2012 Transmission Fluid Change Info (WA580)

DBats

DBats

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Good morning Jeep fam. I have a question I'm hoping someone can help with. This weekend I set about changing my transmission fluid in my JK with the automatic WA580 transmission, about 20k overdue for this service but better late that never! What I've discovered through looking up various videos and forums is that there isn't a whole lot of write-ups specifically for the WA580 as most folks doing fluid changes themselves are doing them on the 42RLE.

So I dropped the pan, drained the fluid and measured. I only managed to get out about 2.5 quarts which I thought was low. Buttoned the jeep back up and put back in exactly what I'd taken out, 2.5 quarts. Checked the dipstick and couldn't see any red fluid on it whatsoever so I added the rest of the 3rd quart and was finally able to see a smidge of red on the tip of the dipstick. Reading a previous post on this forum about how most folks would add up to 4 quarts at first and then check the fluid level to top it off I decided to pour a 4th quart in there myself.

Started the jeep, cycled through the gears a few times, left it in neutral and checked the fluid with the engine idling. I couldn't get any fluid to read on the dipstick at all even after adding nearly double what I had drained out. So I let the jeep sit overnight allowing the fluid to settle and I could get a better read in the morning. The following day I go out to check the jeep after letting it sit all night and checking the jeep COLD, the durpstick reads well over the two bottom cold holes and is halfway up the dispstick to the top hot holes. This made me believe I had overfilled the transmission but I started it up, cycled the gears again, let it idle in neutral and checked the fluid, now the fluid showed BELOW the bottom cold hole...

At this point I'm very confused, but I took it for a drive to see if I could get the transmission into better operating temp to see if the fluid level would go up or down. After 45 mins of running errands I get back home, check the fluid level and it's just above the bottom COLD hole. I have no idea at this point, all I want to know is if I put too much in or too little lol...

Attached is an artist rendering of what my levels look like: The first image is my fluid level with the jeep COLD, and the second image is the fluid level with the jeep HOT having been driven for 45 mins.

Also I should note that while driving I didn't experience any shifting problems or abnormalities it was smooth and drove fine.

Anyone have any pointers on what I should be or shouldn't be doing? Thanks in advance!

dispstick cold level.jpg dispstick hot level.jpg
 
What were the tranny fluid levels on the dipstick before you dropped the pan?

Is the dipstick endcap seating fully on the dipstick tube every time? Could give inconsistent levels if not.




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I'll be honest, I'd checked the fluid once before a while time ago but not right before I did the service. I just knew that the service interval for a fluid change is around 60K and I'm at 80K so I knew it was due for a fluid change didn't even think to look at what the level was at beforehand because I figured I was draining and replacing what did it matter? Rookie mistake.

As for it being seated all the way, yeah it is. The top of the dipstick tube has a tab that the actual dipstick handle seats under when fully inserted into the tube which I've been making sure of each time.
 
The thing that's really confounding me is how can it read so far above the cold holes when cold, but nowhere near the hot holes when hot?
 
Sounds like you are good on the dipstick position.

I’ve got a 2012 JKUR auto at 71k and thinking of doing the same service but now you’ve got me scratching my head. Mine in neutral is between hot and cold but haven’t done the service yet so can’t say how much will be in the pan with normal fluid levels. My manual doesn’t say how to check the fluid and the internet is kind of all over the place. Should it be in park or neutral for fluid checks? IDK which but I see both referenced. The fluid levels will definitely be different with the engine off as I think you saw the next morning. Should be getting consistent readings in neutral when hot or when cold. Was your tranny low on fluid prior to the maintenance? Again, we don’t know but possibly. The torque converter should hold a constant amount and the pan level would fluctuate with leakage. You should have seen external leakage tho. Just kind of thinking of situations, but hopefully someone chimes in here to shed some light on this.



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Yeah, I definitely didn't think that recognizing how much fluid I had in the thing after a change would be MORE difficult than actually changing the fluid itself. If you pull out the dipstick itself and look at the markings it actually says "check in neutral with engine idle" so that's what I've been doing, and that's really the only guidance I could find in my manual or on the internet lol. Plenty of videos of folks doing the actual change but none of them explaining how to read the dang fluid levels, haha.
 
Just checked mine when cold and was between the two cold holes. Wanted to post up that my dipstick also says to idle in neutral and not add fluid if between the cold holes when at 80F and if between hot holes when hot at 180F. I would follow those instructions. Since the 2012 models don’t give tranny temps on the dash, I would check in the morning at ~ 80F and adjust fluid accordingly.


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Last edited:
bmkrinne said:
Just checked mine when cold and was between the two cold holes. Wanted to post up that my dipstick also says to idle in neutral and not add fluid if between the cold holes when at 80F and if between hot holes when hot at 180F. I would follow those instructions. Since the 2012 models don’t give tranny temps on the dash, I would check in the morning at ~ 80F and adjust fluid accordingly.


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Click to expand...


For the cold temp did you turn the engine on and put it in neutral and just checked it before it warmed up? What was your procedure?
 
My Jeep is not a daily driver so it was ambient temp which was about 80F. Started it and let it idle down for about 30 seconds, shifted into reverse, neutral, drive, and back to neutral. I set the parking brake and let it idle while checking the fluid level. I pulled the dipstick out, wiped it off then checked the level 3 times. All 3 had same level indicated on the dipstick.


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I literally just had the same problem and I overfilled it so much the engine is ruined. Well the next question is do I get the new engine that’s covered under warranty or do I put a ls1


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Ruining the entire motor does seem a bit extreme for an overfilled transmission... as for an update, doing the same process that bmkrinne did instead of waiting for it to get hot has yielded consistent results over the last few days when I've checked it. Enough to put my mind at ease of where my fluid level actually is.

I'm getting fluid consistently showing between the two bottom COLD holes on the dipstick now so I should be good to go!
 
Rrrresurrecting my own thread!

So been driving the jeep for a week or so now, no abnormalities with shifting and everything is smooth.

That being said I just downloaded the Torque app, and got an ODB2 scanner so I could start looking at different temps and I noticed right away that my trans (according to torque) is running on the hot side seeing 220-225 at highway speeds. Now I do have 4.88s and 37's so I imagine that would up the temperature a bit but I don't think I should see temps above 200 while just cruising down the highway especially on a 2012 where I know they added a much bigger trans cooler from the factory.

Again because I just got the torque app I have no idea if my trans running that hot is a recent issue i.e after the fluid change, or if it's been running hot for a long time now. With temps that hot what should I be looking for that would be red-flag indicators? Any places I should start to investigate? Or is my trans just running hot and don't worry about it until it pushes 250+?

Open to suggestions and advice! Thanks guys
 
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