2016 Transmission Issues

[Tirade]

I have a 2016 Suburban LTZ with just shy of 100k miles on it.  I bought it used with 40k miles on it.  I've never towed anything heavier than a riding lawn mower, but I'm having transmission issues.  The last couple of months it has been shifting hard, especially in low gears.  When I use manual shift I can control it just fine with no hard shifting problems.  Dealer told me I either need to replace the torque converter ($1,500 with labor) or rebuild the transmission ($4,500 with labor).  I chose to reset the ECM and replace the fluid instead, but that didn't solve my problem.  Has anyone else had this problem?  I don't want to spend $1,500 on the torque converter if that isn't going to solve my problem, and I don't want to rebuild the transmission if all I need is a new torque converter.  

 

Side question--a friend told me if the transmission is toast, the engine isn't far behind.  Thoughts on that?  

Edited November 13, 2019 by Tirade

[Rococo]

I just bought a 2015 LTZ that well cared for and I got a bumper to bumper for 3 yr/ 36k and it had 97k on the odometer. I would suggest getting a extended warranty for it! If it was the Torque converter you would be getting codes. Get another opinion. I think Chevy has 0% offerings for the extended warranty as well. The LTZ has tons of electronic stuff so if you're going to keep it you should get the warranty or trade it in as soon as possible, just my 2 cents FWIW.

[BlaineBug]

Isn't the drive train covered under warranty for 6 years or 100,000 miles?

[Tirade]

Nope.  I think it was 60k miles.  

[BlaineBug]

51 minutes ago, Tirade said:

Nope.  I think it was 60k miles.  

You are correct.  5 years/60,000 miles for the powertrain warranty.  The rest of the factory warranties apply as follows:

 

Bumper to bumper is 3 years/36,000 miles.

Corrosion protection 3 years/36,000 miles.

 

Rust-through protection 6 years/100,000 miles.

[gabete]

On 11/12/2019 at 12:33 PM, Tirade said:

I have a 2016 Suburban LTZ with just shy of 100k miles on it.  I bought it used with 40k miles on it.  I've never towed anything heavier than a riding lawn mower, but I'm having transmission issues.  The last couple of months it has been shifting hard, especially in low gears.  When I use manual shift I can control it just fine with no hard shifting problems.  Dealer told me I either need to replace the torque converter ($1,500 with labor) or rebuild the transmission ($4,500 with labor).  I chose to reset the ECM and replace the fluid instead, but that didn't solve my problem.  Has anyone else had this problem?  I don't want to spend $1,500 on the torque converter if that isn't going to solve my problem, and I don't want to rebuild the transmission if all I need is a new torque converter.  

 

Side question--a friend told me if the transmission is toast, the engine isn't far behind.  Thoughts on that?  

It's a common problem with this transmissions on Suburbans and Tahoe, I had a fleet of 5 Suburbans and replaced transmissions on all of them at various mileage (as early as 50K miles but also had one failing at 185K miles) So it all comes to luck in the end...