Uh-oh. Transmission broke?

chris_kucia · February 23, 2006

Got to work this morning with no problems. Dropped it into reverse to back into a parking spot (on a slight incline). Heard a loud clunk and a whirring noise and the truck wouldn't back up. Noise gets faster with engine RPMs.

She'll go forward, but still makes the noise.

Mine's a 2000NBS 4x4 with the 5.3. I assume I have the 4L80E?

I haven't been inside this particular trans before, but I'm assuming it has a clutch band on reverse. I'm guessing I snapped that?

I'm going to take it for a little ride at lunch. Hopefully I can nurse it home on sidestreets. I don't want to drive it on the freeway.

Not much I can really do about it and, luckily, I have another car I can drive.

I know its not much to go on, but does anyone have any insight as to what the problem might be?

chris_kucia · February 23, 2006

Searched through the archives. Looks like I have the 4l60e.

Also sounds like I may have broken the sun gear case - seems like a pretty common problem.

Wingnut · February 24, 2006

Sorry to hear that man.

And I HOPE it's not a common problem

100R1 · February 24, 2006

When the Sun shell went on my '01 4L60E, I had no forward or reverse gears. Just dead in the water. It snapped as I was crossing a intersection about 1 block from work, I was able to coast into the parking lot. called the dealer as it was still under warr., they dispachted a flatbed.

I have the work order with all of the parts they used if your interested, I can post let me know.

They were suppose to have replaced the sun shell with a "improved" version that GM started using in the 2002 models. Who knows that may have been a line of bull hockey but so far no problems (other than the half assed job they did reinstalling the transmission with missing bolts, fasteners, inspection covers which I wrote a nice letter to the power to be and only got a kiss off)

I change the tranny filter & fluid 0nce a year regardless how many OR few miles I put on it to check for foreign parts, so far nothing unusual in wear/metal flakes.

You going to do the repair yourself or ?

chris_kucia · February 24, 2006

When the Sun shell went on my '01 4L60E, I had no forward or reverse gears. Just dead in the water. It snapped as I was crossing a intersection about 1 block from work, I was able to coast into the parking lot. called the dealer as it was still under warr., they dispachted a flatbed.

I have the work order with all of the parts they used if your interested, I can post let me know.

They were suppose to have replaced the sun shell with a "improved" version that GM started using in the 2002 models. Who knows that may have been a line of bull hockey but so far no problems (other than the half assed job they did reinstalling the transmission with missing bolts, fasteners, inspection covers which I wrote a nice letter to the power to be and only got a kiss off)

I change the tranny filter & fluid 0nce a year regardless how many OR few miles I put on it to check for foreign parts, so far nothing unusual in wear/metal flakes.

You going to do the repair yourself or ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I drove it to my grandmother's house - its a mile or two from my office and she has a big garage.

I've also lost 2nd, and probably 4th. From what I've read, the means the sun gear is stripped or the case is fractured.

I'm definitely going to drop the trans myself and take it apart. Not sure if I'm going to fix it or not. I'm pretty confident fixing everything else, but never done a tranny rebuild and this is my daily driver.

Its very tempting, as parts aren't that expensive. There are upgrade sunshells out there that are supposedly better than what GM is putting in. I may replace some of the parts with aftermarket.

In particular, there's a sun shell available called The Beast. Its only $56. Seems like its worth the investment.

FYI, I found a couple of good trans parts places online...

http://www.transmissionpartsusa.com

has some decent prices

ditto with

http://www.bulkpart.com

and

http://www.drivetrain.com

http://www.4l60-e.com/ has a bunch of performance parts.

I got a guestimation quote of $1500 for a GM reman from PartsZone. They're close enough to me that I could run over there and pick one up and bring my core with me, so I wouldn't need to pay shipping or the core charge. Ebay has generic "HD" rebuilts for around $1100.

I don't know of any reputable shops around here, so I'm going to try and get some recommendations. Once I get inside the thing and inspect it for damage and broken pieces parts, I'll decide what to do with it.

Poking around last night, it also looks like the rear main is leaking on the engine. Might try to deal with that at the same time if its not too big of a job.

100R1 · February 24, 2006

Might want to look at a GM rebuilt tranny from mMr Goodwrench good warr.. A friend bought one for his Vett. installed it himself the rebuild failed within 6 months. Dealer replaced the tranny for free INCLUDING the install (even though the owner did it himself on the first go around)

Also Jasper engines has rebuild trannys with a warr.

Sounds like your going to have some fun

mY SUN SHELL cracked and went to pieces. I have heard the "THE BEAST" is the way to go if you do it yourself.

TonyMazz · February 24, 2006

You do not want to do the sun gear your self...the 4l60E is a huge deal to tear down if you don't know what your are doing.

The sun shell generally suffers metal fatigue and is common in these trannies....one way to percipitate the problem is when you are rolling back wards ever so slightly then drop er in drive....doing that repeatedly will snap the shell assy....

Mine crapped out at 110K and drove my blazer another 70K and was just fine....the nice thing about rebuilding (professionally) is you can clean up and install a new clutch assy, check the bores in your valuve body and generally go over it well....

It cost me $1700 bucks but I had a new tranny when I was done...all looked well shifted like a dream ....

BTW the sunshell is deep in your tranny and everything has to come out....

100R1 · February 25, 2006

You do not want to do the sun gear your self...the 4l60E is a huge deal to tear down if you don't know what your are doing.

The sun shell generally suffers metal fatigue and is common in these trannies....one way to percipitate the problem is when you are rolling back wards ever so slightly then drop er in drive....doing that repeatedly will snap the shell assy....

Mine crapped out at 110K and drove my blazer another 70K and was just fine....the nice thing about rebuilding (professionally) is you can clean up and install a new clutch assy, check the bores in your valuve body and generally go over it well....

It cost me $1700 bucks but I had a new tranny when I was done...all looked well shifted like a dream ....

BTW the sunshell is deep in your tranny and everything has to come out....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have also heard that the sunshell takes a beating if you manually downshift in agressive driving to get some compression braking and then stomp back on the gas hard pulling out of corners etc. .... basic to loner life is leave the 4L60E in Drive let the computer choose when to do the up shifting and down shifting if you want to be agressive and change gears manually, get a manual transmission..

mcreyaufmiller · February 26, 2006

I believe the GM 4L60E is 1600 now and it has a 3 year 100000k warranty.

chris_kucia · February 26, 2006

Spent the weekend removing the trans. I hope some GM engineers' ears were ringing, cause I had a couple choice words for them along the way.

Anyhow, its out. I've got a contact for a reputable trans shop I'm going to contact and get a price for a rebuild and any upgrades they might be able to do.

I decided against trying to fix it myself. As much as I'd like to gain the experience, the truck's my daily driver and I need it back on the road. We've had a break in the snow, but that could turn. I'm hoping they can get it done this week and I can put it back in next weekend.

Thanks for everyone's help/advice.

chris_kucia · February 28, 2006

Just a quick update...

Got a referral for a local trans shop. Guys an acquaintance of one of my relatives and is giving me a good price. He's in the process of rebuilding/repairing my trans. Probably going to cost me around $1500, which seems reasonable from my shopping around. He's going to put in some heavier-duty parts as part of the deal.

Should have it back in a day or two.

I figured that with the parts, special tools, and manuals I'd need, I'd be spending close to $1000 anyhow. Seemed worth another $500 to have someone else who knows what they're doing take care of it.

I'm pleasantly surprised how well the rest of the truck has held up. Going on 6 years old with about 180k and not a sign of rust.

Guess I'll keep her for awhile...

bigdogxx · February 28, 2006

Just a quick update...

Got a referral for a local trans shop. Guys an acquaintance of one of my relatives and is giving me a good price. He's in the process of rebuilding/repairing my trans. Probably going to cost me around $1500, which seems reasonable from my shopping around. He's going to put in some heavier-duty parts as part of the deal.

Should have it back in a day or two.

I figured that with the parts, special tools, and manuals I'd need, I'd be spending close to $1000 anyhow. Seemed worth another $500 to have someone else who knows what they're doing take care of it.

I'm pleasantly surprised how well the rest of the truck has held up. Going on 6 years old with about 180k and not a sign of rust.

Guess I'll keep her for awhile...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If a shop like that does it also it should come with atleast a minimum of a 1 year warranty with it on the rebuild i would think.When the 4l60e went out in my zr2 it cost me around 1,700 to get it redone with a shift kit and some better internals so i would say you are getting a good deal.

I think you will be most pleased you decided not to do this rebuild yourself.Ive seen people with many hours of experience with rebuilding several different types of trannys that want nothing to do with taking apart a 4l60e.

chris_kucia · March 6, 2006

Just a quick update...

Got a referral for a local trans shop. Guys an acquaintance of one of my relatives and is giving me a good price. He's in the process of rebuilding/repairing my trans. Probably going to cost me around $1500, which seems reasonable from my shopping around. He's going to put in some heavier-duty parts as part of the deal.

Should have it back in a day or two.

I figured that with the parts, special tools, and manuals I'd need, I'd be spending close to $1000 anyhow. Seemed worth another $500 to have someone else who knows what they're doing take care of it.

I'm pleasantly surprised how well the rest of the truck has held up. Going on 6 years old with about 180k and not a sign of rust.

Guess I'll keep her for awhile...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If a shop like that does it also it should come with atleast a minimum of a 1 year warranty with it on the rebuild i would think.When the 4l60e went out in my zr2 it cost me around 1,700 to get it redone with a shift kit and some better internals so i would say you are getting a good deal.

I think you will be most pleased you decided not to do this rebuild yourself.Ive seen people with many hours of experience with rebuilding several different types of trannys that want nothing to do with taking apart a 4l60e.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I still have some incidental work to do (skid plates, etc.), but she's back on the road. Shifts nicely, although I never had a complaint with the old one.

Going to run it for a few days, then do a fluid/filter change just for peace of mind.