10L1000 anyone with High Mileage ? I hate Damocles....

[stlchevy61]

I have 44k on a '24 2500HD, no issues, haul construction equipment (about 12-14k) weekly minimum. City driving, highway, farm and jobsite. I have had no issues with the powertrain. I changed the trans fluid and filter at about 38k. 

 

I also have 17k on a '24 3500HD. No issues there either. Tow a bit heavier and handles it great. 

[Pryme]

Step 1. Get off the internet

step 2. Drive your truck

 

I hate to say this but it’s alarming the amount of 60+ year olds nowadays who are obsessed with the internet and think some random google searching is the answer. 
 

My own father who is 72 is obsessed with checking Google for everything now. 10 years ago the guy didn’t even want to text. Now he thinks Google is the answer to everything. 
 

It's a real problem nowadays. 
 

You have a truck that has not given you any trouble but now because you have been scrolling the internet you have doubts now?

 

See step one above. 

[Homer1959]

54 minutes ago, Pryme said:

Step 1. Get off the internet

step 2. Drive your truck

 

I hate to say this but it’s alarming the amount of 60+ year olds nowadays who are obsessed with the internet and think some random google searching is the answer. 
 

My own father who is 72 is obsessed with checking Google for everything now. 10 years ago the guy didn’t even want to text. Now he thinks Google is the answer to everything. 
 

It's a real problem nowadays. 
 

You have a truck that has not given you any trouble but now because you have been scrolling the internet you have doubts now?

 

See step one above. 

Get off the internet, sell your television and radio, and live happily. The world will keep spinning, and while you'll be influenced by everything around you, living disconnected might feel like being in a coma—some enjoy it, some don’t.

 

A little bit of everything is better than a whole lot of nothing. I’ll drive my truck, knowing full well that many things can go wrong—that’s just life and I knew all that even in 1978 way before the internet .

 

The Pampers generation loves to lecture the boomers, but it wasn’t really the boomers who messed up the planet with the internet.

 

Most of them can live without their phones—can you?

 

A Greek philosopher once said, "Don’t wish for things to happen as you want, but wish for things to happen as they do, and you’ll be happy." As for the 10L1000, I’ve been warned it’s so-so, but honestly, I’m happy with it. 

[Atlas]

2 hours ago, Pryme said:

Step 1. Get off the internet

step 2. Drive your truck

 

I hate to say this but it’s alarming the amount of 60+ year olds nowadays who are obsessed with the internet and think some random google searching is the answer. 
 

My own father who is 72 is obsessed with checking Google for everything now. 10 years ago the guy didn’t even want to text. Now he thinks Google is the answer to everything. 
 

It's a real problem nowadays. 
 

You have a truck that has not given you any trouble but now because you have been scrolling the internet you have doubts now?

 

See step one above. 

 

The challenge is helping them sort the truthful information from noise, misinformation, or just plain influence. Or scams. 

[Homer1959]

2 minutes ago, Atlas said:

 

The challenge is helping them sort the truthful information from noise, misinformation, or just plain influence. Or scams. 

By the way, most of the information available online isn’t from boomers, so we all need to work together. It’s too simple to reduce it to just one thing or one group

[Atlas]

8 minutes ago, Homer1959 said:

By the way, most of the information available online isn’t from boomers, so we all need to work together. It’s too simple to reduce it to just one thing or one group

 

Agreed. And this isn't about stupidity or ageism, it's mostly about frame of reference. Different frames of reference influence learning, problem solving, and all sorts of things. Dare I used the D word, diversity... it's an asset.

 

Dude above has a point, although he's driving it hard. What we read or hear about specific transmission issues may be real, but the impact may be much smaller. Even if 25 people on here all claim to have the same issue, that's still a very, very small percentage of the number of 10L1000's sold.

[Pryme]

2 hours ago, Atlas said:

 

Agreed. And this isn't about stupidity or ageism, it's mostly about frame of reference. Different frames of reference influence learning, problem solving, and all sorts of things. Dare I used the D word, diversity... it's an asset.

 

Dude above has a point, although he's driving it hard. What we read or hear about specific transmission issues may be real, but the impact may be much smaller. Even if 25 people on here all claim to have the same issue, that's still a very, very small percentage of the number of 10L1000's sold.

People go down rabbit holes online and become stuck in an echo chamber and if a guy doesn’t know enough about the subject he’s “researching” it can end badly. 
 

for reference, have a guy research something online that he’s an expert in due to a lifetime of knowledge gained from schooling, work etc and he will quickly weed though the BS. But if you have him research something he has no knowledge about, it is usually going to cause confusion. 

[Chuck FB]

11 hours ago, stlchevy61 said:

I have 44k on a '24 2500HD, no issues, haul construction equipment (about 12-14k) weekly minimum. City driving, highway, farm and jobsite. I have had no issues with the powertrain. I changed the trans fluid and filter at about 38k. 

 

I also have 17k on a '24 3500HD. No issues there either. Tow a bit heavier and handles it great. 

I see you made the comment that you changed the trans fluid and filter, had you done the task yourself and if so how did you go about the issue of the exhaust system being right in the way of the pan. If you went through all the work to remove the exhaust Y pipe/cats or did a work around to flex the exhaust to slip the pan out. Or for that matter is it physically possible to slip that filter out of there with the pan undone but still trapped with the cross pipe. 

 

Obviously if you had a shop do the work, then if they told you how they went about it as I had talked to one trans shop so far and they claimed they went full on taking out the front portion of the exhaust and he gave me a quote of 900.00 just to drop the oil that is in the pan ( no trans flush ) and replace the filter and put new fluid in. I am in Canada so prices would reflect our monopoly money up here thanks to our government. 

 

I saw your oil UOA and that is interesting, as for now anyway I have started out using the same Truck & SUV 5W-30 but have few miles on my truck and have not been towing/working the truck so far. 

[stlchevy61]

On 11/4/2025 at 7:53 PM, Chuck FB said:

I see you made the comment that you changed the trans fluid and filter, had you done the task yourself and if so how did you go about the issue of the exhaust system being right in the way of the pan. If you went through all the work to remove the exhaust Y pipe/cats or did a work around to flex the exhaust to slip the pan out. Or for that matter is it physically possible to slip that filter out of there with the pan undone but still trapped with the cross pipe. 

 

Obviously if you had a shop do the work, then if they told you how they went about it as I had talked to one trans shop so far and they claimed they went full on taking out the front portion of the exhaust and he gave me a quote of 900.00 just to drop the oil that is in the pan ( no trans flush ) and replace the filter and put new fluid in. I am in Canada so prices would reflect our monopoly money up here thanks to our government. 

 

I saw your oil UOA and that is interesting, as for now anyway I have started out using the same Truck & SUV 5W-30 but have few miles on my truck and have not been towing/working the truck so far. 

Hey Chuck, I did the work all myself. Had the truck on jack stands so nothing special. I do have a nice large warehouse with a poured floor would be the only advantage over being on a driveway. There is a really good youtube channel, Adventure & Repeat who has a great series of videos for working on these trucks. I followed his video for the transmission fluid and filter swap. I think i just disconnected one exhaust hanger and that gave me enough clearance to wiggle it out. His use of the small siphon to refill the transmission works well too, still a bit of a PITA and I think next time I will opt for the AMSOil flexible bags of their synthetic ulv atf fluid.  

 

For buying the fluid, gasket and filter I went through the GM parts website. It let me compare the dealers in my area, and one of them was selling all I needed for way cheaper than I could get it online. So I bought all ACDelco brand fluid, gasket and filter straight from the dealer parts counter. Cashed in my GM points to make it "free." 

 

Be careful not to over-torque the tranny pan bolts when putting it all back together, the heads snap off when given a bit too much elbow grease. 

 

Here is the video: 

 

[Chuck FB]

41 minutes ago, stlchevy61 said:

Hey Chuck, I did the work all myself. Had the truck on jack stands so nothing special. I do have a nice large warehouse with a poured floor would be the only advantage over being on a driveway. There is a really good youtube channel, Adventure & Repeat who has a great series of videos for working on these trucks. I followed his video for the transmission fluid and filter swap. I think i just disconnected one exhaust hanger and that gave me enough clearance to wiggle it out. His use of the small siphon to refill the transmission works well too, still a bit of a PITA and I think next time I will opt for the AMSOil flexible bags of their synthetic ulv atf fluid.  

 

For buying the fluid, gasket and filter I went through the GM parts website. It let me compare the dealers in my area, and one of them was selling all I needed for way cheaper than I could get it online. So I bought all ACDelco brand fluid, gasket and filter straight from the dealer parts counter. Cashed in my GM points to make it "free." 

 

Be careful not to over-torque the tranny pan bolts when putting it all back together, the heads snap off when given a bit too much elbow grease. 

 

Here is the video: 

 

Just what I was hoping for, that you had done the job yourself so had first hand experience with it. Yes I had seen the video you had linked and wondered in the back of my mind if that was the work around method you used. I imagine the bracket on the side of the trans is one that you would have had to unbolt as he had done and then one other traditional hanger. I had loosened off the two nuts at the exhaust flange coupler that lines up with the back of the trans and smeared the studs up with the silver anti seize in the hopes that those nuts would back off easy when the time comes to work on it. As to where to source the supplies, I still haven't figured out these off shoot GM supply companies as its more than just the GM site, where they ship to as that is always my hang up is physically shipping anything to me being that I am in a rural farm area of Canada and shipping companies most certainly do not ship out here. Some time ago I had bought the GM fluid from the dealer as I realized they would give me a bit of a discount because of buying the truck there but far more of a discount if I bought the ULV by the exact case lot of 12. 

 

If only GM had made these trucks with servicing in mind for the gas version they could have created just enough clearance to remove the pan easy and put a darned drain plug on the pan and use a spin on filter ( dare I say like a real Allision ). 

 

As per the pan gasket bolts, someone had posted the alldata information that GM goes by on this site and of course dropping the Y pipe is their procedure but it listed the pan bolt torque as 80 inch pounds and the two filter bolts as a mere 44 inch pounds so its not a job for the ham fisted !. 

 

I wouldn't mind one of those pressure fill rigs but a bit hard to justify the cost of them here in Canada anyway unless one was doing this type of work on a regular basis. I am going to see if a typical pail pump curved filler nozzle will fit in the space and the size of the trans hole, if it does then I would be very tempted to rig up a 5 gallon pail and just dump the trans oil into it and then pump it in. 

 

By the way did you keep track of how many quarts you put in and then the excess to run out once it was up to operating temp to figure out how much to put to make sure you had enough to do the check procedure, because once as its so hot around the fill plug area it would not be nice to try and add fluid with the trucks exhaust hot and the engine running.  

 

[stlchevy61]

1 hour ago, Chuck FB said:

Just what I was hoping for, that you had done the job yourself so had first hand experience with it. Yes I had seen the video you had linked and wondered in the back of my mind if that was the work around method you used. I imagine the bracket on the side of the trans is one that you would have had to unbolt as he had done and then one other traditional hanger. I had loosened off the two nuts at the exhaust flange coupler that lines up with the back of the trans and smeared the studs up with the silver anti seize in the hopes that those nuts would back off easy when the time comes to work on it. As to where to source the supplies, I still haven't figured out these off shoot GM supply companies as its more than just the GM site, where they ship to as that is always my hang up is physically shipping anything to me being that I am in a rural farm area of Canada and shipping companies most certainly do not ship out here. Some time ago I had bought the GM fluid from the dealer as I realized they would give me a bit of a discount because of buying the truck there but far more of a discount if I bought the ULV by the exact case lot of 12. 

 

If only GM had made these trucks with servicing in mind for the gas version they could have created just enough clearance to remove the pan easy and put a darned drain plug on the pan and use a spin on filter ( dare I say like a real Allision ). 

 

As per the pan gasket bolts, someone had posted the alldata information that GM goes by on this site and of course dropping the Y pipe is their procedure but it listed the pan bolt torque as 80 inch pounds and the two filter bolts as a mere 44 inch pounds so its not a job for the ham fisted !. 

 

I wouldn't mind one of those pressure fill rigs but a bit hard to justify the cost of them here in Canada anyway unless one was doing this type of work on a regular basis. I am going to see if a typical pail pump curved filler nozzle will fit in the space and the size of the trans hole, if it does then I would be very tempted to rig up a 5 gallon pail and just dump the trans oil into it and then pump it in. 

 

By the way did you keep track of how many quarts you put in and then the excess to run out once it was up to operating temp to figure out how much to put to make sure you had enough to do the check procedure, because once as its so hot around the fill plug area it would not be nice to try and add fluid with the trucks exhaust hot and the engine running.  

 

I can definitely see the engineers were giving us more ground clearance with the cost being a tranny service that is a bit of a bear. But, this one was far easier to wiggle out than when I did my 2015 1/2 ton tranny service many moons ago. 

 

On the refill, yes i kept track and kept my my siphon rig at the ready as I did the check procedure. I remember it being a bit of a pain but not too horrible. Only burnt my hand once, but that was due to my own stupidity. 

[Chuck FB]

24 minutes ago, stlchevy61 said:

I can definitely see the engineers were giving us more ground clearance with the cost being a tranny service that is a bit of a bear. But, this one was far easier to wiggle out than when I did my 2015 1/2 ton tranny service many moons ago. 

 

On the refill, yes i kept track and kept my my siphon rig at the ready as I did the check procedure. I remember it being a bit of a pain but not too horrible. Only burnt my hand once, but that was due to my own stupidity. 

Yes its the way the exhaust routes and for clearance considerations compared to the diesel that makes it an ordeal to get the pan out and I will find out myself next year if I get around to dropping the pan then as its been pointless yet since I have so few miles on it. 

 

So what was the volume you ended up putting into the trans that gave you some trans fluid that flowed back out when you did the level check procedure ? 

[ScathaTheWorm]

I do agree with other posters. Same applies for the L87 issue. There HAS to be some L87s between 2022 and 2023 around 200k miles or maybe 300k (probably pushing it, but still). Online is NOT real life. 

 

What about the hot shotters driving these 10 speed HD trucks? Do they have time to even record their mileage here? NO. 

Because they drive and drive. They don't have time to write on the internet about how good their truck is.

Misinformation exists. And lets be honest- ChatGPT, Perplexity AI have now come into the picture.  So, AI generated posts are a REAL issue. Let's be honest- how many posters claiming to be mechanics or YT techs, or people who HAVE HAD issues are REAL? Or are just generated? 

Or those posters may also be secretly paid by Ford or RAM too (can happen as well- you never know). 
Anyone can claim their truck can have a failure at 5k. And look, I am not discounting real lemons or failures (which are unacceptable), but it is HARD to verify every statement. And I mean even ones online here. 

 

 

[Black02Silverado]

There are a lot of ones on the road with no issues, it's the ones with issues that get posted because it's just nature to complain. Those with high mileage don't bother because they are happy and living life. Just the way society is and social media can be good, but unfortunately it's not the best.  AI is fooling more than ever since it can make things look so real. There is going to be a time where, if not now, you will just not know what to believe.

 

I have long haul customers that order regularly and have hundreds of thousands of miles on their rigs. Key is they change fluids on scheduled intervals and don't push it. 

 

Keep up with routine service intervals and drive.

[XY74]

I had 72K on my 2020 truck when I traded it right at 1 year ago.  (found out about recall when they ran a vin check)  The transmission worked perfectly.  (so did the rest of the truck)  I dropped the pan and changed the filter at 45K, it all looked fine.  I have 17K on the new truck, it's been perfect.  (knock knock)  Both are diesels FWIW.  75% of the time has a trailer of some sort attached. 

 

No doubt it's a real issue, but sure doesn't seem to be that widespread.