2003 Chevy Trailblazer

[GMFan]

My family possesses a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer EXT. It has just under 40k miles on it. Not a lot of miles on the vehicle for its year, but the bulk of the miles are highway and it's probably used once a week.

I believe the manual says to change the ATF @ 50k miles for severe service, 100k miles for normal.

I have no idea how much fluid these transmissions take, but would it be time to do a fluid change on it?

Thanks.

 

[sciphi]

Change. It's good insurance on the unit.

 

[Donald]

I would think its time to change the ATF. Be aware that a drain of the trans pan only changes roughly 1/3 of the total fill.

Best bet is to do some kind of flush to exchange all the ATF. You can do it yourself (cooler line flush) or get it done at a shop (maybe $125).

I think the manufacturers only specify what is needed to get the vehicle to last 100K miles. Its out of warranty then and they could care less. For some that may be enough.

But if you want a long lasting vehicle, then for at least the ATF you need to change it before they say.

 

[mpersell]

Total fill on the Auto Trans is 11.0 quarts. Standard fill is 5.0 quarts.

 

[CentralNY1]

The 4L60 transmissions are known for premature failure. The best regimen you can follow for extending its life is to drop the pan every 30000 miles, replace the filter, clean the magnet and top off with approximately 4.5 quarts of fresh fluid. If your going to change it out yourself make sure you get the correct filter...they are differemt based on whether you have the shallow or deep transmission pan.

 

[GMFan]

So the transmissions in these vehicles fail prematurely?

Bad news, because the vehicle has overall been great. No issues to date with it.

Why can't GM make a decent transmission???

The fluid will be changed by a shop. It is going to be brought in for fluid changes in the coming month. (Coolant too).

 

[sciphi]

4T65 is all right as long as it's kept from over-heating. Just need a small cooler to do that, though.

Speaking of which, it's been about 15k since my last drain/refill. It's Dex-III, cheap enough.

 

[StormRider]

The 4L60E on my parents (now mine) 96 Tahoe lasted about 140K until it started slipping really bad. Replaced it with a Jasper re-man that lasted 30K, but that was due to a bad ground in the PCM causing the transmission to shift poorly. Incorporated the mod kit which added a second ground to the PCM and it fixed the shifting issue 90%. Jasper has excellent customer service and sent us a new transmission even though it was 6 months outside the warranty period. Now it has 173K and has a new trans thats 3K miles old...

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: CentralNY1
The 4L60 transmissions are known for premature failure.


Not necessarily. Out of the COUNTLESS trucks and vans that have the 4L60E, you hear of few issues. They seem to hold up the least in the GM T360 chassis (Trailblazer and clones) for what ever reason. I know the earlier T360's (2002,2003) supposedly had 4L60E's with soft reaction/sun shells. The splines would strip out of them. Later years didn't have the problem.

Joel

 

[Hootbro]

4L60E is a decent transmission. Even better when Dex VI is used. BMW even used this transmission.

Hootbro

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
... BMW even used this transmission.

Hootbro


Really? I know BMW used the 4L30E in some 1990's 3-series cars. Didn't know about the 4L60E in that application.

Joel

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: CentralNY1
The 4L60 transmissions are known for premature failure.


Not necessarily. Out of the COUNTLESS trucks and vans that have the 4L60E, you hear of few issues. They seem to hold up the least in the GM T360 chassis (Trailblazer and clones) for what ever reason. I know the earlier T360's (2002,2003) supposedly had 4L60E's with soft reaction/sun shells. The splines would strip out of them. Later years didn't have the problem.

Joel


You need to visit more GM truck sites then because the 4L60 is famous for failing and all kinds of problems.

 

[duaneb9729]

how do you tell if you have a deep pan or a shallow pan?

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: duaneb9729
how do you tell if you have a deep pan or a shallow pan?


For the Trailblazers, if the pan has a "step down" it is the deep one. If it is perfectly flat it is the shallow. Here is a link with a photo of a deep pan (post number 8)
http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=31246&highlight=deep+pan

Others have said to measure it. If it is about 2" deep it is shallow, if it is almost 3" then it is the deep one.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: NHSilverado
You need to visit more GM truck sites then because the 4L60 is famous for failing and all kinds of problems.


More famous than Ford or Dodge truck ATs? I've been around the boards over the years and I see no greater frequency of 4L60E issues than any other AT. I've owned 2 Chevy 4x4's with 4L60Es and have had several more in the family.

Joel

 

[AzFireGuy79]

If you are referring to the TH-700R4 I would agree. One of the major issues GM had early on with the 700 was fluid overheating and coming up the filler tube and onto the manifold. They were also know for being very weak although GM later revised this issue and further perfected the unit when it was named the 4L60. In the countless GM trucks I have had from about 92-05 I have never had an issue with the exception of the filler tube on the 92 which was fixed with a locking dipstick and a auxillary cooler.