97 4*4 Tahoe Transmission Failure

zdriver · 2004-04-04T06:27:58+00:00

My truck is sitting at the local Goodwrench awaiting a remanufacturedtransmission. It cooked yesterday on the Coquihalla, fairly good climbfor 20 km, was working perfectly, passed every import that flew pastme on the flat lands on the way up (I just leave the cruise set at115K), seems Japanese horsepower are somewhat smaller than Americanones. Anyway, back on topic, felt a shudder at the top of the hillwhen it backed off instead of the normal lockup, saw oil on the backwindow after a dash scan showed everything normal. Pulled overimmediately and shut it down as I thought I blew a cooler line, butthat was a mistake, oil boiled as soon as I shut it off! There was oileverywhere underneath, must be a breather as the cooler lines weredry.My research on the internet today reveals that this 4L60E transmissionis maybe not one of Chevrolet's prouder achievements for reliability,atleast in a '97 Tahoe. I however have paid my pound of flesh indepreciation as I bought this truck nearly new and am intending tokeep it quite a while yet. This transmission worked flawlessly tillthe moment it died, with a shift quality that I can honestly say issecond to none. My main concern is that I want to get a longer life out of my nexttransmission. The dealer claims this "Goodwrench" transmission has allthe updates. Warranty on the Goodwrench transmission is only 3 yr,80000 km, the original transmission went 125,000 km so I doubtwarranty will come into play as the transmission seems to be designedto last the length of the warranty anyway. Even though I do not pull atrailer, I am intending to install an auxiliary transmission cooler ifthis will help. I see larger oil sumps areavailable, even from GM. Is this larger sump possibly one of theupdates on this new transmission? Is it worth installing anaftermarket temperature sensor or guage to monitor transmissioncondition? Too bad Chevrolet does not flash a light on the dash orsomething to indicate problems, I thought the electronic...