I just dropped my transmission pan and got about 7 1/2 quarts out (assuming my empty milk jugs and antifreeze bottles are accurate) while my manual specifies that only 6 quarts are needed for a pan drop and refill.
How should I refill it? Could there be any harm done in only putting back 6 quarts and then running the car to temp and checking?
Thanks.
Edit: Oh, is there any harm with cleaning the pan and magnet with brake cleaner?
Unless you drained the pan soon after running the engine, some of the fluid from the torque converter would have back flowed. Sometime later, check the fluid level a couple of hours after the engine has been turned ‘off’ and you will see this flow back.
There would not be any problem with filling the sump with the 6 quarts; running the engine until warm; shifting the transmission through the gears; measuring the level; and adding the appropriate amount to bring the level to between the cold and hot level lines. Then take the car out on the road and fill the sump to bring the level up to the hot level.
It should not hurt to use brake cleaner to wash the pan and magnets. Do not use paper towels or clean scrap cloth to wipe the pan clean. You don’t want any lint to remain in the pan. Blow the cleaner clear with compressed air or use lint free wipes if you can find them. Usually the magnet(s) have to be wiped by hand using pinched fingers to pull the beard from the magnet.
Had you checked the fluid level recently before changing it? This would indicate whether 7.5 quarts would fill it or overfill. Also, no harm in using brake cleaner. Just be sure it’s completely evaporated. Then wipe pan with a lint free cloth. Also (and I may get jumped on for this) I would put in the 6 qts. Then start the engine and immediatly go through the gears. If they all engage there is enough fluid to operate the system long enough to warm it up and check it If not, shut it down and add a Qt. then check it again.
Thanks @researcher
The magnet has like a squishy rubber cover on it.
What’s the proper procedure for setting the filter gasket. Should it be placed on the filter and then pushed up into the transmission or should the gasket be placed into the transmission and then the filter pushed into the already seated gasket?
This filter has no mounting bolts or brackets, it’s just seated into a one inch rubber sleeve.
I am assuming that the filter gasket has a shoulder on it. If so push the gasket up into the transmission to the shoulder then work the filter draw pipe up into it. If you installed the gasket on the filter pipe, there is a possibility that the gasket would just double back between the filter and the valve body. Once the filter pipe passes by the gasket shoulder, there is little chance the pipe will push the gasket ahead of it.
Filter
It looks like the draw pipe for the filter has a swelled head followed by a neck. Is that the case? Then the gasket would most likely go on the neck area of the pipe.
BTW did the old gasket remain on the old filter or did you have to pull it out of the of case/valve body?
Give us a close up of the filter pipe and of the gasket on the filter pipe.
That gasket gets seated in the valve body first. Then you install the filter, making sure it seats fully.
A bit of advice . . . if you can’t remove that gasket without going to extreme lengths, leave it in place and reuse it. While a new gasket would be preferable, it wouldn’t do any good if you somehow nicked or damaged the valve body attempting to remove the gasket.
The transmission dipstick takes precedence over the capacity listed in the manual. I’ve worked on several vehicles where the capacity listed was not quite sufficient to bring the fluid up to the full mark
The old gasket came out on the old filter. I had to pry the damn thing out. I used wood. 
Holy hell, I cannot get that gasket inside the transmission case. It’s so tight that some of the plastic is shearing off. Yikes.
Is it common to have to hammer them in?
Are you coating both surfaces with trans fluid?
Yes.
I guess I’ll take a small block of wood and try to tap it in.
I think of that part as more of a seal than a gasket but it really doesn’t matter. I’ve had difficulty removing the old seal in the past so if it came out with the filter, that’s good. Just as db4690 said, sometimes I just reuse the old one. For me it is common to tap in the seal. I use a seal driver but wood will work too. Just make sure the wood is clean and don’t leave chips or dirt behind.
It’s insanely tight.
Even tapping with the wood it’s not seating in and shearing plastic from the sides.
Hhhhmm. It looks to be identical to the old one.
do you have it upside down?
I do not.
I’ve pounded the crap out of it and it will not seat at all.
Are you quite sure the old seal came out completely? Nothing left inside? You have the correct part?
What vehicle is this anyway?
So I got desperate and went to the auto part store and bought a different brand of a trans filter kit.
The one I had (Purolator) measured a one hundredth of an inch larger than the one I just bought (Duralast). The new one need some tapping with a the wood block and hammer, but it slid in and is flush with the trans case.
A one hundredth of an inch!!! Bastards.
I better get my money back.