Hello everyone,

After over a month of searching google for "[question or part] 4L60E" and getting most of the best information from threads on this website, I decided to sign up for a paid membership.

I have been to school for automotive repair, but the class on automatic transmissions was somewhat lacking - and that was close to a decade ago now. I have been party to a couple of actual auto trans rebuilds early on in my career, mainly just helping or working on certain sub-assemblies. The shop I have worked at for the last several years does not have the capacity to do rebuilds. This is due to a lack of manpower, clean workspace, and simply put, transmission expertise. When my 40,000 mile, purchased-rebuilt 4L60E literally exploded, I didn't like any of the options. I don't trust any of the rebuild farms and the price of a "remanufactured" transmission has almost doubled since I purchased the last one. Performance-built transmissions from reputable builders are very expensive. The honest, quality shop that we refer people to was still very expensive. But ultimately, I decided it was time for me to dive in and figure one out entirely for myself (although I'll admit, my dad is helping me with this project, mainly because he enjoys it). This decision was solidified by the fact that I plan on keeping this vehicle until it is no longer serviceable, as it has been in my family since new and I grew up with it. This website has been absolutely INVALUABLE, alongside the ATRA, ATSG, and GM Hydra-matic Technician's guide that I have downloaded. In fact, it has made things simple that would have otherwise taken hours of reading and rereading to comprehend. Not only that, but in a sea of fake "rebuilt" parts, poor quality new parts, and confusing design changes and parts interchange issues, LS1Tech has been massively helpful.

I am rambling now, but the point is: Thank you to all of the very knowledgeable people here who have made the mistakes and/or done the work and research and then shared what they have learned so that I don't have to! I will be writing up a post in the auto trans forum subsection very soon to talk about my rebuild and ask some of the questions that I have been unable to find answers for. I am also making some Youtube videos as I go to share the things that I do know.

I didn't grow up on a farm, but my father did before becoming a mechanical engineer, and I grew up holding the flashlight for him and learning everything I could through osmosis. I was always interested in cars, but more so excited about driving them until I was old enough to do so and they stopped running. Then I really got into repairing them. I kept going when I saw my friends either getting ripped off or put in bad positions by shady and/or incompetent mechanics. I started to really like it when I experienced the gratification of doing repairs right by fighting through all the typical struggles.

I live near Cincinnati, Ohio and work nearby at an independent repair shop owned by a husband and wife. After graduating Sinclair for their (excellent) automotive program, I knew I wanted to work for an independent shop. The stigma of chains and dealers exists for a reason (of course not all are bad). Our shop does everything other than programming, involved restorations or performance builds, and major teardowns of powertrain components. All of the normal repair stuff plus better diagnostic ability than most and honesty. I love that I am able to speak directly to customers and help them prioritize importance of repairs, as well as explain things to them in depth enough that they can understand what is wrong with their car and what needs to be done to repair it. I like to arm good people with knowledge that they can't naturally or easily accrue themselves. That's one of the things in the repair industry that has been changing for the better since the advent of forums and publicly accessible repair and training videos. Enough of this "trade-secrets" junk (ironically, one of the major transmission service walls that I am hitting).

I personally put the majority of my effort into being versed in driveability and electrical diagnostics. It's what I find most gratifying. I like to play with scan tools, multimeters, oscilloscopes, test lights, etc. whenever I have the chance to. When I am not at work, I enjoy tinkering with small electronics, in addition to other car-related projects that I just don't have the opportunity to do during a workday. For example, rebuilding my transmission. I also plan to do some body panel rust repair this summer once I get a MIG welder. I was learning to stick weld before it got really cold this winter. There's no excuse to ever be bored when you haven't learned everything.

I'll also come clean up front. I don't actually own a vehicle with an LS1. My 2001 Yukon XL K1500 has a 5.3 (this is the one getting the transmission rebuilt) and my other personal car is a 1987 325is with a manual transmission. I do get to work on my father's C5 though, in addition to helping maintain a number of other vehicles owned by my close family. But who knows, maybe one day that E30 will get an LS? You never know what might happen. I'm not too brand loyal, but my dad always owned General Motors products and my grandma was a quality inspector for a couple of different THMs. Maybe this is things coming full circle, haha.

I look forward to posting on the forum, hopefully getting some help on my current project, and more importantly, contributing whenever I have the time and proper knowledge to do so! Thanks for reading my introduction post!