JDuncan

Update: no update. I'm told the senior advisor finally got the 'report' together and forwarded it to the district manager sometime between last Friday afternoon and this morning. Calling daily to remind him what a nice guy I am. @Jagerschnapps1 Yours also went down with a 4-5-6 failure? Was the fluid distressed when you changed it 40k mi ago?

Searched a few keywords but didn't find much. Hoping you guys can give me some insight and/or a sanity-check (or maybe just give me a shoulder to cry on; sorry for the novel). BLUF: 5.3 6L80 w/ 59k commuting to work last week, accelerating with traffic from a light, trans hits the 3-4 shift, but 4th might as well be neutral. Throws P0796. Forward & reverse work normal @ low speed, 4th gear is nowhere to be found. Fluid on dipstick bright red/orange, no burnt smell, no glitter. Googlefu TSB 16-NA-027. Powertrain warranty expired last September. Dealer says no foreplay, it'll be $5500 for a new trans. GMCA is up to 50% coverage on a dealer rebuild. I'm escalating. Saga ongoing. Full story: I bought my 2015 RCSB SLE 4x4 5.3 about 5yrs ago from a local Honda dealer, fresh off a trade. It had 5700mi on the clock and was an unmolested cream puff; clean history, GMC dealer serviced. 1st owner took delivery SEP15, I signed AUG16. At the time I had just bought a really rural house and needed something capable in weather that could haul supplies and materials. I don't tow at all, never been stuck, don't hotrod, and haven't hauled anywhere close to max capacity, so I think the truck lives a mostly easy life; I just need rugged and reliable for family use in inclement weather and exigent circumstance, and deliberately picked a young truck with lots of warranty left (and, I was financing, and I have feelings about financing cars out of warranty). Since then, I've racked up about 10k mi/yr, always lubricated at the local GMC dealer, never tuned or programed; powertrain 100% stock. I did succumb to a 2" level and 285/65-18 KO2s about 30k mi ago, and I'm not afraid of tackling normal wear items on the driveway (air filters, brakes, etc). I also keep an eye on fluids and usual old-school auto checkpoints. As long as I've owned it, the truck has never given me any problems at all. So, when I made my final payment last month I was feeling pretty good, looking forward to several years of low-cost ownership just keeping up with maintenance and wear items, maybe finally throwing on a tune, and enjoying a unique truck with tons of utility tweaked to my use case. Fast forward to last Monday morning, commuting in to the office, stoplight traffic. Accelerating from a light with the flow of commuter cars, transmission rowing up the gears, as she goes to hit 4th, forward acceleration ceases and the throttle disconnects from the tires. Revs out a few kRPM and I realize something is horribly askew, so I hit the flashers and dive into a shopping center parking lot to check it out. I check reverse, neutral, and drive; all normal. Pick up a little more speed and sure enough, 4th is nowhere to be found. Check tow/haul mode and manual shift/gear. Consistent: all normal until 4th. No noises. No shudder. No code, until at about this point, the CEL lights up. I dust off my cheapie scan tool I keep in the bed box and pull down a P0700 and P0796. I text a few GM-geek friends for a sanity-check and pull the tranny dipstick; balls-on level, clear red/orange, normal smell, no visible particulate/glitter. I consider limping it to the dealer about 10mi away. Then a TSB that seems to align with my symptoms a little too perfectly comes to my attention: https://www.tsbsearch.com/GMC/16-NA-027 So I figure if something IS broken in there, it would probably be a bad idea to limp anywhere. Out comes the tow truck, and off to the dealer we go. The next day the dealer calls and (more nicely than this) says "Pound sand, you're out of warranty. New trans is $5500. Not worth the T&M for a rebuild." Now, I'm more of a "catch 'em with honey" type, and I realize the service writer is just a mouthpiece for the computer screen, so with some controlled breathing we establish their technician is aware of the TSB, hasn't yet seen anything inconsistent with that bulletin, and that if this happened 9mos ago this would be a cut-n-dry warranty repair. I mention the whole situation leaves a metallic taste in my mouth to say the least; 13% out of warranty on time, but 40% inside warranty by mileage, and staring down the barrel of $5500 unplanned expense, less than 1mo since payoff. I ask for contact info of someone who has discretion in these matters. Dealer says they'll make a few calls. The following day, I get the "good news, GMC will pick up 50% of the repair, but only a dealer rebuild with parts replacement." Progress, at least. I ask the service writer what they would do if they were in my position in this situation. They say they'd file a case with GMCA. So that's what I did. By last Thursday, I was in contact with a "senior advisor" that would look into the case. I explained everything that I just typed out above. They said they would look into it and get back to me. By this time, I'm internetting the 6L80 and eventually come across this, https://youtu.be/d4OYRNIpJzI?t=754 which posits the 4-5-6 failure is a known issue due to a supplier quality problem (weld porosity) that was later corrected. I'm tending to believe my truck's build date in late '14 increases the chances this could be the issue. Today, I followed up with the GMCA advisor. I was told GM agreed to add $250 to the coverage amount. I was also told that a factor in that decision was my denial of a dealer-recommend transmission flush last fall. I pointed out that so far, no one has indicated to me that the condition of the fluid was in any way a known contributor to my failure. Advisor says he can go up to $500 unilaterally. "How about multilaterally?" So we're escalating. So, if you've made it this far, thanks for listening. Here are the sanity-checks and questions for the group, TIA: 1) Can the trans experts here think of anything else that could've nuked my trans like this? 2) Could skipping the '45k mi trans fluid service' last year have contributed to my trans failing? Was it wrong to just periodically eyeball the dipstick, thinking "I'm not stressing the truck, this fluid tastes fine"? 3) How comfortable should I be with a dealer parts-swap rebuild vs. crate (vs. reputable local shop) transmission? 4) Anyone local to the DMV have a shop they'd recommended in particular? 5) Am I wrong for pursuing the warranty coverage? Should I expect to pound sand here? 6) If not, are there any other angles I should pursue with GM? I'm in the NoVa/DC metro area, FWIW. Does the dealer sound like they're doing everything they should? For sticking around, here's a few glamour shots, including the lighting & bumper mods I did last month with a whole round of wear maintenance as a gift to myself for finally managing to pay off a note on something that's not garbage. What a dickpunch. Touche universe.

I'm a HUGE fan of the RCSB; love the maneuverability of the short wheelbase. You guys have some amazing trucks; inspirational to say the least. Here's mine: 2" level, 285/65r18 KO2s, Softopper and a few misc. bits. (shamefully dirty; pic was just after tires got installed)

Great looking truck! Really like all the small details. Cant wait to see how the audio system turns out! Been thinking about this for a while.

Man, there are some truly inspirational RCSBs on this thread. Very impressive, gentlemen! Here's my RCSB - just a 2" level and some cosmetic mods... for now:

This is SICK! Can you share any info on the turbo setup? Size, what's involved, kit, did a shop do the work for you?