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Question about 2002 Transmission Rebuild

thespacepope

Full Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2016
Messages
16
I have a question that maybe someone can provide some input so that I can determine whether I am unrealistic in my expectations about transmission rebuilds.

Here's the situation for my 2002 Avalanche:
  • October 2015: the prior owner had the transmission rebuilt with about 252,000 miles.
  • April 2016: I purchased it from him with about 256,000 miles on it.
  • December 2016: The input shaft on the transmission broke and wrecked the transmission with about 270,00 miles. I brought the truck to the same transmission shop used in October 2015, paid them $2500 for a rebuild with a 12 month warranty. This was about $500 less than another rebuild quote (24 month warranty) and about $1000 less than the Chevy dealer (3 year warranty I think) wanted to install a new one.  I went with the cheap one because they had good ratings on Yelp.
  • January 2018: The transmission won't lock up and stay in OD on the highway.  The tachometer just swings between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm trying to pick a gear. I bring the truck to the transmission shop and they can't replicate the issue.
  • February 2018: Truck now has 281,000 miles. The transmission still has the issue with OD. The transmission shop now can replicate the issue and tells me that it will cost $995 to pull the transmission and replace a valve/sensor that is preventing the torque converter from locking in OD.

Now my question is this:

Am I insane to think that it should not be necessary to pull a transmission 3 times in 27 months/29,000 miles for repairs? I have not pulled any trailers with my truck. I don't go offroading unless you could driving around on the dirt road on my property at less than 10 miles per hour as "offroad." I seldom use 4WD (really only once per month to make sure it still works). I am mostly just annoyed because other than the transmission, the truck is working pretty well.
 
If the same transmission shop is doing all of these repairs, I would find another shop.

Even if it costs more.

The transmission in my 2004 EXT went belly up at 125K.

Burned out clutches.

I had it rebuilt along with a new torque converter and new solenoids.

Always get a new torque converter when you have a transmission rebuilt.

That was 85K miles ago.

I had a pan drop with filter change after 50K and will do it again after every 50K until it breaks again.

Yours is breaking way too soon.

Especially if you are not abusing the truck.

If you don't already have an auxiliary transmission oil cooler, getting one installed is always a good thing.

But I have had trucks used for general towing that did not have an auxiliary transmission oil cooler easily go 75-100K miles before they began to fail.

That auxiliary cooler will help hedge your bet.
 
You're running into 3 types errors, assuming that the original rebuild was to replace the "soft" parts that are subject to wear:

1 - replacement of clutches and other "soft" parts that are standard rebuild kit items.

2 - replacement of a "hard" part that doesn't normally fail under standard use.

3 - either replacement of a solenoid or dealing with a worn valve cylinder.  Should have be inspected and likely addressed at the rebuild with that amount of miles but apparently wasn't due to a budget rebuild.

I would absolutely be frustrated in your situation but as we all know stuff happens.  Your truck went longer than many before needing a tranny rebuild.  The 2nd failure was a bit of a fluke.  This 3rd one is due to going to the lowest bidder the previous times.  You get what you pay for. 

Given that you are not very far out of the warranty period I'd press the shop for a break on the cost.  I'd be surprised if they were actually going to pull the tranny - most likely they are going to drop the pan and then replace a solenoid - they may need to drop the valve body to deal with the worn valve.  I've done the valve fix to my Corvette's 4L60 transmission without fully dropping the valve body.
 
I feel your pain.  My last build (Mopar), I took my tranny and a box of performance parts to a shop for a rebuild.  Got the tranny back and it sat on my shelf for a year before I was able to install.  Within 10 miles, it spun the pump bearing and sent trash through the tranny.  The first guy was NLA, so took it to the best shop in town.  Cracked it open, and not only was it filthy inside, but none of my performance parts were in it.  The 1st guy had totally scammed me.

My other comment, is why pay $2500 for a rebuild?  You can buy reman's for $1200 with 3 year warranty, and get a buddy and install it yourself.
 
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