Hi,

I recently purchased a 2005 Ford Fiesta DURATEC 1.6L Automatic and while doing the usual maintenance of fluid checks in the engine area I came across a 2nd dipstick at the front of the engine passenger side - It has a black handle pull and when checking it the base of the stick has a plastic yellow tip with min/max markers and a temperature of 59℃ in between the min and max markers. What is this for? All help highly appreciated!

Its for the  Automatic fluid 🙂

47 minutes ago, dezwez said:

Its for the  Automatic fluid 🙂

Is there somewhere I must top it up? Just curious as I see the usual filler caps but don't see one for that. 

check the hand book

2 hours ago, Steve8K said:

Is there somewhere I must top it up?

They are not actually expected to need topped up but if they do then it is via the dipstick tube as they will only need a very small amount of fluid.

5 minutes ago, Cragrat said:

check the hand book

There is actually no mention in the owners online handbook regarding the existence of the dipstick for the automatic transmission (perhaps there was in the original paper handbook).

It is probably worth getting the fluid changed in the gearbox unless you know it has been done recently. Expect to pay around £300 and that should then last another 10 years. 

58 minutes ago, Cragrat said:

check the hand book

I looked before posting and didn't see anything about it but just to be sure I checked just now and it only points out the regular dipstick. No mention of automatic transmission fluid dipstick.

49 minutes ago, unofix said:

They are not actually expected to need topped up but if they do then it is via the dipstick tube as they will only need a very small amount of fluid.

There is actually no mention in the owners online handbook regarding the existence of the dipstick for the automatic transmission (perhaps there was in the original paper handbook).

It is probably worth getting the fluid changed in the gearbox unless you know it has been done recently. Expect to pay around £300 and that should then last another 10 years. 

Thanks for your advice, extremely helpful. I'm in the process of getting the Fiesta booked in for a full service including gearbox then fresh M.O.T but the garage I use is fully booked so got a wait on my hands 😅.

Everything should be great from them on. Thanks again for your help, killed my curiosity and educated me much more on an aspect of the car I wasn't fully aware off. Top stuff!