Transmission fluid level

[AngelMoo]

My poor old car's transmission has sprung a leak and I've decided to get another car but in the mean time I need to use this car (but only when necessary). My mechanic said I need to keep an eye on how much oil is in the transmission. It's a 1983 528i, I know I need to have the car running and I can get the dipstick out ok. The problem is the visibility of the oil: engine oil is clearly visible but trans oil doesn't seem to be. I take the dipstick out, wipe it, put it back in and then I'm not sure where the oil level is at... I wipe it again and a really thin layer of red liquid goes onto the cloth. I don't want to over-fill it but I'm not sure if I have enough in there - it doesn't help that the dipstick is black. Can someone describe exactly what it should look like? (remembering that it's an old car and doesn't have the nice looking new dipsticks)

(If my post doesn't make much sense I can have another go at it)

[darkhorse737]

irregardless of the age of the car, there should be some marks on the dipstick that tell you when it's full or needs a litre or so...

if u just added oil, then yes, u may have probs reading bcz the red oil is still in the filler tube. What u can do is let the car sit a few minutes to let all the oil in the tube flow out and then re-measure(engine running of course).