Did the transmission flush this weekend, everything went smoothly, in fact, it's easier than an oil change because I didn't have to climb under the car.

I ran about 9 quarts through it just to be sure I got a good amount of the old stuff out.

The problem is that I'm having trouble determining if I should add or remove fluid. From what I've read here and in the Haynes manual, ATF expands quite a bit when warm, so that's the best time to take a reading. However, Haynes also says that you can check your levels if the car has sat for 5 hours or more (and one side of the dipstick is for a cold reading, while the other side is for hot).

This morning before I left for work I checked the dipstick and the level was past the "max" mark on the 'warm' (190 degrees) scale of the dipstick; after I got to work (a 40 mile drive) I let the car cool for about 30 minutes (as recommended here on the brckboard and in Haynes) then checked the level. It was so low that after wiping the dipstick off and re-inserting it I pulled it out and it was clean. This goes against the theory that ATF expands, because if it did, the level would be way, way above the "max" line.

Any ideas?

The tranny does switch gears a hell of a lot better though. And the stuff that came out looked like prune juice but eventually it looked like hawaiian punch.