2014 Silverado Transmission/Torque Converter help

[jwoody28]

First, let me start by saying that I'm not very mechanically inclined. 

 

My son (in the Army, out of state) has a 2014 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3 and 105,000 miles.  He had a loud rattle in the rear of the truck and took it to a repair shop.  Long story short, one of the lug nuts was off and rattling in the hub cap.  Before realizing that, the shop decided to check the transmission/TC to see if that was the issue.  They immediately said the fluid was nasty looking and needed to be flushed at best.  They prepared him an estimate and low and behold, it was to replace the transmission and TC for about $5,500.  He has had no issues with shuddering or slipping.  I told him to get the truck away from that place.

 

Now, after reading, I see that lots of these trucks have a common issue with the TC that leads to issues with the transmission, but he has had no problems....yet.  I told him to take it somewhere else and see about just getting the flush since the fluid looked so bad.  He called a couple of other places, including a couple of dealerships in his area and got mixed answers.  One said a flush and filter change was necessary, one said flush but doesn't recommend changing filter, one said they could do it but he's just putting off a bigger issue...even though he's had no problems.  Is it really just a matter of time before he has bigger issues?  Will the flush help prevent those issues?  Is it time to flush and then get rid of the truck????

 

Any advice?

Edited November 8, 2023 by jwoody28

[diyer2]

My 2 cents.

Anybody's guess how long it will last. Clean fluid may help, may not. New fluid can be a mistake sometimes.

Why flush it to sell it? 

[jwoody28]

Nobody knows how long.  The flush would be just to buy him some time.  He's not in a position to trade it in right away...maybe a month or two.  If it is really that dirty it needs to be changed.  

[ember1205]

I recently traded my 2015 w/ the 5.3L, 101k on the odo. I really had no issues with it except:

 

- I replaced the condenser for the A/C (known issue that they vibrate themselves to where they leak)

- I replaced the high pressure fuel pump (known problematic design where they can leak and fuel makes its way into the oil, CEL shows a 'rich' condition)

- The valve in the exhaust started squeaking under hard acceleration when it would come out of V4 mode and go into V8 mode - never did anything about it

- The high-mounted brake light leaked and I had some light water staining start in the rear of the cab - I replaced the foam gasket

 

I use a private mechanic for anything not under warranty. His take was that I was at a point where he would suggest I do the plugs, wires, transmission fluid flush, diff fluid change, and possibly brake fluid change as none of those had been done. I weighed that in combination with needing to put on tires before winter and decided to "spend that money" against a new truck instead.

 

For a frame of reference: I bought the truck new, towed with it a small amount, and was generally good about the services being done when needed or early. More highway miles on it early on, then that changed to more of a mix once I hit around 40-45k miles.

[Black02Silverado]

It's a gamble for the most part.  I have done fluid exchanges on transmissions and they lasted a long time after. Then I have done the same on those like that with  over 100k miles and with in 5k miles they went out.  You just never know. 

 

Our 6L80 went at 82k, even though I did early fluid changes and installed a lower transmission thermostat.  To me GM's design  is bad, or their lowest bidder has a bad design on the TC's that are used.

 

I was at SEMA last week and all the torque converter companies I talked to said the same thing.  The GM TC is a bad unit from the start.  If you have good luck with it then great but what they see come into the shop shows the TC isn't designed well.  I guess just to get past the warranty is all that matters anymore.  The days of the everlasting turbo 400 and 350's are gone.