4L60E Transmission breakdown

13229 Views 15 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Jimmiee, Dec 8, 2009

Pete95Sierra

Discussion Starter · Feb 13, 2008

This happened to me about 6K miles ago and wanted to know if this has happened to anyone else. I changed the fluid in my trans because it was pretty dark. I am the second owner of the truck and it seems like the guy before me didnt like to change it often i guess. So i change it and two weeks later my 4L60E craps out on me. It doesnt shift right, etc. I manage to get it to AAMCO and have them take a look at it. They said that it needs to be rebuilt because by putting the new trans fluid in it "changed the environment" of the transmission. He said the trans would have been fine if I left the old stuff in there because it was used to the old stuff. Now 2000$ later i have a rebuilt trans that I am happy with because it needed to be rebuilt soon anyway, but i am 2000$ poorer when i didnt necessarilly have to be.

SO, has this ever happened to anyone else?

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dwill3015

· #2 · Feb 13, 2008

Actually, I have been told that before as well about a tranny on a Chrysler minivan we once owned. They drained the oil and pulled the pan to inspect it and it was showing signs of needing a rebuild but I could not afford it at the time so they put the old oil back in for the same reasons you gave.

I sure hope AAMCO is better where you live because they got $2000 of my money and would not listen to me about problems after the rebuild about my tranny slipping to the point of it being like a "neutral drop" ( or when you rev up the engine in neutral (2-3 second delay) then slam it in drive to break the tires loose. They tried to tell me it was caused by worn u-joints.

84fiero123

· #3 · Feb 13, 2008

This is a problem you may just have to live with because of the previous owners lack of changing the fluid at the regular intervals.

The dark fluid if it smelled like burnt almonds was most likely a sign of burnt clutches in the trany. Changing the fluid flushed the system out and it lost anything that was holding it together.

Dark colored fluid is also a sign of the same thing.

If you are the one who put those 33’s on her that may have made the trany work harder also.

You don’t say how many miles were on it but being a ¾ ton and a 95 I bet it had well over 150 K on her. I also bet they were hard working miles. Most people don’t buy a ¾ ton truck unless they intend on working it hard, @ towing, plowing, hauling large loads.
Sorry I didn’t have better news for you.

Pete95Sierra

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 14, 2008 (Edited)

I got the truck at 57,000 three years ago. (very low mileage) The previous owner babied it as do I. I still use it for work when I need to tho and off road it sometimes and have to pull some people out. I took it in to my local shop for the 60,000 mile service. It said on the receipt that the trans got done so I didnt think anything of it untill about 88K I think it was when I decided to check it one day. Thats when I realized that it was really dark so I figure my shop gipped me and didnt do it when I brought it in at 60K. So now that I think about it, it prob wasnt the previous owner. Now it has over 97K and the trans is great because I had it rebuilt. AAmco did a good job and it has a year warrenty ( its Prob been around there now).

And the truck came with 33 BFG AT's. I had to change them after about 5,000 miles tho thats when I went with the 33 MTRs and put the body lift on around the same time.

Thanks Guys!!! I love this forum

95CTburb19

· #5 · Feb 14, 2008

I was thinking about changing my fluid but now that I've read this I don't think I will. I don't have $2000 laying around at the moment.:great:

I saw a single cab short bed last night with 35's on it. STOCK! The 92-99 body style! He must rub at like a quarter turn of the steering wheel. :no:

Pete95Sierra

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 14, 2008

how on earth did he pull that one off? 35's stock? wow. My buddy ust got an 88 3500 with a body lift and 35's and I was amazed they got those under there... did he have any fender trimming at all?

95CTburb19

· #7 · Feb 14, 2008

haha none at all. I've never seen anything so stuffed in my life. We were all out messing around in this parking lot in the snow and I saw him. I told the kid next to me that it must rub every time he turns and then as he's leaving he takes this gradual turn and we could hear the rubbing from like 50 feet away.

Pete95Sierra

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 14, 2008

hahah thats funny why would he do that? wow

99fxst99

· #9 · Feb 27, 2008

AAMCO-ha ha ha ha

AAMCO-they will recommend a trans rebuild for a leaking valve stem!!! :rofl: Got me once, never again. Find a reputable local private shop. They HAVE to survive on thier reputation and credibility. Worked for me.

stinger

· #10 · Dec 7, 2009

Pete95Sierra said:
This happened to me about 6K miles ago and wanted to know if this has happened to anyone else. I changed the fluid in my trans because it was pretty dark. I am the second owner of the truck and it seems like the guy before me didnt like to change it often i guess. So i change it and two weeks later my 4L60E craps out on me. It doesnt shift right, etc. I manage to get it to AAMCO and have them take a look at it. They said that it needs to be rebuilt because by putting the new trans fluid in it "changed the environment" of the transmission. He said the trans would have been fine if I left the old stuff in there because it was used to the old stuff. Now 2000$ later i have a rebuilt trans that I am happy with because it needed to be rebuilt soon anyway, but i am 2000$ poorer when i didnt necessarilly have to be.

SO, has this ever happened to anyone else?

yes this has happened lots of times ,people dont understand even if you only put 20,000 miles a year on a car or truck the tranny needs a filter and oil change.
reason why is that when doing a filter change and oil you are only changing out 4 to 5 qurts of oil and moast trannys (auto trany that is) holds 14 quarts all together so when you do a filter and oil change your only replacing 4 to 5 quarts out of 14( see where this is going?) think of it this way your oil is dark and smelly you change it out 4 to 5 quarts out of 14 now it like taking 10 quarts of coolaid and adding 4 quarts of water to it and it the coolaid is dark like your oil? well it dont delute it much and is still dark

so what im trying to say is if you dont change it every year at least 2 or 3 times a year and it you put more than 20 to 30,000 a year on your truck or car it needs to be changed at least every 20 to 30,000 every year and then you will find the fluid will stay pretty much red .

im not trying to say any one is stupid by saying all of this by no means.
i have built trannys for years i cut my teeth on a 700 r4 when they frist came out and i have had a GM and ford tranny come in for a fluid change and it was so dark that when we changed the fluid it wouldnt even pull out of the shop
so yes this happens much offten and is verry common and is not someone trying to scam anyone

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kuziwr

· #11 · Dec 7, 2009

So if i should be changing fluid every 20 000 or so kms, then why do people say that its bad to change tranny fluid? is it or isnt it?

Crawdaddy

· #12 · Dec 8, 2009

Wow, this is certainly an old thread...

Jimmiee

· #13 · Dec 8, 2009

kuziwr said:
So if i should be changing fluid every 20 000 or so kms, then why do people say that its bad to change tranny fluid? is it or isnt it?

Wow this thread is old alright!

It's not bad to change transmission fluid but in Pete's case the damage was already done. If the transmission is burned and the fluid is real dirty usually changing this burned fluid accelerates the failure. What happens is the detergents in the new fluid break down the old fluid and this plugs up the new filter with crap and once this happens the party is over.

getawaycars

· #14 · Dec 8, 2009

I was going to have AAMCO flush the trans on my 97 Suburban with 168k. The fluid is kind of dark. Doesn't sound like such a good idea anymore. Should I just leave it alone?

Jimmiee

· #15 · Dec 8, 2009

getawaycars said:
I was going to have AAMCO flush the trans on my 97 Suburban with 168k. The fluid is kind of dark. Doesn't sound like such a good idea anymore. Should I just leave it alone?

If your transmission still works OK then go for it. Usually problems are compounded when the fluid is changed. If there are no problems and the fluid is just old, not burned, then changing the fluid is a good thing.

Jimmiee

· #16 · Dec 8, 2009

Also, a word about Aamco. I worked for Aamco and as most people know Aamco is the largest transmission chain in the World. As with any big company you will get a lot of complaints as well as a few complements. There are many Aamco centers that are the best in field. Nobody talks about them. There also a couple of bad apples and everybody talks about them. Don't be afraid to patronize your local Aamco.

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