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Hi Eric,
Thanks again for all of the detailed videos you publish. You are a wealth of knowledge and have saved my butt a few times!
Right now I have a bit of a dilemma. I have a 2000 Tahoe that I purchased last year with 137,000 miles on it. I currently have 165,000 on it and figured I might want to consider doing a transmission fluid change. I do some infrequent (a few times a year) towing with it (5,000 lb trailer, mostly flat ground), so I was thinking that doing a full 16 or so quart exchange with Dexron VI might be a good thing. The transmission is working fine now, no hard shifts, no slipping…everything is great. The fluid currently in the transmission does not look bad, doesn’t smell burned and doesn’t have any “gritty” feel to it. While I suspect the transmission has been well taken care of, I do not know this for sure. I do not have service records from the previous owner. I have heard opinions ranging from “the 4L60E is a weak transmission–if you have made it to 160k, consider yourself lucky and don’t screw with anything”, to “do a complete fluid exchange over to Dexron VI, and everything will be great”.
My questions are:
1. If this were your ride, what would you recommend?
2. If there are some other variables I need to consider before doing anything with it, what should I consider?Thanks again for all that you do.
Jason in Norfolk, VA
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the good
your transmission is in good condition
before you change the fluid, drop the pan, clean the magnet and change the filter and pan gasket.
then exchange your trans oil using this method involving removal of your trans cooling lines. This method ensures that fluid follow’s it’s normal path of circulation under normal pressure:
the bad
do not use a transmission “power flush” or back flush machine. they are evil. 👿The 4L60 seems kinda small for a chevy tahoe… i’d rather like to see a big n’ beefy 4L80 in that big ol’ truck.
Yep…it is a 4L60E. You had me second guessing myself…to the point that I put the truck up on ramps and did a quick check for myself.
http://www.maliburacing.com/auto_tranny_id.htm
16 bolts, square pan..yep, it’s a 4L60E. From what I can gather, the 4L80E’s are on the 2500 & 3500 pickups and the beefy 2500 style Suburban. Perhaps if I blow this one up I might toy with the idea of replacing it with a 4L80E. I’ve heard it can be done, but really don’t know.
I guess I should have made myself more clear in the first post…I am avoiding flush machines like the plague. I had heard of doing the transmission cooler line technique, but really appreciate having the video to go with it.
Jason
dex VI is compatable with DexIII VI is synthetic and everyone i have EVER talked to says sythetic in auto transmissions is the ay to go. it handles heat better and heat is the death for any auto trans
i believe the 4L60E is just a modern electronic 700r4 They arent bad transmissions (both my truck and my fast car have one) but they arent beefy either. if it doesnt have one install a shift kit in it and run synthetic. should last a long time when taking care of it also install a trans cooler in front of the radiator. not to hard to install, and helps with the heat too.
or run it till it pops and replace it with a Monster transmission. I love mine, makes the truck bark tires shifting from first to second. was heavier dry than the OE trans i pulled out of the truck was full of fluid.
Changing fluid is better than not changing fluid in most cases. The best way to extend the life of your transmission especially if you do a lot of towing is to install an external transmission cooler. The cooler the transmission runs, the longer it will last. As for the fluid I believe those fluids are compatible so it shouldn’t be an issue. You can always go up but not down in number.
Here is a video that may help you.
2 years and 37k miles on it with the Dexron VI and all is well. Guess it is about time to do it again. Thanks for the advice!
[quote=”jasondthurston” post=135269]2 years and 37k miles on it with the Dexron VI and all is well. Guess it is about time to do it again. Thanks for the advice![/quote] That’s one resilient 4L60-E, especially for the model year! That model year range(about until 2005) commonly had a problem with the sun shell cracking/stripping and losing reverse and second. That thing must be magic if it’s made nearly 200k miles in a Tahoe. When it’s teardown time, I’d be curious to see if the “Beast” sunshell and a better 3/4 clutch pack was installed by the PO.
Possibly, but I doubt it. The previous two owners were a military guy who had it through the warranty period and a family who used it as their daily driver and seemed to be meticulous about getting it serviced. There was no mention of any transmission service beyond normal fluid/filter changes. I guess I have just been lucky so far (fingers crossed)!
[quote=”jasondthurston” post=135276]Possibly, but I doubt it. The previous two owners were a military guy who had it through the warranty period and a family who used it as their daily driver and seemed to be meticulous about getting it serviced. There was no mention of any transmission service beyond normal fluid/filter changes. I guess I have just been lucky so far (fingers crossed)![/quote] That is quite lucky, I have extensive experience with GM transmissions and I can honestly say that I’ve seen most factory 4L60s/Es that were used in trucks(silverado, tahoe, suburban etc) behind the Gen 2 and 3 V8 motors give up the ghost or at least start to slip between 100kand 200k miles as the original design(the 700R4) was not designed to handle torque and power put out by the newer motors. It also has many many weak points from the factory, so many that instead of fixing them, GM uses a torque management system. GM introduced the 4L65-E and 4L70-E to address the issues later on. These have 5 pinion planetaries and some other goodies.
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