My 2001 4x4 has an auto. I hate it but I have payed on it for 1 year already and do not want to get rid of it. It has 135000 miles on stock everything except exhaust and lift pump. My question is, what kind of life is still left in the auto tranny? I do not tow heavy and I do not abuse the truck. I usually drive in a way to get good mpg. I have gotten in the habit of starting the truck in Neutral and letting it idle for 30 seconds before hitting Drive. Is there anything else that I can do to make it last longer? How long can I expect it to live? And lastly, how much $$$ am I looking at for fixing/replacing a stock 2001 auto tranny?

Thanks!

 

Keep the filter and fluid and band adjusted annualy.

Add a temp gauge in the supply line to the cooler.

Keep the cooler clean.

Dont try to pull a stuck loaded cement mixer out of a mudhole.

 

Very good advice. I have a friend that had 228,000 on his tranny and most of it pulling horse trailer. It did have cracks in the flex plate when it came out. He only pulled it because he was adding a bunch of power to his engine.

 

what is involved in the filter and filter and band adjustment? everything seems to be shifting fine now, but i have never serviced it and i have no service records from the prior owner. my buddy is a mechanic and has a machine that pulls the fluid and replaces it without dropping the pan. maybe through the dipstick tube? is it worth it or should i take it to a shop for a full service? how much will that cost?

 

just do the fluid change by dropping the pan. have seen too many people that wait until over a 100k to do the flush and it ruins the trans. to remove and replace the tranny is usually in the $1500 to $2000 range.

 

so no on the flush? what is it that kills the tranny?

is the neutral-idle deal helping anything?

 

The neutral-idle is charging the converter. In park the transmission does not pump oil to the torque converter. This is bad for the front pump bushing because it gets no lube and delayed engagement in reverse or drive while the converter charges. Flush systems are great preventative maintenance if done at the recommended intervals. At 100k+ miles I do not like doing flushes because it stirs up all the sediment and can cause more harm than good. I would just drop the pan and do a good old fashioned service. I change my fluid and filter every 10,000 miles, but I also own a transmission shop so it is no big deal for me and the cost is minimal. I also put a shift kit in my truck the day I bought it. I personally think that the shift kit is the best investment you can make.

 

badme, what about this shift kit. what does it do, how much, can i put it in?

 

Is the service something I can do at home or should I take it to a shop to also do the band adjustment?

My mechanic buddy said that the flush is just as good as dropping the pan. Although he is a GM guy...

Hopefully I can stop asking questions soon, but - Does it matter what kind of transmission shop I go to, and how much $ should I be expecting to pay for the fluid and filter change and band adjustment?

 

My 1999 has 213k on it. I was having some minor issues. Slow to fill the converter on a cold start, and some slipping and real soft shifts. I dropped the pan, and replaced the filter & fluid. I have been pulling a horse trailer with it for awhile, but we recently got a bigger camper, so I wanted to make sure I was giving my tranny a fighting chance.

I got the truck when it had 93k on it and really had done nothing with it. Lately I had noticed a leak where a cooling line had a hole rubbed in it along the engine oil pan. I took care of the leak and also adjusted the bands while I had the pan off. The other thing I found when i pulled the filter was a bad gasket on the filter. This was allowing the pump to suck some air, especially when I took a left turn. The tranny would slip a bit.

It has been running just fine since I did all of this. I probably should have done this a lot sooner than I did, but I feel better knowing I did it, and I won't hesitate to perform this maint again. I am hoping that I can get another 100k out of it at least.

 

There are detailed instructions on this site (tech facts) about the band adjustment but I wasn't brave enough to tackle it myself. As far as the fluid/filter change goes, it's pretty straight forward...just be prepared to make a huge mess. The best thing I can tell you is loosen the pan so it will drain out the back and then ease it down. I've only done this once and said that I wouldn't do it again because I got an ATF bath. IIRC the next service was done at my tranny shop and he charged me @ $75 for fluid and filter but he didn't adjust the bands because they were still good.

 

If it's not acting up (shifting funny) I would not worry about bands.
Yes dropping the pan and changing the filter can be done by you. Buy a filter and a pan gasket and go for it! Forget the full flush.... not recommended.

I would give some thought to how you will drop the pan. Extra set of hands helps a lot. I use a floor jack and a board to hold it in place....so I can get all the bolts off without spilling.
Filter is just 2 or three screws, mounted on bottom of valve body! After pan is off... let it drain for a couple of hours........ that will reduce the size of the ATF bath.
7-8 Qts will refill it...through the dip stick hole. You'll want a long funnel that fits.

I believe the best preventative maintenance for long life is frequent changes with a good synthetic AFT+4 fluid to handle your high summer heat. I love Amsoils ATF (it's the only Amsoil product I use). Change filter & fluid often....@ 20,000 miles ... and you'll get max life from your tranny. JMO

RJ

 

Wonder who that might be?

 

Say What????? Isn't it past your bed time?

 

I talked with a mechanic buddy who told me this -

Dropping the pan only gets a fraction of the fluid out, about 4 quarts or so. All the other nasty fluid in the lines and the cooler stays. The flush he uses is a machine that hooks up inline with the cooler lines. As the tranny runs the machine lets the old fluid run into a reservoir. A bladder in the reservoir pushes the new fluid into the lines at the same rate, using the trannys fluid pumping action to replace all the fluid, 16 quarts or so.

My new question is - what gets messed up by using this method, and why would I just want to change the fluid in the pan and leave all the other old fluid in the lines? Apparently the only advantage gained by dropping the pan is to replace the filter, which, from what I have been told, is just a carboardish filter that mainly catches large chunks in the fluid.

This seems like a pretty easy choice, unless someone can give good reason why to avoid it.

Thanks again!