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Trans is being rebuilt. Lost 4th gear and shutter.

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Old Oct 3, 2011 | 07:45 PM
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Default Trans is being rebuilt. Lost 4th gear and shutter.

Driving home on the freeway today, and felt the tran pop in and out of 4th a couple of times real violently.
Once I got off of the freeway, and came to a stop, the trans decided to shutter thru 1st, till it grabbed 2nd. I have been living with 4th gear woes for quite some time now.. The car was still drivable and snappy till I decided to drive like a grandma.

Took the car into the shop so I'll post what they find. (It's Probabaly the valve body)

Forced to spend bucks now, so there goes my heads Thankfully I bought parts form Tripple edge last year.

I do not blame the shutter or the loss of fourth on my mods. This trans has been a real trooper. 65K with a lot of hard driven miles and over 50 drag strip passes. **** happens, so now it's time to upgrade to my 3400-3800 stall converter with 3.69's.

Last edited by DavidGXP; Oct 6, 2011 at 12:37 AM.
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Old Oct 3, 2011 | 08:11 PM
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Took long enough.
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Old Oct 3, 2011 | 08:16 PM
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Originally Posted by TheJPGXP
Took long enough.
Ahaahahhaha... I just wanted to see how long it would last. I bet a rebuilt valvebody, new 4th output shaft, and 4th clutches would cure these issues. I don't know about the shutter though. I'm having the whole thing gone over and upgraded.
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Old Oct 4, 2011 | 11:07 AM
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Mine is at the dealership right now with the same issue as yours kind of, I have a 4th gear shutter under a low rpm load, sometimes it will do it in 3rd gear too in manual mode if I can get it to bog down enough.

The service tech said he thinks the torque converted isn't unlocking under those load conditions, but they are going to run some tests on it to see if they can narrow it down.
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Old Oct 4, 2011 | 03:55 PM
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Welcome to The Club!!
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Old Oct 4, 2011 | 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1 Racing
Welcome to The Club!!
Lol.. I know you only check this site for threads like this.
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Old Oct 4, 2011 | 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by DavidGXP
Lol.. I know you only check this site for threads like this.
Hey...I gotta keep the trans tracking thread up to date! That's my contribution to the LS4 community. And if/when my trans dies again and we trade the car, I'll still maintain that thread!
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Old Oct 6, 2011 | 12:57 AM
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Originally Posted by LS1 Racing
Hey...I gotta keep the trans tracking thread up to date! That's my contribution to the LS4 community. And if/when my trans dies again and we trade the car, I'll still maintain that thread!
We appreciate it, so I would certainly hope so.

Seems like most people lose their converters, burn up a drum/clutch or have valve body issues. So far, I haven't heard of any brakage. I am still convinced that a trans cooler, shift kit and regular fluid changes (25K), will preserve the 4T65E for at least 100K. ?????

I will let everyone know what the shop finds. With parts and labor (including what I bought from Dave) I will have spent close to 4200. Ouch!

If I had more time, and if it was still summer, I would have pulled the trans myself. I need this car back on the road ASAP, so I was forced to take in.
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Old Oct 6, 2011 | 01:27 PM
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Originally Posted by DavidGXP
Seems like most people lose their converters, burn up a drum/clutch or have valve body issues. So far, I haven't heard of any brakage. I am still convinced that a trans cooler, shift kit and regular fluid changes (25K), will preserve the 4T65E for at least 100K. ?????
I agree with the causes, however, the regular fluid changes and trans cooler do nothing to prevent the problems. I know...I changed the trans the trans fluid and added a huge cooler when I bought the car with 30,000 miles on the clock. I never even got to the second fluid change when the trans failed at 53,000. It got new fluid with the rebuild, but it died again at 78,000, right before the next scheduled change. And the addition of a shift kit won't save the seals in the valve body, nor prevent the converter relief valve from trashing your torque converter.

GM f'ed us on the design and execution of these transmissions, and care (or lack thereof) has little impact on whether you're one of the unlucky ones.
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Old Oct 6, 2011 | 03:10 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1 Racing
I agree with the causes, however, the regular fluid changes and trans cooler do nothing to prevent the problems. I know...I changed the trans the trans fluid and added a huge cooler when I bought the car with 30,000 miles on the clock. I never even got to the second fluid change when the trans failed at 53,000. It got new fluid with the rebuild, but it died again at 78,000, right before the next scheduled change. And the addition of a shift kit won't save the seals in the valve body, nor prevent the converter relief valve from trashing your torque converter.

GM f'ed us on the design and execution of these transmissions, and care (or lack thereof) has little impact on whether you're one of the unlucky ones.
I agree with you to some degree, all except the trans cooler, those undoubtedly save various parts of the transmission from heat related issues. Sure it is not going to fix manufactures defects or hard part failures, but having 220 degree fluid versus 180 degree fluid can't help.

I just wish GM would recall these things and be done with it.
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Old Oct 6, 2011 | 03:36 PM
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Originally Posted by TheBlizzard
I agree with you to some degree, all except the trans cooler, those undoubtedly save various parts of the transmission from heat related issues. Sure it is not going to fix manufactures defects or hard part failures, but having 220 degree fluid versus 180 degree fluid can't help.

I just wish GM would recall these things and be done with it.
I think we're in total agreement here, as I've always installed an external trans cooler whenever I've bought an automatic-equipped vehicle.

I guess what I was trying to say was, our 4T65 failures are generally not heat related. I do believe every LS4 owner should add a trans cooler because they do get hot, but our transmissions generally don't last long enough between rebuilds to die from heat problems!
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Old Oct 6, 2011 | 08:07 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1 Racing
I think we're in total agreement here, as I've always installed an external trans cooler whenever I've bought an automatic-equipped vehicle.

I guess what I was trying to say was, our 4T65 failures are generally not heat related. I do believe every LS4 owner should add a trans cooler because they do get hot, but our transmissions generally don't last long enough between rebuilds to die from heat problems!
Yeah I agree, go look at my current thread about my tranny with 70k on it.
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Old Oct 7, 2011 | 12:39 PM
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Oh... **** my life!

The PI converter wasn't machined properly, so the bevel is cutting the turbin shaft
O- ring.
PI is going to build another converter and ship it out ASAP.

I was supposed to get the car back tomorrow morning. I sure hope this new converter works or else it's back to stock!
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Old Oct 7, 2011 | 05:46 PM
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So I went down to the shop and the car looks great in pieces. The trans looks like a Monster and should perform like one too.

The builder said the channel plate TCC pressure relief valve was lose and everything else looked really good. Freaking less then 50.00 part was causing problems lol.. I guess I had a lot of slop in the 2nd clutch assembly too. The shop also thinks the TC was going out but without the trans throwing codes, its hard to say without cutting it open.
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 03:16 PM
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Did you get this work completed, and how did it turn out ?
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by higsy
Did you get this work completed, and how did it turn out ?
Parts and computer tuning from TEP 2100 US
Trans Rebuild labor 900 US
Trans removal and installation labor 695.00
Trans fluid and tax 280 US

Grand total= 3975 and change US
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 07:57 PM
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WoW. When mine goes, I'm having the car towed to a junk yard, and taking $4k to the dealership. Sorry dude.

You have a lot more invested in your car than I do in mine so I see how that wasn't an option.
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Old Oct 31, 2011 | 09:02 PM
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Originally Posted by DavidGXP
Parts and computer tuning from TEP 2100 US
Trans Rebuild labor 900 US
Trans removal and installation labor 695.00
Trans fluid and tax 280 US

Grand total= 3975 and change US
No six speed for you.
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