My buddy's 02 Sierra (out of warranty) with a 4L60E seems to have lost 4th and reverse. He says it's making a whining sound in reverse and won''t shift into 4th. He says the fluid doen't look or smell burnt, and no obvious patrticles floating around yet. Any help appreciated!:)

Josh

Josh
Sounds like he ripped the splines off the shell. Call me.
mike

There is a block off plate with two bolts in it that might be loose. it is located at the rear of the trans right behind the valve body. Of course this is inside the pan so its not just a matter of crawling under the truck and checking. Make sure its nice and tight, that little plate cause me a lot of grief once for similar problems.

Yep MikeL cracked shell $$$ I smell rebuild...

Thanks guys:) , I guess he had it checked out, and it looks like I'll be helping him install a replacement.:(

Josh

There is a block off plate with two bolts in it that might be loose. it is located at the rear of the trans right behind the valve body. Of course this is inside the pan so its not just a matter of crawling under the truck and checking. Make sure its nice and tight, that little plate cause me a lot of grief once for similar problems.

This happened because someone left it loose. These plares do not come loose by themselves.
mike

Dont skimp on the shell, look for "the Beast" when getting the shell, its an aftermarket piece and its a bit cheaper then the GM replacement. I am sure Mike L could help you source one out that way.

Just trying to give him something else to check before pulling the trans.

The whole problem was in the title. 4L60E say's it all.. ;)

not sure what your refering to PERM01 I would take a 4L60E over anything Ford or Dodge can throw at me ANYDAY. I have put more than a few of these in street rods with never a problem. I even put one behind a 454 in my old truck with no problems. It was still running fine when I traded the truck in. So not exactly sure what your experience or what you have heard, but for me they are surprisingly stout trans. Now that being said there are better trans available (4L80E and allison) but just because it is a 4L60 doesn't make it junk.

I wouldn't say they are total junk, but my experience is I had a S10 work truck with a 4.3 and 4l60 and it had two tranny's put in by 80,000 miles. My friend's 93 Silverado had 3 put in by 130,000,and another friend had 1 put in by 100,000 mile's in a 99 silverado. The last one I could see cause he pulled a pretty big enclosed trailer around everyday. So they left a bad impression on me but I'm sure there are more good then bad otherwise they wouldn't keep making them..

I'm not sure if this helps but I lost a gear or two in drive (can't remember which ones) as well as reverse 4L60E. This was at 37K miles. It turned out to be a broken "sun shell" as the mechanic called it. Required the tranny to be pulled. GM did the work under warranty even though I was technically beyond the 36K.

Oh and the tranny has been flawless since the repair. Now at 63K miles.