This is after the fact and kind of like Monday Morning quarterbacking, but I have learned that nobody cares as much about our coaches as we do. So the cynic in me mistrusts everyone who works on my coach (very rare) to the point I double check their work.

For those who have not yet been burned by poor service (I was literally burned, but that's another story) it never hurts to check and verify. For our transmissions there are two ways we have of monitoring them. The first is to observe the transmission temperature gauge. I constantly monitor it and under all conditions except when the retarder is in use it almost perfectly tracks the engine coolant temperature. When the retarder is in use it will climb (rapidly) but I limit it to 230 degrees. I suspect Fred saw higher transmission temps than normal and in his defense if you talk to techs or Allison experts they know a retarder will heat up the fluid so they are very quick to say to not worry about temps because the transmission itself will limit the temps as required. What they fail to recognize is that their comments are taken to heart and are not qualified as not being applicable to over filling because nobody thinks of that.

The second tool owners have at their disposal is the Allison fluid level check. With the transmission up to temperature press both arrows and the transmission (at idle and in neutral) will measure the fluid content and display the results. This is a great thing to do while waiting with the engine idling waiting for the turbo to cool down after a run. (You all do understand that before shutting down it is good practice to idle for a couple of minutes to cool down the turbocharger, right?)

Had this check been done as soon as the service on Fred's transmission been done the technician would have known of the overfull condition, and had Fred done this somewhat regularly he also would have been alerted. Using the transmission fluid level check is preferable to pulling and reading the dip stick, but don't forget that is a good way to double check.

It is unfortunate this happened and I hope the Allison dealer in Las Vegas can be held responsible for the cost of the repairs.