So Much For Preventative Maintenance

XYZ · May 13, 2010

Well, at 124809 original owner miles, the transmission in my '03 Sierra decided to take a dump on me Monday, with first gear sounding like the whole tranny was going to drop out of the vehicle. 4 or 5 transmission fluid changes since buying it new in August of '03, adding a trans cooler, switching to Dexron VI once it came out, all to avoid the kind of thing that just happened. Fortunately(?), I was on the way to the dealership anyway to buy a part for another vehicle, so I limped it in there and got the confirmation of the transmission tearing its' heart out. So, one new warrantied (3-years, 100,000 miles) transmission and a tad over $3000.00 damage to my credit card, it's back on the road. Any others had similar bad luck, even with regular attention and maintenance? My truck has the 4L60-E, deep trans pan.

txab · May 13, 2010

Even fluid changes can't make up for the design deficiencies in the 4L60E. The OEM sun shell design sucks.

Ape0r · May 13, 2010

Even fluid changes can't make up for the design deficiencies in the 4L60E. The OEM sun shell design sucks.

Yeah, fluid will only get you so far. I figure following the owner's manual is good enough. Fluid won't make one bit of difference when it comes to metal fatigue and related failures.

tanked_darren · May 13, 2010

Well, at 124809 original owner miles, the transmission in my '03 Sierra decided to take a dump on me Monday, with first gear sounding like the whole tranny was going to drop out of the vehicle. 4 or 5 transmission fluid changes since buying it new in August of '03, adding a trans cooler, switching to Dexron VI once it came out, all to avoid the kind of thing that just happened. Fortunately(?), I was on the way to the dealership anyway to buy a part for another vehicle, so I limped it in there and got the confirmation of the transmission tearing its' heart out. So, one new warrantied (3-years, 100,000 miles) transmission and a tad over $3000.00 damage to my credit card, it's back on the road. Any others had similar bad luck, even with regular attention and maintenance? My truck has the 4L60-E, deep trans pan.

You should have gotten yours rebuilt and upgraded it would probably last much longer, this time around.

ColoradoSkiCountry · May 14, 2010

Yup no amount of preventative maintenance and babying of your trucks will keep a crappy design/part from the beginning from blowing up. I learned long ago that GM's trannies suck. But then again, I see alot of posts from Toyota and Honda owners about how their "reliable/dependable" Japaneese quality products are letting them down as well so don't get too depressed over it. Just because a few folks on here may say "Well hey, these trannies are in millions of trucks in the world so they must be good!" does not actually mean its a good product.

Sorry you had to go thru this but at least you have some peace of mind now

Well, at 124809 original owner miles, the transmission in my '03 Sierra decided to take a dump on me Monday, with first gear sounding like the whole tranny was going to drop out of the vehicle. 4 or 5 transmission fluid changes since buying it new in August of '03, adding a trans cooler, switching to Dexron VI once it came out, all to avoid the kind of thing that just happened. Fortunately(?), I was on the way to the dealership anyway to buy a part for another vehicle, so I limped it in there and got the confirmation of the transmission tearing its' heart out. So, one new warrantied (3-years, 100,000 miles) transmission and a tad over $3000.00 damage to my credit card, it's back on the road. Any others had similar bad luck, even with regular attention and maintenance? My truck has the 4L60-E, deep trans pan.

You should have gotten yours rebuilt and upgraded it would probably last much longer, this time around.

redvett · May 15, 2010

Well with 124809 miles your transmission has shifted probably 3 million times or more and barring abuse the transmission is tired and needs a cup of help. Don't blame the transmission completely, everything wears out.

Nytemare · May 16, 2010

Yeah man...its about normal life....

120-140K is what they live for.

XYZ · May 16, 2010

If I had neglected it, then maybe I could understand the thing failing with that amount of miles, but not with all the time and money spent trying to avoid exactly what happened...good ol' GM.

Yeah man...its about normal life....

120-140K is what they live for.

KMGZ400 · May 16, 2010

yeah the tranny went in my 2003 5.3 suburban with reg maintnence after exactly 121,000 miles.. the vehicle other then the tranny has been great to me so it was definatley worth the 2400 for the brand new tranny

Nytemare · May 16, 2010

If I had neglected it, then maybe I could understand the thing failing with that amount of miles, but not with all the time and money spent trying to avoid exactly what happened...good ol' GM.
Yeah man...its about normal life....

120-140K is what they live for.

Seriously man...if you had neglected it you would have written this post about 2 years ago...or 40-50K ago

Zembonez · May 16, 2010

125K is pretty good life for a transmission in a 5000 pound plus vehicle. I'm not sure why anyone would be shocked that it gave up.

pm26 · May 17, 2010

What would it cost to upgrade my '06 transmission with the new sun gears (better design)? I have very low miles on my truck (about 16K). Maybe it is not worth doing at this point.

XYZ · May 17, 2010

If this has been an ongoing problem with this particular transmission, I'd like to think that GM has made appropriate corrections to the design, hopefully to include your '06 year model. Perhaps someone has an inside ear as to whether or not they have.

What would it cost to upgrade my '06 transmission with the new sun gears (better design)? I have very low miles on my truck (about 16K). Maybe it is not worth doing at this point.

Nytemare · May 17, 2010

If this has been an ongoing problem with this particular transmission, I'd like to think that GM has made appropriate corrections to the design, hopefully to include your '06 year model. Perhaps someone has an inside ear as to whether or not they have.
What would it cost to upgrade my '06 transmission with the new sun gears (better design)? I have very low miles on my truck (about 16K). Maybe it is not worth doing at this point.

They sure did...they made a 100K power train warranty...that covers the original owner of these trucks for 90% of the population...second and subsequent owners can get F**KED as far as GM is concerned.

Engineering things to last cost money...plus...it takes money out of the parts departments income.

You can upgrade the trans...A shift kit and a tune firms up the shifts nicely for a stock application and will prevent premature clutch wear.

tanked_darren · May 17, 2010

What would it cost to upgrade my '06 transmission with the new sun gears (better design)? I have very low miles on my truck (about 16K). Maybe it is not worth doing at this point.

Do what I'm gonna do, let it blow up on its own, still doing required fluid changes. When its done just buy all the upgrades then, I've heard its not a bank breaker to buy them. Who knows you might get lucky, and it will last longer than expected, don't fix it if it ain't broke thats what I've been taught and seen first hand!