20,000 miles and already in the shop

Tfin · May 15, 2003

I bought this truck used from a dealer. Its an 02 rado extra cab 4wd with the 4.8 with only 20,000 miles.

I was on my way home from work last night and came up behind a guy doing 45mph. I pull out to pass him, truck drops down into the passing gear, I pass, no problem. Mind you now, I didn't STOMP on it, just enough to kick it into the passing gear.

Anyways, as soon as I pull back into my lane, I'm doing 55-60 mph, I notice the rpms starting to rise.....2000, 2500, 3000.....but there's no acceleration. I let off the gas, and of course the rpms drop. I apply the accelerator again and the same thing begins to happen. So now I've got this guy I just passed starting to come up on my rear end. So I let off the gas again and drop it into 3rd. It engages, and I at least have forward acceleration, but now there's this high pitch whine or humming sound coming from the tranny.

I get home, pull into the door yard, put it in park and turn it off. I restart it, and now there's the high pitch whine (that's right in step with the rpm) while its in park. I shift into R and nothing, no engagement, same thing with D, no engagement, only that lovely whinning sound. It will engage in 3rd, 2nd, and 1st, but still with the whinning sound.

I had to have my father in law tow me backwards because I was parked up against the garage door. I drove it to the dealer in 3rd. Even in 3rd it was shifting poorly, taching way high before it would shift into the next gear.

I'm also having them fix the notorious drive shaft clunk. They were aware of it and said they had some of the nickle plated yokes in stock. It was getting real bad too.

Dealer said his tranny guy won't be able to get to it until Mon morning. Anyone have any ideas on this? Ever heard of anything similar? The more knowledge I have, the better I'll feel. I don't want them putting a "band-aid" on, only to have it "hemerage" latter.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any input/advice.

awdvkd · May 15, 2003

Sounds like a transmission problem. He He (Sorry couldn't resist). Its still under warranty isn't it. Did you check the fluid level? These trannies are not prone to problems. Let the dealer fix it and go from there. Push for a new tranny if any thing major is wrong instead of rebuild. If major problem exist make sure they give you a new converter. You don't want that old fluid in new tranny. good luck :thumb:

THE BIGPUNN · May 15, 2003

let us know when you find out. at least your under warranty still.

Blue Ghost · May 15, 2003

Sounds like the sunshell has broken which is a common problem with the 4L60E Trans, the later models are supposed to have a new heat treated shell to fix this condition, but I have still seen them break under heavy load conditions.

I have always said if I ever broke mine I would look for a heavy duty aftermarket sunshell to replace it, I have seen them on a couple web-sights but cant remember which ones at the moment.

Tfin · May 15, 2003

Heh, heh, good one awdvkd.......that was my assumption as well. To be perfectly honest with you, no, I never did check the tranny fluid before I brought it in. There sure as #### were'nt any visible leaks any where.

Anyways, yeah I still have the bumper to bumper, and I know it will get fixed. I was just wondering if anyone else had had similar problems, or any insight as to exactly what might be wrong with the transmission.

I mean only 20,000 miles.............come on GM!

Sorry for my ignorance, but I have no idea what a "sunshell" is Blue Ghost, please explain.

Thanks

seadoons · May 15, 2003

I don't know what a sunshell is either...but it sounds like the entire transmission has gone out. My '88 K-5 did the same thing (after my brother rocked the gears while in 4WD to get it out of a mudhole) It blew the tranny...same whining noise, etc. Good thing it's under warranty...that could have been a $2000+ job. Are there any signs of abuse on the truck from the previous owner?

asepgrad98 · May 15, 2003

the sun gear is in the middle, then the 4 planetary gears are between the sun gear and the ring gear

tsd98 · May 15, 2003

Same thing happened to '02 Trailblazer with 24,000 miles. It also uses the 4L60E tranny. Sunshell broke under very light acceleration at about 45mph. Dealer rebuilt and its still working at 27,000 miles. This car will be unloaded soon if GM doesn't buy it back first. 13 Dealer visits in one year is waaaay too many!

Pewter Pro-Tec · May 16, 2003

Tfin,

Check out this Trans Upgrade

The second to last pic has a sunshell.

Tfin · May 16, 2003

Are there any signs of abuse on the truck from the previous owner?

The only thing that I can detect is it appears that the stock tires were rotated. The front right tire has almost no tread left on it. Assuming this tire was on the rear, the previous ower (or maybe his son ) might of been doing burnouts with it. If the idiots were reving it up in N and dropping it into D, yeah, I can see that affecting the tranny.

Is this sunshell failure (assuming thats what it is) a common problem with these trannies?

I'll be sure to update everyone as soon as I hear back from the dealer...some time next week.

Tfin · May 19, 2003

Just got a call from the service dept. They said that they're quite certain that the sunshell is cracked and also the "pivot gears"??? may be gone. They said they wouldn't know for sure untill they pull the transmission out and take a look inside.

He said depending on exactly what they find, it may be cheaper to replace the entire transmission instead of fixing it. He asked me how far I drove it after the malfunction occured. It wasn't much over 5 miles. He then said he thought they could probably just repair it. But again, wouldn't know for sure untill they open it up.

If they find metal shavings from stripped gears in there, will the warranty cover a power flush, if they decide to just repair it?

04Chevy2500HD · May 19, 2003

Push them hard for a brand new one... Not worth the troubles down the road. I know I would not take anything less then a new one. Not a rebuilt one eithier.

David

seadoons · May 20, 2003

Whenever they do work on a tranny they always drain the fluid and replace it...I don't know about a flush though. I would really push hard for a new tranny...as previously said you don't want to deal with problems down the road. Good luck!!