2016 Tahoe 6 speed transmission service

[Ben Albright]

Coming back from an area that I wasn't really familiar with cruise set at 62mph. Needed to turn right ahead as to I hit the brakes hard as turn was closer that I thought as I came over the hill. Trans acted funny rest of the way home. Shifts fine but would bounce 200 -300 rpms under torque converter lock up with cruise set at 62mph again. Remaining 20 miles or so took it easy on trans rest of the way home. 

Did some YouTube detective work and found out about all the problems with GM transmissions lately. Flipped trans thermostat to avoid fluid going straight back into trans an through cooler. Test drove 15 miles. Seemed that progress was being made as it didn't appear to act up... came home and drained pan and changed filter. More debris in pan than I wanted to see but definitely not a new rechord by any means. Test drove... problem persists bouncing again with the same consistency as before... leave Tahoe in garage for 2 days and decide what to do as everyone says it's toast and to spend 2800 getting it rebuilt. Call local dealership and confirm with parts guy as I believed converter broke... they cannot look at it until the next week and I was not looking to wait as I am impatient. Trans operates well enough as to not set off a check engine light or anything like that. Third year my wife has had this Tahoe and there are only 88000 miles was serviced at around 50000 miles. 1 month out of warranty according to dealer. They could next day me a new torque converter (factory replacement one) for 400.  Cheapest torque converter I have ever bought for any of my vehicles to date. None of the other auto parts stores would even order one for me which I thought was odd but whatever. Pull trans out and remove converter and use fluid evacuator to suck out as much fluid as possible. Dealership calls next morning grab converter and swap with them and pay. Reinstall everything and change filter again and fill trans with new dexron VI and run through gears and top off. Trans works as well as when we bought it. 

 

Has anyone put a aftermarket torque converter in their truck/suv?

 

Origional one obviously got hot and cooked. I think that the pill flip will help with this maybe thinking that the trans fluid needs changed out more frequently than 45000 miles. Maybe yearly or every other year. Cannot find trans temp on the tahoes 8 pages of vehicle info where I would find it in my truck (2018 gmc) I am not to familiar with this Tahoe as my wife drives it not me most of the time. She couldn't find it either. In the truck it is the 6th or 7th thing before the angle screen. 

 

Anyone have any ideas on that or just plant an autometer in it and see what it's doing since pill flip...

 

Thanks in advance

Ben

 

[swathdiver]

2 hours ago, Ben Albright said:

Coming back from an area that I wasn't really familiar with cruise set at 62mph. Needed to turn right ahead as to I hit the brakes hard as turn was closer that I thought as I came over the hill. Trans acted funny rest of the way home. Shifts fine but would bounce 200 -300 rpms under torque converter lock up with cruise set at 62mph again. Remaining 20 miles or so took it easy on trans rest of the way home. 

Did some YouTube detective work and found out about all the problems with GM transmissions lately. Flipped trans thermostat to avoid fluid going straight back into trans an through cooler. Test drove 15 miles. Seemed that progress was being made as it didn't appear to act up... came home and drained pan and changed filter. More debris in pan than I wanted to see but definitely not a new rechord by any means. Test drove... problem persists bouncing again with the same consistency as before... leave Tahoe in garage for 2 days and decide what to do as everyone says it's toast and to spend 2800 getting it rebuilt. Call local dealership and confirm with parts guy as I believed converter broke... they cannot look at it until the next week and I was not looking to wait as I am impatient. Trans operates well enough as to not set off a check engine light or anything like that. Third year my wife has had this Tahoe and there are only 88000 miles was serviced at around 50000 miles. 1 month out of warranty according to dealer. They could next day me a new torque converter (factory replacement one) for 400.  Cheapest torque converter I have ever bought for any of my vehicles to date. None of the other auto parts stores would even order one for me which I thought was odd but whatever. Pull trans out and remove converter and use fluid evacuator to suck out as much fluid as possible. Dealership calls next morning grab converter and swap with them and pay. Reinstall everything and change filter again and fill trans with new dexron VI and run through gears and top off. Trans works as well as when we bought it. 

 

Has anyone put a aftermarket torque converter in their truck/suv?

 

Origional one obviously got hot and cooked. I think that the pill flip will help with this maybe thinking that the trans fluid needs changed out more frequently than 45000 miles. Maybe yearly or every other year. Cannot find trans temp on the tahoes 8 pages of vehicle info where I would find it in my truck (2018 gmc) I am not to familiar with this Tahoe as my wife drives it not me most of the time. She couldn't find it either. In the truck it is the 6th or 7th thing before the angle screen. 

 

Anyone have any ideas on that or just plant an autometer in it and see what it's doing since pill flip...

 

Thanks in advance

Ben

 

I sent in a sample of trans fluid for Blackstone Labs to analyze.  At 36K they said it had about 10K of life left in it.  So 36-42K for me from now on.  That was GM ACDelco Dexron VI full synthetic too.  Those 8-speeds take different fluid I think.

[Black02Silverado]

I had changed over the transmission fluid in our 2016 Suburban 6sp over to AMSOIL at 10k miles and then changed out the fluid and filter at 50k.  I also had Black Bear Performance tune the engine and transmission.  Now this is where I think the magic happens.  Black Bear tuning the transmission made a world of difference. That and having a quality fluid like AMSOIL.  GM's fluid is ok but remember it is made by the lowest bidder and quality isn't but to the lowest of the specification.

As for the temperature on the Tahoe, from reading your post you said you can't find it?  Put it in tow/haul mode and then look.  I know on our Suburban when we do that it brings up the transmission temp gauge.  But then this is on an LTZ.

 

Again, a tune and quality fluid makes a world of difference.

[Ben Albright]

Thanks for the info, I have been keeping my eye on it and it has been working well past couple of days. It is an LTZ, I put it in tow haul and went through the menu to see if it brought up the trans temp... it did not. Not sure why yet though. I will keep trying to figure out why.

[JimCost2014]

5 hours ago, Ben Albright said:

Thanks for the info, I have been keeping my eye on it and it has been working well past couple of days. It is an LTZ, I put it in tow haul and went through the menu to see if it brought up the trans temp... it did not. Not sure why yet though. I will keep trying to figure out why.

Think you have to add it to the menu.

 

 

[Ben Albright]

I tried to post a video on here "was to large of a file" it has the slots and the ones that are on the display are highlighted but no trans temp slot. Read the owners manual again all signs point to having it but cannot access it from the screen. In my truck it comes up but in the tahoe nothing...