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Sea Foam Trans Tune

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Old Mar 13, 2015 | 07:21 PM
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Default Sea Foam Trans Tune

I think this product really works well. Here is some background on the car. Its an 08 GXP I purchased in 08 with 8k on it. Right now it has 104k on it. I changed the fluid and filter at 40k. Around 72k the car started the rev/clunk. I changed the fluid and filter at that point and added Lucas slip treatment. I am very easy on this car, so this pisses me off. Changed the fluid and filter again at 92k. This has been a very cold winter in Ct and the trans was acting worse. On an average week it slips about 8 to 10 times in my 300 mile per week commute. Heres what I did. I put a can of Seafoam Trans tune in and attached 2 neodymium magnets I found on Ebay to the pan. These are super strong (120lbs each). I drove the car 1 week, 300 miles and no slip. I then changed the fluid , filter, new magnet, transgo shift kit,installed drain plug and more Lucas . Its been 1 more week and still no slip. At the same time I installed ZZP poly mount and dog bone bushing to be sure the slip wasn't mount related as well as MSD wires. So far 2 weeks straight and no slipping. Now I'm not claiming this car is cured or fixed, just looking to get one more year from this trans before replacing. For a total investment of $300, so far I'm pretty happy. I think this product is worth a shot to anyone already going to be doing the filter change. As you can see in the pic where the magnets were attached picked up some shavings as well as the regular magnet from the last 12k of mileage since the last change.
Attached Thumbnails Sea Foam Trans Tune-transpan1.jpg   Sea Foam Trans Tune-trannypan5.jpg   Sea Foam Trans Tune-mount2.jpg   Sea Foam Trans Tune-msd-wires-2.jpg  
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Old Mar 14, 2015 | 10:52 PM
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By rev clunk, are you refering to when you are at a stop and then you try to give it gas. After you give it some gas, the engine revs up and you get a shift bang? If that's the case then i would not say it is fixed, that is an intermittent problem with line pressure being lossed through a forward seal. Another way to assist with this if it starts to happen more frequently is to put the shifter into First, this causes the transmission to raise the line pressure and will usually keep it from shift banging. However this will only last so long until it will eventually shift bang constantly no matter what you do.
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 06:39 AM
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As as I said I don't believe this transmission to be fixed, but the product most surely helped. Its been this way for almost 3 years, and I have babied it during this time and never abused the car anyway. I need one more year out of it . I will post back any changes along the way. Thanks for the input.
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 11:16 AM
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If your easy or hard on the trans it won't matter the factory settings on these transmissions coupled with the recomended" service intervals are usually what grantee your car will be in the transmission shop. the amount of slip that creates clutch material flying through your transmission is unbelievable especially with cars with dod.

The sea foam is a thicker fluid so it probably helped keep a certain seal intact for the moment.

I recomended a tune and shift kit and cooler to help keep this transmission living longer. I also change fluid every 12kmax
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Old Mar 15, 2015 | 12:15 PM
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Its the Lucas that is thicker, Sea Foam is almost like its alcohol based. Very thin fluid. I added the shift kit and I will also monitor trans temps more closely. The tune is not in the budget and I really have no plans for any mods to the car at least untill the tranny is replaced. Thanks for the input.
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Old May 9, 2015 | 05:10 PM
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Updates on this?
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Old May 9, 2015 | 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by LSX Freak
Updates on this?
I have put about 2200 miles on the car since dong this, still no slip although I have something I am noticing at around 50 mph. Not sure if this is a converter lock up issue or something to do with dod . Its difficult to describe but a delay is a start. It weird because my commute is so mundane I am at the same speed at the same points of the road I thought at first it was a road condition issue. Happens inclining at this speed . I have noticed this maybe 5 times now. The front poly mount stiffened things up to the point where I defiantly feel more, I did these at the same time so it could be an issue that has been happening for some time now and never noticed it. Trying to make this tranny last as long as I possibly can so I am very easy on the car. I'm sure if I was to beat on it the death of the tranny would be quick and swift. I plan on repeating this process after I have put 15k on it if there is no drastic changes in behavior.
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Old May 13, 2015 | 02:02 PM
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Good to know. I usually bang around town in TapShift mode, just because the DoD is annoying and it seems to stay in 8cyl mode more if I control when it shifts. If I just put it in drive and go I've noticed some hesitation going from 1-2 and it seems like it takes forever to get going from a stop sometimes. TapShift mode I get none of that though. I think I read somewhere that line pressures go up when it's put in to TapShift mode? I drive like a grandma 90% of the time anyway so I'm hoping it lasts a while if I do indeed have some issues starting.
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Old May 13, 2015 | 02:45 PM
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if you want the trans to last you need to
have a good trans cooler

Get a tune done

Get the shift kit done

And change fluid yearly
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Old May 13, 2015 | 02:50 PM
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changing your fluid yearly is a complete waste of money, 30-60k fluid change intervals are fine. Honda caught on to that years ago.
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Old May 13, 2015 | 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted by spawne32
changing your fluid yearly is a complete waste of money, 30-60k fluid change intervals are fine. Honda caught on to that years ago.
I wish you the best of luck lol
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Old May 13, 2015 | 03:03 PM
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Originally Posted by lVloses
I wish you the best of luck lol
what makes you guys think that changing the fluid every year is somehow helping your trans? fluid life is dictated by how you use your trans and what the trans operating temperature is over the course of its service life. GM recommends 100k under normal operating conditions and 50k under severe service, cutting those intervals in half is more then plenty to add "insurance" to your trans in keeping the fluid fresh. All your doing is wasting good fluid by changing it once a year lol that's like getting an oil change once a week because you think its helping keep your motor healthy. (not even gonna get started on that subject because i know people that get oil changes every 1500 miles)
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Old May 13, 2015 | 05:35 PM
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Originally Posted by spawne32
what makes you guys think that changing the fluid every year is somehow helping your trans? fluid life is dictated by how you use your trans and what the trans operating temperature is over the course of its service life. GM recommends 100k under normal operating conditions and 50k under severe service, cutting those intervals in half is more then plenty to add "insurance" to your trans in keeping the fluid fresh. All your doing is wasting good fluid by changing it once a year lol that's like getting an oil change once a week because you think its helping keep your motor healthy. (not even gonna get started on that subject because i know people that get oil changes every 1500 miles)
I agree. These cars should have all come with transmission coolers, we shouldn't have to be adding them to fix GM's mistake in transmission choices just in the hopes of making them last. The fluid is also synthetic, that also shouldn't need to be changed as often as we seem to have to. I had 200r4 transmissions in my Monte Carlo SS with almost 180k and a 120k in my T-Type Regal on them and no problems and those were actually beat on. Over 100k on some turbo 350s in Camaros as well. This trans is just a piece of **** behind this motor.
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Old May 13, 2015 | 07:04 PM
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Originally Posted by spawne32
what makes you guys think that changing the fluid every year is somehow helping your trans? fluid life is dictated by how you use your trans and what the trans operating temperature is over the course of its service life. GM recommends 100k under normal operating conditions and 50k under severe service, cutting those intervals in half is more then plenty to add "insurance" to your trans in keeping the fluid fresh. All your doing is wasting good fluid by changing it once a year lol that's like getting an oil change once a week because you think its helping keep your motor healthy. (not even gonna get started on that subject because i know people that get oil changes every 1500 miles)
I never once said change it every year. But every 60k miles is pretty laughable. I do mine every 20-25k. Which for me is every 2-3 years.
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Old May 13, 2015 | 09:03 PM
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Originally Posted by lVloses
I never once said change it every year. But every 60k miles is pretty laughable. I do mine every 20-25k. Which for me is every 2-3 years.
Unless you're doing hardcore racing that's keeping the temperature of the transmission high, you're not stressing the fluids and there's no reason to change it that often.
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Old May 14, 2015 | 01:12 AM
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really you're stuck on gm recommended intervals? It's not just about the life of the fluid it's about the particle build up from clutch material and everything else. It's cheap insurance To keep the fluid condition as clean as possible since its a whole lot cheaper than having a new transmission installed.

so ill change my **** yearly. Overkill yea but hey I'm one of the few who has a stock trans after 105k
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Old May 14, 2015 | 10:17 AM
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Originally Posted by 91parkave
really you're stuck on gm recommended intervals? It's not just about the life of the fluid it's about the particle build up from clutch material and everything else. It's cheap insurance To keep the fluid condition as clean as possible since its a whole lot cheaper than having a new transmission installed.

so ill change my **** yearly. Overkill yea but hey I'm one of the few who has a stock trans after 105k
no im not stuck on gm recommended intervals, and frankly I think the 100k fluid change is a joke, it should never exceed 60k in any vehicle, but people often take precautionary changes and get completely paranoid with them which is why im saying once a year is complete overkill, unless your putting 20-30k miles on your car per year but most people average around 10k. On a normal operating transmission your not going to have clutch material and particle build up the way your describing it unless you have a problem with the trans itself. The filter and the magnet are there exclusively to prevent clutch material from contaminating the fluid and they are designed to allow them to go the distance like that. In fact GM even revised the pan magnet design in a TSB several years ago to allow them to catch even more material in the pan and keep it there keeping the fluid cleaner. Not to mention the fact that if your losing clutch material badly like that, your looking at a trans rebuild soon enough anyway, as the clutches don't have that much clutch material to give.
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