Trans repair before there's an issue

[diyer2]

At 30 K miles I would drop the pan, change filter and refill. Then do fluid changes from then on at a mileage your happy with.

[HoosierZ]

At 50k miles, I siphoned about 4 qts out through the dipstick tube, dropped the pan and changed the filter. The magnet had a very small amount of fine metal “dust” on it. While the pan was off, I added a drain plug. Once a year, around 12k miles, I drain and refill 5 qts. 

[Dieselcamino]

Any suggestions on which would be the best tuner for transmission longevity, don't care much about getting more power out of it

[14burrito]

2 hours ago, Dieselcamino said:

Any suggestions on which would be the best tuner for transmission longevity, don't care much about getting more power out of it

You will get a few different responses (HPTuners or Diablo probably the top 2). HPTuners is more hands on, Diablo will be more hands off. I have the Diablo Intune I3 and will probably have Lew write me a tune.

 

Consensus though for longevity is increase pressure and disable TCC lockup for the first few gears.

Edited March 27, 2022 by 14burrito

[pokismoki]

53 minutes ago, 14burrito said:

You will get a few different responses (HPTuners or Diablo probably the top 2). HPTuners is more hands on, Diablo will be more hands off. I have the Diablo Intune I3 and will probably have Lew write me a tune.

 

Consensus though for longevity is increase pressure and disable TCC lockup for the first few gears.

the tuning school sells a tuning book for reprogramming the 6 and 8 speeds 

[pokismoki]

3 hours ago, Dieselcamino said:

Any suggestions on which would be the best tuner for transmission longevity, don't care much about getting more power out of it

longjevity  

1 no trans thermostat

2. disable tcc in 1,2,3 or 4th gear

3 tinker with the tuning settings that are recommended by the tuning schools trans booklet

4 i'm pretty much stock shift mapping

 

[14burrito]

2 hours ago, pokismoki said:

the tuning school sells a tuning book for reprogramming the 6 and 8 speeds 

Wasnt aware, very nice!

[truckguy82]

On 3/25/2022 at 1:24 PM, JimCost2014 said:

Stole this from another member, and post. Gives you something to think about on the service performed. 

 

A couple of points from a shop owner:  

 

Fluid exchange is the correct procedure, and since it was a warranty job that's what GM is paying for, no more.  Assuming the dealer used a modern exchange machine it is better than dropping the pan.  You simply connect inline to the trans cooler and do a 1:1 exchange of fluid, using the transmission to pump the fluid through all gears.  It gets ALL of the old fluid out of the unit.  Whereas dropping the pan and replacing a filter only replaces what is in the pan or about 40%-50% new fluid.

 

"Flushes" are a thing of the past. The "flush" terminology earned a bad rap because the older "hot flush" equipment used machine pressure to blast fluid (and sometimes solvent cleaners) back through the trans, which could cause issues. 

 

Another benefit of the exchange is time.  It books about 1.0 hours, where a pan drop can book for about 2.0 hours or more.  On a pan drop getting the fluid level perfect is a bit of a process (warm-up time, computer temp verify, racking a second time for level check etc).  It can be a real PITA on other makes with insane procedures.  With the exchange machine it's 1:1 in and out, none of that is required.   Since labor time equals cost the price to you is much cheaper for the exchange.  If you request a pan drop/filter you're going to be paying $labor x 2.0hrs+ and fluid and filter vs $labor x 1.0 plus fluid only (or a fixed menu price in many cases). 

 

Also modern transmission filters are more of a screen and while they can benefit from service at higher mileage they are not the same as paper element filters we grew up servicing.

 

 

Yeah except you can’t do that on our trucks unless you flip the pill. The thermostat prevents flow.

Edited March 29, 2022 by truckguy82

[JimCost2014]

8 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

Yeah except you can’t do that on our trucks unless you flip the pill. The thermostat prevents flow.

That is what I had done with my 8 speed, factory fluid out, Mobil 1 Blue Label in.

 

Not sure about the 6 speeds.

[truckguy82]

10 minutes ago, JimCost2014 said:

That is what I had done with my 8 speed, factory fluid out, Mobil 1 Blue Label in.

 

Not sure about the 6 speeds.

And how did they flow through it when there is a thermostat that blocks the flow if the temperature is below 190.

[JimCost2014]

17 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

And how did they flow through it when there is a thermostat that blocks the flow if the temperature is below 190.

This, it is done on quite a few GM models.

MC-10163890-9999.pdf

Edited March 29, 2022 by JimCost2014

[14burrito]

1 hour ago, truckguy82 said:

And how did they flow through it when there is a thermostat that blocks the flow if the temperature is below 190.

They install a bypass block that has no tstat in it.

[Dieselcamino]

Installed the sureflow thermostat delete last night, easy minus the front driveshaft right in the way.  Going to dive into a tuner next, leaning towards the diablo, I keep hearing mentions of "Lew" is that the website Diablewtune.com?

[Dieselcamino]

Spoke to the tuner at diablew, my only concern is voiding the 2 years I have left on my powertrain. He said not to worry as long as I reflash it back to the stock tune if I was ever to bring it in for warranty work they would never know... 

[14burrito]

6 minutes ago, Dieselcamino said:

Spoke to the tuner at diablew, my only concern is voiding the 2 years I have left on my powertrain. He said not to worry as long as I reflash it back to the stock tune if I was ever to bring it in for warranty work they would never know... 

His name is Lew, hence the DiabLEW