Hello LS4 experts, my girlfriends car died on Monday, dropped 2nd gear. So there is a very nice one owner 2006 black GXP in my area, they want 10,990 for it, but I could talk the guy down about a grand or so. However the car has 106,000 on the odometer, and I am kinda weary seeing all the trans issues everyone is talking about.

She is going to drive it today, and I am going to drive it tonight...what should I look for?? I have the 07 Monte SS so I know how that should drive, but what should I be looking for on the GXP's???

Also the miles are all highway, the previous owner worked in Detroit and lived in Midland, so he/she would drive there on Monday and drive home on Friday.

Thanks alot guys, nothing like a good forum to make an informed decision!!

 

Well Paint-n-cows made it till 126k before the trannie croaked. It all depends on how it is driven.

My advice on the trans issue is to ask the person if they've had it replaced before. If they just got a new one at 100k you should be good for at least 14k or so. Overall though what I'd call is call up say ZZP and ask them what they'd charge to you stick a beefier trans into the car. When you're buying the car think of the cost of the car as the trans fix price plus what you pay the guy.

Also when you're driving pay attention to the 2rd gear to 3rd gear shift (you can always use tapshift to test this). Or well pretty much all the gear to gear shifts. If you see lagging between one shift but not the others, that is a sign a gear pack in the trans is starting to go. Most of the time second gear is the weak gear, so you see it in 2nd to 3rd or 1st to 2nd.


Other things to look for:

-signs of water damage around the sunroof / light console / behind the sun visors. If the guy had ever had a sunroof seal go bad there might be some water marks.

-Brakes: My GXP likes to eat breakes in its free time. I swear the car is sitting there "Hmmm I'm bored, I'll warp the rotors!" Look at how soon the car is going to need a new brake job.

-Inside edge of rear tires. If the guy hasn't been keeping up on the alignments a lot of times the rears will start to get out of alignment a little and the the inside egdes of them will go bad. I know a few GXP owners who had the Eagle F1s on them and this happened to them.

-Center speaker on the dash, sometimes they blow out.

I can't think of anything else that is a common issue for these cars.


As for price, I'm honestly not sure. Recent model year but high mileage. Seems high to me, considering that an 07 with under 40k on it goes for 16 to 19k.

 

I'd say that's a good price if you can talk him down some. The LS4 is solid, trans...not so much.
Here's more ammo for to talk him down:
Check the wheels for curb rash.
Check the GXP badges on the door. Sometimes the black flakes off.
Check the sunroof trim for rattles (easy fix, but you can point it out to him and knock more money off the price).
Check to see if the rear headliner is tight. (also easy fix)
Check the bottoms of the doors for rock chips. The wide fronts kick up some ****.
Check the suede on the seats for wear and the leather for any peels.

That's all i can think of right now. Good luck man!

 

As far as the transmission all you can really do is check the fluid make sure its not burned and check its shift response time. You definetly do not want a transmission that has a abnormal delay in shift from N to D or N to R

When you drive her around and your paying attention to the transmission shifts its important to keep the throttle at a single posistion threw your acceleration , do not let off when your anticipating a shift as this will cause a lighter shift then you might be expecting seeing as the transmission shifts based on load and other things , so be firm on the pedal while accelerating and you should have a stiff shift all the way up to 3rd after that you will have to let off the gas

 

if you pm me the vin I can VIS the vehicle and tell you what work has been done since date of purchase under the warranty period

 

MCGUIRE CHEVROLET-PONTIAC, INC.
712 W 5TH
CLARE, MI 48617-9414
new tranny on 4/11/08 with 81312 miles
flywheel cover replaced 5/1/06 with 3794 miles
OUTSIDE REARVIEW MIRROR MOTOR REPLACEMENT - RIGHT SIDE 3/1/06 2880 miles
front and rear brake rotors 4/26/06 with 3577 miles
front brake rotors again 6/5/07 with 45301 miles

 

damn, sounds like it was driven hard... new rotors at only 3577 miles, and ANOTHER set at 45301 miles??? daaaamn...

have just about 61,000 miles on my Monte, with original rotors - and they're still fine....

interesting... unless that's a known issue for the GXP's...

 

Thanks for all your help guys, while my girl friend was looking at it some guy bought it on Ebay.

So the dealer said sorry that car is already sold.....

Maybe a good thing, it had its up's and down's...just need a car really badly, I have to drive my 96 cutlass home now in first gear, and she has the Monte so she can get to work....(all highway drive)


Stupid cars breaking just when you need them the most...

 

Yea that scares me also.

 

ALL the issues with these trans in these cars? Lol i love that quote. These hold up better than the GTP 65E's ever did.

 

I've had my Monte SS from 5K miles, have had the rotors trued twice already, I'm currently at 28K. But I do drive it like I stole it! Its to fun not to!

 

So the dealer felt really bad about selling the car out from under us. He offered a 24 hour test drive of an 06 GP GT, so I had to swing by after work and pick it up etc.

I walk out to my old 96 Cutlass Supreme, which wont **** into 2, and start it up for a slow crawl to the dealer. The trans fluid is dark brown/black and had just been changed in January of 07.

So I am driving down the road, and the car feels fine, still making a strange scraping noise from the front of the car, but I figure f-it lets see if I can make it run one more time. I just started accelerating and away she went, the gear changes aren't fast, and firm, but no loss of power, no noise or anything while shifting.

Needless to say i was going 75 on my way to the dealership laughing my fool head off. On Monday the car wouldn't go more than 40mph at 5500 rpm, and last night it drove just fine.

Any thoughts as to what could be the problem? New filter and fluid is needed, but could it be a Torque Converter? or even just a bad belt/chain what ever they used in those tranny's?

Let me know what you guys think....Thanks Again!!!

 

Flooring it probably increased line pressure enough to keep the clutches from slipping and let it actually shift. Why not just get the tranny repaired it would probably only cost a grand. I had a 89 Cutless supreme and had the transmission repaired at 120k and the little 2.8 lasted all the way to 280,000 miles before the computer in it died "the engine had a rod knock" and the transmission shifted slow but still ran and got me everywhere i needed

 

Thanks Sint, that is exactly what I am doing, it is at a local tranny shop, the guy is dropping the pan today, flushing the fluid, putting a new filter in and going from there....69.95 out the door!!!

Time to just fix the car and live with it, the engine is in great condition, still gets 28 miles to the gallon etc...

The only thing else wrong with the car is the Cruse Control is gone, and the Passenger Door wont open from outside.. so only minor things.

Thanks again guys, my wallet is going to be 1200-1500 dollars lighter here i think....