Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 21, 2025 ...

Allison fluid level

June 03, 2016, 09:52:12 am

1st time servicing HD4060 Allison transmission, I took it in and had the trans serviced,I usually do most of the service myself But I thought I would have trans serviced-Lube-and once over. They changed from Dextron fluid to the newer fluid synthetic and changed filters. I read Allison book about checking fluid at push button if equipped,book is a little vague on this, what all can you check at push button? and how it is done, and what about mode button (economy mode) and anything else I should know about.

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #1 – June 03, 2016, 10:04:35 am

Allison Transmission Codes Manual

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #2 – June 03, 2016, 10:16:12 am

Are all the HD4060 trans equipped with oil level sensor? And what about economy mode?

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #3 – June 03, 2016, 10:26:56 am

Art,

All Allison's are set up to press up and down arrows at same time to check fluid level.  Coach must be level and fluid up to operating temp.

Economy mode changes shift points to favor fuel economy.  The Trans will wait longer to down shift.

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #4 – June 03, 2016, 06:37:01 pm

I'll just add a couple of points to what Rudy posted.

If you have been driving to get things up to temperature, I find it's necessary to stop on a level spot and let things idle down for a few minutes before starting the check oil sequence.  More than once I've been misled by starting the cycle too quickly and getting a "OL LO 2" message.  Seems like it takes some time for the fluid that's been cycling while driving to settle back to the sump (??).

After the oil test concludes you can continue to check other diagnostics.  The manual that Chuck posted says to press the "mode" button to move into other diagnostics.  However, I was shown to simply press the up and down arrows simultaneously again.  I was also told that if two dashes  -  - show up for the first follow-on diagnostic (D1) there is no need to go any further.

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #5 – June 04, 2016, 01:13:10 pm

Drove 15 miles to warm up, Trans in neutral in park at idle bush both arrow buttons  and all I get is d  1  and  -  - no count down also fluid is about 1/2 above full

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #6 – June 04, 2016, 03:55:36 pm

You must have a different tranny than me as I cannot drive 15 miles in neutral  
Maybe you do not have a level sensor?? Oil has to be around 70 degrees I think and if you did not get the countdown timer then it does not have one or is not working.
JohnH

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #7 – June 04, 2016, 04:05:36 pm

Fixed my bad grammar, The book talks about Do Not Shift light (DNS) where is that I do not see anything like that I don't think I have  fluid level sensor, Can you see it or wire harness from outside trans.  The place that serviced my trans added 1 gallon to much, I took it back and they sucked out a gallon from dipstick tube.

Quote Selected

Re: Allison fluid level

Reply #8 – June 04, 2016, 07:46:19 pm

It does not look like your transmission has an oil level sensor (or it has been disabled somehow) which is a bit surprising.  15 miles isn't much to get the trans temp up to operating range, but I would still expect to see a code that temp is not high enough.  Is it possible that you double pumped the shift keys and bypassed the oil level protocol?

 I suggest giving Allison a call with you trans serial number and asking them about it.  They generally keep pretty detailed data on each transmission they've shipped.

If your shop put that much extra fluid in my trans I personally wouldn't being going back there very soon. 

In my experience with a prior coach the Do Not Shift light was a separate light on the dash.  I just turned the ignition on in my coach and did not see a DNS in this coach.  It might be that Foretravel didn't see the need for it.

Quote Selected