So I’ve finally got my ‘98 Olds’ 88 going good, when I was working on it I had taken the trans dipstick out for more room and some fluid came out. So I drove it around got it all up got temp and went to the auto parts store to get some fluid, it was right at the line that said “add 1QT” so that’s what I did. I got DexIII as from what I’ve read is what’s recommended for these. After I added the fluid and was driving around town a bit it start hard shifting into 3rd and kind rough into OD.

It’s not as bad now but still does it if it’s driven around town a lot or warmed up etc. is this just the trans being worn out or mixing the fresh fluid with the old fluid or should I service the trans (filter and fluid)? Fluid isn’t black at all but a brownish-red. I don’t think it smells burnt but never smelled burnt ATF so idk what I’m looking for. 1-2 is smooth as butter, 2-3 is only rough when warmed up fully and isn’t as bad under harder acceleration for some reason. 3-4 isn’t usually that bad. (Car has 160k miles and to my knowledge trans is 100% original and never been rebuilt one anything)

planning t take the car on a ~4 hour trip to TX2K in the middle of March and would like to know if I should get it checked out or if it’s just doing it’s worn out trans things.

Why does that seem so strange? The trans holds like 8-9 quarts or so, dipstick hole on the trans is pretty low, near the pan and obviously the pan doesn’t hold but maybe a few quarts. And there’s usually fluid in the trans in other places that’s not risidually in the pan, therefore fluid will come out that’s nowhere the dipstick is. Doesn’t surprise me at all. Not trying to be rude just saying it’s not a concern at all of mine and makes perfect sense to me. But that’s just me maybe idk.

I thought that was implied because I said I removed it for more room, removing just the dipstick wouldn’t give you any more room, removing the whole tube would. Sorry I wasn’t specific to the dot but just thought that was clear given the scenario lol.