I have a stock 4L60E thats I'm putting a new torque converter in and was woundering what type of fluids you'll are running in these. The car is at 60,000 miles I got the car with just under 30k and have had the tranny Flushed at 30k, 45k, and just agian at 60k. These were full flushs, flushing all 13-14qts of fluid through the tranny, converter, lines, and radiator. The pan has naver been off for servicing. Should I service the filter when i change the coverter? Is sticking with regular Dex VI fluids still good enough?
Thanks You'll!

 

i have always herd to never completely flush unless fluid is real dark. This is coming from some pretty start techs at my GM dealership. only fluid most people swap is the little bit that comes out with the pan during a filter service. However, im no tranny guru and im only telling you what ive herd.
i have a ss4k on the way myself, good luck with the converter.

 

yes, id have it serviced. id go with synthetic fluid with a deeper pan and cooler if you dont have them. shift too i recommend.

 

when i got my yank converter i had synthetic fluid in my trans and i was told by yank to use reg tranny fluid. so i ended putting plain old dex in the trans.

 

i got mobil 1 synthetic tranny fluid so far the tranny lasted the whole season on my turbo 347 motor

do not flush the transmission just remove the pan change the filter and add sufficient amount of transmission oil

i heard that gm stopped doing flushes a long time ago, because the transmissions did not last for to long after the flush

 

yea just got my yank converter today and it specifically says do not use a senthetic fluid...idk about other converters tho

 

why would they tell you not to use synthetic ? pretty much all Allison transmissions use synthetic fluid from the factory and there does not seem to be a problem

 

my fluid wasn't flushed for 25k miles by the time i got my car. by the time i found that out, it had been 35k. now whatever it is is staying in there til the trans goes.

 

FLT told me to just use plain old Dex III and stay away from synthetic. I flush mine every year, so it stays fresh. I've always been told that sythetic will cause premature failure in the 4L60E, but I've never seen this substantiated. However, seeing what FLT trannies are capable of, I tend to trust the guys over there .

 

DEX 3 here. Brand of your choice.....

 

how will it cause premature transmission failure ? i am not doubting FLT's knowledge or experience but i would like to know, because i am currently running synthetic, and the car had plenty 1/4 mile passes last season at 500whp on a bone stock 4l60e and nothing happend yet

 

Fluids, whether synthetic or conventional, are DESIGNED to accomodate the parts inside the trans and converter. Synthetic oils truely help metal parts, but may be in conflict of the clutch materials, sensors, seals, etc. Hearsay is the biggest deterent of the truth. For instance, the gentleman talking about the Allison trannies and synthetics. They are specifically designed for synthetics. Just switching to synthetics MAY damage your trans. Most of the newer trannies today are designed for the synthetic oils. When you REDESIGN your transmission to a higher performance level, this changes things. You incorperate different frictions, steels, bands, etc. This will require different lubricants per manufacturer specifications and warranties. Follow what they say and no one else.

And for the record, the rules for changing tranny fluid goes as follows:

Stock Cars and Trucks-every 20,000-30,000 miles-climate comes into play
Mild Performance-15,000-20,000 miles
Plow Trucks-Personal-Once per year
Plow Trucks-Business-Every fall and spring
Performance Vehicles-Once per year
Heavy Use Performance-(Every weekend drag race and/or constant street pounding)-Once per month-Pan drop after every race to inspect for premature damage and refill with same ATF and top off to full.

Reference to How and Why:

Many people make mistakes because some one said, or listening to some one who thinks they knowabout changing the ATF in your trans. Listen to the person or manufacturer that built your trans, motor, diff, etc. THEY CARRY THE WARRANTY!!

The reason to change the ATF AND Filter only is: The transmission naturally flakes of particals of metal, aluminum, brass, clutch material, nylon, etc. Most of which should be removed from the PAN and FILTER. This was and still is called a SERVICE. Meaning only a portion of the ATF is changed. This has been the norm for over 60 years...until the advent of the Powerflush Machine. The ATF that is not changed has some "majic" in it. At a micron level the friction and band material that naturally flakes off and is still floating in the ATF is like a friction modifier. It helps the frictions grab better. This is why we SHOULD NOT POWERFLUSH the trans. It removes those particals. The new ATF that is replaced when Servicing is all the NEW DETERGENTS that is needed.

The key word being DETERGENTS. ATF is full of detergents and is designed that way as there are no scrub brushes in the trans to keep it spotless. Now comes why you SHOULD NOT CHANGE or POWERFLUSH your trans if the ATF is burnt, brown or black. The detergents in the new ATF are very harmful to a worn neglected transmissions that has more than 80K-100+K miles on them. As a trans goes thru life, it needs valuable maintanance that is usually not done, if at all. The seals get bombarded with heat, metal chips, etc. that cut and leaves grooves in them causing pressure fluctuations and leaks that cause shifting and slipping problems, codes, etc. The bushings and Thrust Washers also get attacked by the minute metal chips that in essence make MORE metal, like a machine shop. These scratches are filled in with the VARNISH, the old ATF turns into and helps "seal" the transmission for the time being. When a person procrastinates for thousands of miles, has a problem and expects to remedy the problem by Powerflushing or Servicing the trans, finds out they did more damage than good. The Detergents, when coupled with heat are enacted and go to work washing away the varnish which exposes the worn and scratched seals which now start to leak and thus the trans is in trouble.

Now, if you Service or Powerflush your trans in given intervals since new, this processes should not occur. As time and technology come and go, the professionals in the business try to convey to the customners what is the latest and greatest for your vehicle. The bummer is not all business owners are as CARING as myself and others that invest to keep up with the news you as customers need to hear. Get many opinions on the maintanance of your vehicle as you may hear wild and crazy things. Most of you are smart and can tell what is right and wrong.

As far as what ATF to run, follow the builder or manufacturer. I personally run Type F ATF in all of my trannies. The gentleman who started the article should run Merc3 in my opinion.

Good Luck

Hopefully, this will shed some light on the subject of TRANSMISSION MAINTANANCE.

 

What exactly is the difference between DexIII & Type F.What would happen if you put TypeF in a GM tranny/4L60E.Just curious.............Paul

 

why would you suggest him to run transmission fluid that was designed for ford transmissions ? not trying to pick a fight here, just gain some knowledge cause i do not know much about automatic transmissions

 

Please note that FLT did not tell me that synthetic would cause premature failure, that is just something that I have seen posted on here quite frequently. I also stated that I have never seen this substantiated.....I simply use the fluid that my tranny builder told me to use and it's worked out very well for me....Vince just told me that the synthetic was not necessary.

 

FWIW transmissions are NOT designed around a fluid and ATF does not contain a huge amount of detergents. Actually PCMO (passenger car motor oil contains many times more detergents). Synthetic when used to describe an ATF is its base oil composition. Friction modifiers and the like are added to achieve an end goal for fluid spec ie DEXRON III. A synthetic and conventional Dexron III should have fairly tight friction characteristics..PERIOD.

No offense but there is so much BS in this thread its ridiculous. Just because somebody builds TC's doesnt qualify them all of a sudden as a tribologist. Maybe one fluid works better witht their product, ok thats reasonable as there are slight differences. Bottom line, a synthetic ATF that is the proper spec WILL NOT BLOW UP YOUR TRANSMISSION. You guys need to visit bobistheoilguy.com and get an education on lubrication. I would say pretty much every lubricant related thread I have read here is stocked full of mistruths and urban legend. Like the old "my engine has sludge built up, ok cletus throw in some darn atf to clean it". UH no. As mentioned ATF does not contain huge amounts of detergents and actually less than that of motor oil. Not insulting anyone here with this, just that it seems to be a fairly common old wives tale than needs to be put to rest.

Pick a fluid of your liking and change it at reasonable intervals. Here is the thing that makes me laugh the most out of all of these false statements. HEAT as we all are aware is what kills most transmissions. The ATF is a coolant,hydraulic fluid,luricant and as such takes a beating thermally speaking. After so many heat cycles it breaks down(oxidation) and is no longer effective. Synthetics (group III and higher) are known for their superior thermal capabilities. They can remain in service longer( as long as filtration is effective) thus giving a financial benefit to the end user and also a durability feature in that while towing or racing the transmission fluid remains stable and does not burn off or oxidize. Then we have people saying it will damage your transmission. HOW. Explain that. You cant because it simply is not true. The FM (friciton modifiers) are very similar so whats your reasoning. My advice is visit the above mentioned site. Quite a few there are involved in the OEM transmission programs and others are tribologists. They do not have an agenda. One thing that you will learn is that OEMs care about a specification of fluid(ie Dex III-no longer licensed,Dex VI-current GM fluid) and not its base oil composition(ie conventional group II for example and synthetic Group III). As long as it meets the spec. Now if they need a more thermally stable fluid then they will mandate than to meet the spec it has to be a Group III base oil or higher(synthetic) to do so.

Type F in a DEXRON III spec'd transmission?????? Type F is a highly friction modified ATF and is not usually run in place of DEXRON III (in a non racing application,no street racing doesnt count). Hey if you know whats best, by all means. Apparently GM and a majority of transmission builders don't know squat.

 

Agreed. I was told the same by Vince that regular Dex III is fine. Just change it and make sure the level is correct.

Prior to having a new transmission built. My stock 4l60e failed with only 27,000 miles, running synthetic, proper level. Same goes for rear ends, use only regular if running a 12 bolt (moser even states it on the rear)

 

that is a load of ****, how can synthetic fluid damage anything, if it is the right viscosity.

i run synthetic 15w40 in my motor and it has not blown up yet, my tranny has 120 000 miles on it and last year i switched the transmission fluid to synthetic and the rear end has royal purple synthetic ever since i got the car (10 bolt) all this has seen 500whp on the street and on the drag strip on a bone stock 4l60e and 10 bolt not talking about 1 1/4 mile pass a season. i went to the track every weekend for the whole season and the car was driven to and from the track. i was expecting my transmission to blow up, but nothing, still shift's like a champ

 

Im with you being frustrated at people on here blaming synthetic for failures. Its a lack of education on the subject. I guess NASCAR, F1,IRL,INDY and pretty much any other sanctioned race circuits should warn the teams that the synthetic fluids they are using are destroying their drivetrains in short order! If anything a synthetic ATF will extend the life of a transmission. Some even feature more protection in the form of a GL-4 gear rating.

Huh, so a 4L60e failed and just because the fluid level was appropriate you surmise that it was a lubricant related failure??? Where is your proof? This should be scientific.

Im gonna go drain the Redline synthetic out of my cars before the tranny grenades and the rear end falls out. What a joke. I have been using Redline for going on 16 years in many engines and transmissions. NEVER one failure. One of the best GroupV lubes money can buy.

 

The only thing I heard about synthetic ATF in the trans was it might be to slippery for the clutch's.