2007 pacifica transmission leak
 

2007 Pacifica has suddenly developed a transmission leak. Where is the dipstick to check the fluid? Facing the car, on the right and a few inches back and down from the radiator is a black cap marked dealer use only. Unscrewed the cap, looks to just be a fill tube. Is there no dipstick for the transmission? Also, any common places for these to develop a sudden leak, about 165,000 miles

There is no dipstick from the factory, you will need one of these:

Dipstick tool

It comes with instructions for reading fluid level. If you have no way of measuring fluid temp, you can get it to about 140F by driving around for about 10-15 minutes. That's if the ambient temp is reasonable, not bitter cold. At that temp, you'd look for the fluid between around 32 on the gauge. That's smack dab in the middle for that temp, so even if you're off by some 40-50F in fluid temp, you have plenty of margin for error.

Thanks you for the info. First vehicle I ever had without a transmission dipstick.

yep, has a 6 speed. Out of curiosity, when should the fluid be changed in the transmission? It just occurred to me it has never been changed, around 167,000 miles

Chrysler doesn't have any maintenance for the transmission indicated in the normal service schedule.

Under severe service (dusty conditions, towing, short trips, lots of idling, etc.) they list auto trans fluid & filter replacement every 60k miles.

I bought my '07 Pacifica (6 speed) at 130k and changed the fluid/filter as soon I got it-- it was pretty funky, evidently had never been changed before. The fluid was a dark grey/purple color, nothing like the bright red that it is when new. That said, it didn't smell burnt or anything that might have serious consequences had I not changed it. My suggestion is if you intend on keeping the car to 200k or beyond, you should definitely change it. It's quite easy to do in the driveway (though messy if you're not careful). One bolt is hidden above the crossmember that's sort of a pain to remove, but can be done from the drivers side wheel well if you remove that tire. A fluid replacement takes about 5-1/2" quarts if you just do a pan drop / filter replacement. The old transmission filter seal can be a pain to get out, especially if you've never done it before-- but it's safe to use the old one as long as there's sufficient resistance when you go to install the new filter (that resistance is what seals the filter tube). You can then just discard the new seal that comes with it- obviously it's better to replace the seal, but it requires careful prying with metal tools on or near a sealing surface. Lots of helpful Youtube videos (not necessarily for a Pacifica, but GM transmission service is very similar) that describe the pan drop and filter replacement (and seal) process.

A shop would probably do the service pretty inexpensively since this is such an easy procedure, probably around $200 or less if I had to guess.

I did back to back changes (within about 5k of each other) to try and get more old fluid out, the color is a nice ruby red now.