4l80e Trans Oil & Filter Chang

[vertikal]

Had trans serviced last wk, gm said $100 for trans oil and filter change, i jumped on it.....30 min later said the exhaust had to be dropped for pan to come down, i said ok but still $100 right? shop manager said $115...thought that was deal....

 

wanted synthetic but manager said conventional oil was rated for 100,000 miles, extra $100 for synthetic oil so I got the conv. change....evry where else wanted 200 to 300 dollars to do this....at 60,000 miles i wanted filter change...I'm not sure but think an transmission "flush" is waste of time...doesnt filter need to be changed also?

 

If they had to drop exhaust to get pan off 4L80e, how do people put extra oil capacity pans on transmissions? Seems there be clearance issues?

[jkotila]

OUCH...

 

Dont know how differnt the chevy is from the GMC (not much I think). I did mine myself, fluid and filter change, I think I paid $20 for the filter and $16 for the fluid.

 

I didnt have to drop my exhaust. Only extra thing I had to do was to disconnect the shift linkage. Still only took me about 1/2 hour.

 

I think you got jerked around on the whole "drop the exhaust" thing.

[2COR517]

Chevy and GMC are the same truck, different stickers. They probably drop the exhaust to protect themselves. Yes, you can get the pan down, but it's tight.

 

OP - you can put a deep pan on, the crossover pipe is fore of the pan, but below the flange.

 

Unless you use your truck hard, for plowing or towing, reg ATF is fine. The 4L80e doesn't build nearly the heat that Ford and Dodge trannies do.

[Z45]

Dealers make a killing on lubes. They buy in large guanites (55-gal up to 250 gal) on the cheap and charge GM prices for it even though its just some average oil.

[WilliamBos]

If they put in Dex VI, it is semi synthetic, if you do it yourself next time, Valvoline makes their Dex VI full syn. For what a trans overhaul costs, run the full syn Dex VI, your trans will be happier.

[vertikal]

If they put in Dex VI, it is semi synthetic, if you do it yourself next time, Valvoline makes their Dex VI full syn. For what a trans overhaul costs, run the full syn Dex VI, your trans will be happier.

 

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE FLUSHES THAT ARE SO POPULAR NOWADAYS?

[WilliamBos]

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE FLUSHES THAT ARE SO POPULAR NOWADAYS?

I did it once, while the truck was under warranty, and it was refilled with Dex VI. However, I will not do it again, puts too much pressure on seals etc, and also pushes everything through the trans and filter. Will do the pan drop/filter change.

[superjim]

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE FLUSHES THAT ARE SO POPULAR NOWADAYS?

 

 

 

You flush commodes...not transmissions.

[Kodiak450]

I had mine flushed in Dec 08, kept smelling what smelt like an over heating trans smell when plowing. After it was flushed out and had fluids also changed in Diff's, the smell went away when plowing. Came across different opinions on the internet about how often to flush and or change the fluid int he trans if you use your truck for plowing. Some opinions were (Yearly, every 30,000, or when you start to smell it go bad when plowing)..

[TyeeMan]

Between the my last two trucks, my wifes past few trucks we' ve got certainly over 400,000 miles and have never had a tranny flushed once. I do however always run a high quality sysnthetic (in this case Amsoil) and change it at manufacturers recommendations.

I guess the thinking is if I use synthetic fluid, that alone should all but diminish the chances of any varnsh forming and the additive package of the oil should keep tiny particulates in suspension to ultimately be cought up in the filter. Change the filter at every fluid change interval and you should be good.

Oh, and change ALL the fluid in the tranny, not just what comes out of the pan.

 

Just my .02 cents

[Geez]

I don't know how anyone is able to properly torque pan bolts without removing the rear crossmember and transmission cable shift bracket on a 4L80e.

[HawkScot]

If you drop the pan, change filter and refill with proper amount of the correct fluid, you will be fine. Remember that if you abuse your tranny (such as towing heavy and overheating it), then you will need to service the tranny sooner than normal schedule.

 

If you neglect your transmission and it gets gunk (technical term) in it, then flushing will help get the gunk loose (but the loose gunk may do more harm than if you just serviced it normally a few times).

 

ATF is a high detergent lubricant so given the chance, fresh fluid tends to clean things up. If you have a neglected tranny, service it (drop pan, change filter, refill with fresh fluid), then do it again say in 5k or 10k miles.

[davzog]

For my tranny, I opted to change the fluid and filter at 20k miles, and added a draiin plug kit from Advanced Auto Parts ($4) to the pan. Since you can't drain the converter on the GM trucks, I do the initial change with the filter, and then drain and refill the tranny at each of the next couple of oil changes. Probably not as good as a flush, but easier on the seals....over time is it almost a complete change....sort of....

[vertikal]

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE FLUSHES THAT ARE SO POPULAR NOWADAYS?

I did it once, while the truck was under warranty, and it was refilled with Dex VI. However, I will not do it again, puts too much pressure on seals etc, and also pushes everything through the trans and filter. Will do the pan drop/filter change.

 

 

 

Pulling my 10,000 lb camper trans temp gauge got to 205 degrees maybe twice(water temp ok) , so I changed it and filter last week...no burnt smell,still clean and clear but it's 60k on it so I did it....when driving on flat fla rds w/only truck it gets maybe to 180 degrees, but then glance over at water temp and evry thing fine....came w/a shoe box size trans. cooler....need a bigger one for pulling 5th wheel....even on Fla rds, nothing like the mountains of New Jersy...can't imagine plowing snow

 

Next service I'll definetly do the synthetic....always been partial to Valvoline...last chevy had 200k on engine...5.3 and replaced trans at 125k...I think it was due to not servicing trans

[vertikal]

For my tranny, I opted to change the fluid and filter at 20k miles, and added a draiin plug kit from Advanced Auto Parts ($4) to the pan. Since you can't drain the converter on the GM trucks, I do the initial change with the filter, and then drain and refill the tranny at each of the next couple of oil changes. Probably not as good as a flush, but easier on the seals....over time is it almost a complete change....sort of....

 

 

My '99 silverado had a trans plug from factory (never changed it like a dummy) but I noticed my '04 doesn't, have to drop pan or do what you did. I didnt even think about pressure of oil being forced thru trans? But never done the flush....yrs ago when they started doing it , it just sounded too good to be true....Seems I heard one guy in service at GM say every 15k miles, but that sounds like too often, 20k sounds good