite sure what "full" should look like on it, what are some normal signs when a transmission is low on fluid? Thanks for the help so far, all you guys rock

 

Unless it is really cold outside (under 30 degrees), you should feel the trans drop into gear as soon as you shift. If this doesn't happen almost immediatly when you shift into drive, then the first thing to check is the fluid level.

- Justin