Dropped Transmission Pan Material in Pan

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I did a drain and fill on my wifes 2007 Chevy Impala with the 3.5l motor 4L60E w/ 33k miles. I bottled some up for analysis but I found some of this "stuff" built up on the bottom of the pan. The one big smear seems to correspond to the outlet of the filter. So I could see why that spot has more build up. The magnet also had some of this stuff on it but nothing crazy. It looks very similar to when I drain my oil from my ATV and it has this greyish material that is mixed in the oil. It is just clutch material. The fluid was still good and light red and did not smell burnt. Just smelt like transmission fluid which is pretty pungent anyway.

Will according to my GM manuals (which are the actual dealer manuals) non of this material is allowed. However, through google searching almost every forum says that some clutch material is normal on the bottom of the pan. Also the bottom side of filter has a very light coating of this greyish material too. Without further adieu here are some pictures, let me know what you guys think. I went ahead and bottled up a good batch of the old stuff and then put in a new filter and refilled.

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Nothing there to worry about.Most of the pans i have taken down over the year look a lot worse than that.

What's there is a minimal amount of clutch material,i bet the transmission is in great shape.
Clean it up with a new filter and fluid and keep going.
Dex VI only no additives needed.
 
You get both clutch material and wear metals in the pan.
I have seen more on every auto pan I've ever dropped, although I've never dropped one with only 33K.
Both the clutches and the metal bits wear, of course, and the wear products end up in the pan, having nowhere lese to go.
The filter is not intended capture these insoluables, unlike an oil filter, it's only function is to keep them in the pan and out of the tranny.
 
What I find most fascinating is that you managed to keep all that fluid in the pan while you removed it. Nice job!

Now regarding the material, its nothing.

That fluids a very nice color too.
 
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Wow, thank you everyone for the fast reply. This was the first time I have done anything transmission wise. I guess the GM manuals can be a little misleading. They say to investigate and correct the source of the contamination. That would be pretty hard to do if this happened pretty much every time you drop the pan. Would be replacing clutch packs and torque converters every time. It did seem quite similar to the stuff that comes out of my ATV oil.

QuadDriver - You are right. I am so used to truck talk that I just spit out of the first 4 speed transmission model that came to mind. The filter I pulled out had two model numbers a 60E and 65E. I just figured that since it was the 3.5l Impala LT that it wouldn't have a stronger transmission in it. Usually when it comes to transmission in trucks a higher middle two digit number indicated a slightly modified or stronger transmission. That was my logic anyway.

Thanks again everyone. Great first experience with the forum.
 
Normal, and the fluid condition looks very good! Since it was probably the first pan drop I would venture to say there is break-in material there, and the next drop will be even better. Nice job!
 
I had the same grey sludge when I dropped my pan last month. Nothing
to worry about. Just clean the pan real good and change the filter.
 
Wow, what a beautiful fluid condition! Nothing wrong here, that trans is in great shape. Likely will be forever if you change it every 30k miles as well.

Many people fail to note hat the factory puts some great reuseable gaskets on cars and trucks these days.

So did ya keep the factory gasket or not?
 
I kept the old gasket but I did not re-use it. I guess it was a classic case of old habits die hard. I am an aircraft mechanic in the military and general rule of thumb is to never re-use gaskets regardless of their condition. The stock one that came off was in great shape but I just went with years of instinctual training. Probably next time I will pay closer attention. I got a while before I do this on my 2010 Sierra 2500HD so I will be prepared next go around. What's done is already done. I posted this up after everything was buttoned up and serviced so there was really no going back. I honestly didn't know these gaskets were re-usable now. Live and learn
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