Level extents behaving strangely

[confirm2]

I've created several levels in my project. When I change the extents of these levels, they do not change in other views as I would expect them to.

If I do a "reset to 3d extents" to all levels in all views, then I line up all the levels in one view, the extents line up in other parallel views as expected, but the extents also change in other PERPENDICULAR views! Not only do they change in perpendicular views, but they do not change uniformly. Some move, some don't. Odd!

I thought (for 3d extents) this might have something to do with project north vs. true north, so I created a new view pointing to true north. But if I try to line up the levels in that view, they behave strangely in other views.

Likewise, if I change them all to 2d extents, line them all up in one view, then try to propagate the extents to other anti-parallel views, they aren't anywhere near being positioned correctly.

In the case of 3d extents, the alignment errors are subtle. In the case of 2d propagated extents, the changes can be quite dramatic.

Is there a way I can view the actual extent of a level from above or below it (in a level plan)? The instructions don't even make it clear if the 3d extents are square or what orientation they have to the view. You can only view a slice of the 3d extents.

Any insight would be appreciated.