Total Mechanical Failure - 2002 Suburban

'total mechanical failure'

gear train, pump, valve body and all ?

yeah, right..............what has happened, if you have no reverse (you probably had no 2nd and fourth also, but put the 1-3 shift down as a late

1-2) is that the 'sun shell' has stripped out

tell them you want to come and take pictures of this and watch Mr. 'Chevy Mechanic' change his tune

and when you get it back, take it to a good independent transmission shop that does a lot of trucks, and have them put on the largest external cooler that will fit behind the grille, bypass the cooler in the radiator, then take it back every 10-12k for a fluid and filter change

And your point is what? You see, I don't give a dang WHY it crapped out at

24K miles, it just did. It has never towed more than a 14' aluminum jon boat with a 4hp motor. So I should have to foot the bill for a piece of crap transmission design? I did have first gear, but it totally "slipped" at 40 mph, in other words, lots of gas pedal and no go, tach spun up to 4000 rpm. So again, who is to resolve this issue of crapping out under normal driving conditions? Me? I don't think so. If they fix what you claim to be the problem, is it going to crap out again? This is the first Chevy truck I have ever owned, I have a 97 F250 with 67K miles and I had a 97 F150 with

well, my point WAS that the 'mechanic' is full of shit

my point has changed however; it is now that YOU are a whiny asshole who cannot read and comprehend what I was attempting to tell you, and, to put it as kindly as I can, you can go f*ck yourself and the horse you rode in on

Give em' both barrels G!

Doc

Easy there, tsh. Gary knows his stuff and is (was) lending a helping hand for you to be able to have credible backing that GM should cover this. He's offered advice to help you out, but when the stuff gets thrown back at him like that, don't expect to get much help afterward.

Snowman

Reread his original post. If I am not a transmission mechanic, and I'm not, how the hell do I know what he is saying. When I read it he reiterated exactly my suspicion, Chevy transmissions are a piece of junk. Change the fluid every how many miles? 10-12K. Yeah right, what does the owner's manual say, it isn't 10-12K. And, how the heck could I tell what he meant? I am supposed to be impressed by his use of "tranny speak?" I don't know what the heck that means and obviously I misunderstood what he was saying. The more I think about it the more I'm sure that the trannys are crap. If I don't drive the truck, and change the trans fluid every 3000 miles it will last forever. I've owned 3 Ford trucks, an Oldsmobile, a Toyota and a Honda. I changed the trans fluid in all of them at the MANUFACTURER'S recommended interval and NEVER had an issue, AND I towed a 6700 pound skid steer loader with the Fords pretty regularly and NO tranny failure. So to sum it all up, I appreciate Gary's advice, though I obviously misunderstood, but really, change the tranny fluid almost as often as the oil? Come on, that's just not realistic and I could get another vehicle that the total cost of ownership is no where near that cost!

Well I would not say they are pieces of junk but I would say not everyone that comes off the assembly line is a gem (would be interested to know what the actual acceptable failure rate for a Mexican assembly line is for GM...). We all will eventually get a lemon, just get them to rebuild it and go on with your life. If you don't trust it any more then trade it in for a Excursion with a powerstroke. With the rebates (currently ~$4,000) that are going around you won't take too large of a hit; of course if you can get a used one with the 7.3 you will be better off. The 6.0L are turning out to have worse injection problems then the 7.3's, which had major issues.

mark

listen up, whiner:

I rebuild them FOR A LIVING, I see them in all kinds of vehicles, and let me tell you the ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR:

damn near EVERY ONE that comes in here has NEVER..........NEVER..had the fluid changed

you want to run that fluid till all its lubricating properties are gone ?

go ahead, I'm laughing daily at people like you who thought they'd 'save money'

my advice stands :

10-12 k under 'normal use' 8-10 k if you haul heavy loads or tow occasionally 6-8 k if you tow regularly or haul heavy loads often

we won't even get into the auxiliary cooler thing, because you are obviously too tight with a buck to protect your investment, you would prefer to run it till it quits, then bitch about it

I have the same truck :-) too cool, chevy made more than one of these? ;-)~

GARY: I am looking into a transmission cooler (after you told me how to drain my fluid for the proper level, and burnt myself on the fluid). However, I've looked at B&M and Hayden coolers and they both use rubber tubing? Are there ones that use steel tubing, or do I need to get some extra nipples and tubing to make it work? Thanks for your help.

-The Lonely Grease Monkey

1985' K5 305CUI TH700R4 NP208 KJ's successor

"Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, then he who believes what is a wrong." - Thomas Jefferson

Using as little rubber as possible is preferred! You can make herd lines and connect them to the cooler with short rubber lines. One of the nice things about Chevy's is that it is REAL hard to overcool them! High quality fluid, religious fluid AND filter changes, flushing the entire tranny when required, and a nice big cooler are all great things.