2005 Chevy 1500 4l60e Failure.

Itsme7 · May 15, 2011

Got the truck put back together today, took about 4 hrs total. We flushed the trans cooler, got everything bolted up, filled up, and went for a test drive. Noticed the truck wasnt shifting right from 2nd the 3rd, was running away. Tried WOT, kicked down into 2nd and truck would pull awesome until 4k rpm or so and slip like a sob and not upshift. Was really sweating bullets. Got back to the shop, talked to the boss, and he said possibly the oring on the servo is cut. So we pulled the servo, low and behold it was in backwards so easy fix lol. Trans shifts awesome now. We put in a tc lockup kit, works awesome. Stays in lockup more often, doesnt keep going in and out, helps alot of mpg. Overall everything that was replaced was: forward planet set, sun basket, torque converter, master rebuild kit, 6 quarts of fluid, grand total of $850. Overall thing i made out pretty well, trans is pretty much completely fresh with new clutches and everything. Hope for 100k+ out of this lol.

05GMCZ71 · May 15, 2011

That is incorrect and way old school thinking. It has been proven time and time again that flushing a high milaged tranny with original fluid in it will not cause it to fail any quicker.

its a bad thing if the trans fluid is changed.... your not supposed to touch the fluid if its been in there for over about 50k. i did a fluid flush on one of my 4L60's with 115,000 miles and completely blew at 120,000.

aside from that, the 4L60's typically last dont last too far over 100k and its not too uncommon for failures under 100k.

ujtruck · May 15, 2011

I wish i have a tranny buddy like yours

Glad to hear everything went well and Thanks for updating

txab · May 15, 2011

I wish i have a tranny buddy like yours
Glad to hear everything went well and Thanks for updating

You ought to re-read that line.....

Peter M.Thompson · February 19, 2016

4l60e is the crappiest transmission I have ever seen. There are tons of failures isted on the web and everyone here says how great they are? WTH ? My son just came in from delivering pizzas and his transmission has gone out again. This was a gift truck from his grandfather who had to have a new engine AND a new transmission put in it . Since we have had this truck now We had Mr. Transmission in Mobile, Al. rebuild it. They said they used the best parts and it would be better than ever. 6 months later we had it back to them doing the same thing. They rebuilt it again. It worked great now for the last 8 months and it's trashed again. What is it with these transmissions? I was a mechanic for 30 years before my back gave out and I have never seen so many transmission failures as I have with these transmissions? Don't say it's how he's driving or he's towing something because this truck has never towed anything since we've had it. I look on craigs list and there are always these trucks being sold because the transmission is out. I look on all the forums and there are people having problems in 25K, 35, K, 60 K, miles with these. This is not a single year either This truck is a 99 and I have seen post up into the teen years with the same problems. So WHY does GM keep using this design? My son spent all of his college money he had saved to get the transmission fixed and it's gone out twice now since. Answers please .

rjgti · February 19, 2016

I have 400 k km on my 99 now with original 5.3 and trans

m3n00b · February 19, 2016

Correct, the 5.3L, 4L60E, t-case, front and rear diff are factory original. Drove the truck off the lot with 8 miles on her. Best vehicle Ive owned by far. Im not gonna complain at all

Awesome. What are your maintenance intervals for all parts? What fluids do you use? I've never heard of any slushbox lasting that long.

-tapa

Edit: Didn't mean to quote such an old post.

intheburbs · February 19, 2016

Awesome. What are your maintenance intervals for all parts? What fluids do you use? I've never heard of any slushbox lasting that long.

-tapa

Well, seeing as how you quoted a post from 5 years ago, he might not respond to your question.

I bought my '01 Burb with 85000 miles on it. I owned it for 8 years and put 100,000 more miles on it, then sold it to my best friend. Obviously, if I thought it was a POS I wouldn't have sold it to him. It now has 225000 miles on the original engine and transmission, and it still runs/shifts flawlessly.

I work my trucks hard, and drive them hard. My default driving style is I drive it like I stole it. That truck also dragged three different travel trailers weighing 5,000-7,000 lbs all over the country. That includes Yellowstone, where we crossed the Continental Divide over Powder River Pass, elevation 9600 feet, and several trips to Florida through the Appalachians. That truck is also on rear end number four, because I grenaded several rear ends towing these heavy trailers. I'd say that truck logged about 20,000 miles of heavy towing. So, no, I don't agree that the 4L60 is a bad transmission.

Above the treeline in Wyoming in late June:

m3n00b · February 19, 2016

Well, seeing as how you quoted a post from 5 years ago, he might not respond to your question.

I bought my '01 Burb with 85000 miles on it. I owned it for 8 years and put 100,000 more miles on it, then sold it to my best friend. Obviously, if I thought it was a POS I wouldn't have sold it to him. It now has 225000 miles on the original engine and transmission, and it still runs/shifts flawlessly.

I work my trucks hard, and drive them hard. My default driving style is I drive it like I stole it. That truck also dragged three different travel trailers weighing 5,000-7,000 lbs all over the country. That includes Yellowstone, where we crossed the Continental Divide over Powder River Pass, elevation 9600 feet, and several trips to Florida through the Appalachians. That truck is also on rear end number four, because I grenaded several rear ends towing these heavy trailers. I'd say that truck logged about 20,000 miles of heavy towing. So, no, I don't agree that the 4L60 is a bad transmission.

Above the treeline in Wyoming in late June:

Wow...what a fail my part. Still trying to figure out this new tapatalk update I guess. I'll ask you then, What kind of maintenance did you follow?

txab · February 19, 2016

4l60e is the crappiest transmission I have ever seen. There are tons of failures isted on the web and everyone here says how great they are? WTH ? My son just came in from delivering pizzas and his transmission has gone out again. This was a gift truck from his grandfather who had to have a new engine AND a new transmission put in it . Since we have had this truck now We had Mr. Transmission in Mobile, Al. rebuild it. They said they used the best parts and it would be better than ever. 6 months later we had it back to them doing the same thing. They rebuilt it again. It worked great now for the last 8 months and it's trashed again. What is it with these transmissions? I was a mechanic for 30 years before my back gave out and I have never seen so many transmission failures as I have with these transmissions? Don't say it's how he's driving or he's towing something because this truck has never towed anything since we've had it. I look on craigs list and there are always these trucks being sold because the transmission is out. I look on all the forums and there are people having problems in 25K, 35, K, 60 K, miles with these. This is not a single year either This truck is a 99 and I have seen post up into the teen years with the same problems. So WHY does GM keep using this design? My son spent all of his college money he had saved to get the transmission fixed and it's gone out twice now since. Answers please .

I'd think your issue is more a builder problem along with choice of parts. We've run 60e over 175k with no issues and then rebuilt them and run them that far again. From the factory in the early years there were some weak parts that needed to be upgraded

Duelin · February 19, 2016

4l60e is the crappiest transmission I have ever seen. There are tons of failures isted on the web and everyone here says how great they are? WTH ? My son just came in from delivering pizzas and his transmission has gone out again. This was a gift truck from his grandfather who had to have a new engine AND a new transmission put in it . Since we have had this truck now We had Mr. Transmission in Mobile, Al. rebuild it. They said they used the best parts and it would be better than ever. 6 months later we had it back to them doing the same thing. They rebuilt it again. It worked great now for the last 8 months and it's trashed again. What is it with these transmissions? I was a mechanic for 30 years before my back gave out and I have never seen so many transmission failures as I have with these transmissions? Don't say it's how he's driving or he's towing something because this truck has never towed anything since we've had it. I look on craigs list and there are always these trucks being sold because the transmission is out. I look on all the forums and there are people having problems in 25K, 35, K, 60 K, miles with these. This is not a single year either This truck is a 99 and I have seen post up into the teen years with the same problems. So WHY does GM keep using this design? My son spent all of his college money he had saved to get the transmission fixed and it's gone out twice now since. Answers please .

4l60e is the crappiest transmission I have ever seen. There are tons of failures isted on the web and everyone here says how great they are? WTH ? My son just came in from delivering pizzas and his transmission has gone out again. This was a gift truck from his grandfather who had to have a new engine AND a new transmission put in it . Since we have had this truck now We had Mr. Transmission in Mobile, Al. rebuild it. They said they used the best parts and it would be better than ever. 6 months later we had it back to them doing the same thing. They rebuilt it again. It worked great now for the last 8 months and it's trashed again. What is it with these transmissions? I was a mechanic for 30 years before my back gave out and I have never seen so many transmission failures as I have with these transmissions? Don't say it's how he's driving or he's towing something because this truck has never towed anything since we've had it. I look on craigs list and there are always these trucks being sold because the transmission is out. I look on all the forums and there are people having problems in 25K, 35, K, 60 K, miles with these. This is not a single year either This truck is a 99 and I have seen post up into the teen years with the same problems. So WHY does GM keep using this design? My son spent all of his college money he had saved to get the transmission fixed and it's gone out twice now since. Answers please .

If the trans had to be rebuilt again after 6 months it should have been covered under warranty. Unless the shop that rebuilt it doesn't have enough confidence in their work to warrant their work that long. In that case I don't think that I would want them to do work for me. A lot of transmission shop rebuild a trans by thrown in a clutch pack and seals and call it a rebuild. And how are you to know if it was completely rebuilt? You don't there is no way of knowing. And why did it fail? Was it because of the way it was being used or the way it was rebuilt? Guess what the trans shop is going to say. Anyway I keep stressing that if I needed a trans rebuilt I would buy a GM Goodwrench rebuild. They are warranted for 36 months / 100,000 miles which ever comes first. I don't think that GM would have that kind of warranty if it didn't have confidence in their product. And in the long run they don't cost that much more. Another feature about the GM Goodwrench transmissions is that any engineering changes that were made from the date that your trans was built and up to the currant date will be incorporated into their new rebuild transmissions. How many trans shops do you think do that? Anyway good luck with your problem.

Daryl LBZ · February 19, 2016

4l60e is the crappiest transmission I have ever seen. There are tons of failures isted on the web and everyone here says how great they are? WTH ? My son just came in from delivering pizzas and his transmission has gone out again. This was a gift truck from his grandfather who had to have a new engine AND a new transmission put in it . Since we have had this truck now We had Mr. Transmission in Mobile, Al. rebuild it. They said they used the best parts and it would be better than ever. 6 months later we had it back to them doing the same thing. They rebuilt it again. It worked great now for the last 8 months and it's trashed again. What is it with these transmissions? I was a mechanic for 30 years before my back gave out and I have never seen so many transmission failures as I have with these transmissions? Don't say it's how he's driving or he's towing something because this truck has never towed anything since we've had it. I look on craigs list and there are always these trucks being sold because the transmission is out. I look on all the forums and there are people having problems in 25K, 35, K, 60 K, miles with these. This is not a single year either This truck is a 99 and I have seen post up into the teen years with the same problems. So WHY does GM keep using this design? My son spent all of his college money he had saved to get the transmission fixed and it's gone out twice now since. Answers please .

There's no way I'd let a shop touch my transmission without giving me a warranty. If the transmission was rebuilt with the best parts as they claim then they're either lying or they did something wrong. There's probably more than a few guys out there with a built 4l60e that don't have any issues. I think I'd find another shop.

intheburbs · February 19, 2016

Wow...what a fail my part. Still trying to figure out this new tapatalk update I guess. I'll ask you then, What kind of maintenance did you follow?

I don't have the maintenance file any more as I gave it to my buddy when I sold it to him. I know I did one full flush with 16 quarts of Royal Purple Max ATF, probably around 100k or so. Probably did a second flush around 150k. More importantly, I always towed in 3rd. Third gear is a 1:1 ratio, and that puts the least stress on the transmission components. The transmission is simply passing the power through - no excess stress on the planetary like when you're in fourth. I also upgraded my cluster to an HD cluster, which gave me a trans temp gauge, to keep an eye on it.

I never did/do anything fancy on my trucks. I occasionally pull the trans dipstick and look, feel and smell the fluid. That's what dictates my service intervals.

m3n00b · February 19, 2016

I don't have the maintenance file any more as I gave it to my buddy when I sold it to him. I know I did one full flush with 16 quarts of Royal Purple Max ATF, probably around 100k or so. Probably did a second flush around 150k. More importantly, I always towed in 3rd. Third gear is a 1:1 ratio, and that puts the least stress on the transmission components. The transmission is simply passing the power through - no excess stress on the planetary like when you're in fourth. I also upgraded my cluster to an HD cluster, which gave me a trans temp gauge, to keep an eye on it.

I never did/do anything fancy on my trucks. I occasionally pull the trans dipstick and look, feel and smell the fluid. That's what dictates my service intervals.

Thanks for the info! Never thought about using 1:1 for towing. Gonna have to research my 8spd. What trans temp did you try to keep it under?

Looks like 6th gear is 1:1 on my 8L90

-tapa

intheburbs · February 19, 2016

Thanks for the info! Never thought about using 1:1 for towing. Gonna have to research my 8spd. What trans temp did you try to keep it under?

Looks like 6th gear is 1:1 on my 8L90

-tapa

Many debates circulating about transmission temps. My '01 usually ran about 100° over the outside temperature. When towing, it might go another 10-20° above that. I had nothing besides the stock transmission cooler.

But with the newer trucks running Dexron VI, you can safely run at higher temps. On my last trip out west to Grand Canyon and Colorado, my '08 2500 Burb peaked at 230-235° several times. We were fourwheeling in Moab in 100°+ tmperatures, and I dragged that same trailer through the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado (11,000 feet). After that trip, I took it to the dealer for a full 16-quart flush. The fluid only had about 30k miles on it, but it was some severe duty. I look at it as cheap insurance.