arghh - trans wont go into any gear at all

The car will only start in park due to the neutral safety switch. Start car and let warm up. Then shift into neutral with parking break on(for safety) check fluid then. You may have lost more then you think and possibly when you pulled the engine fluid drained from the TC.

I agree. You can't guess how much fluid is in it by adding what the book says. You have to warm it up and then put the shifter in neutral and check it. No other way to know if the fluid level is right.