sudden transmission failure

by **TangoBravo** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:21 am

Has anyone experianced a sudden transmission failure? I just replaced the trans in my TB because out of the blue one day it decided to drop 2 and 3rd gear, it only had 1st and 4th and when I took it into the shop(friend of mine) we found that 2-3rd gears were just gone and so with 160,000 miles I decided to just replace the trans. I was curious as to how many if any one else has experianced this problem, I haven't heard of it really being common.

by **94 eg** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:22 pm

Trans on these trucks go out all the time.

by **rjpoog1989** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:16 pm

I would say it really depends on how well you've been taking care of your transmission. Fluid changes can have a big effect on this as well as how much towing you do. Based on the info stated; with 160,000 miles I would say this is not out of the ordinary.

by **HARDTRAILZ** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:46 pm

94 eg wrote:Trans on these trucks go out all the time.

That's funny. I hardly ever hear of failure reports for these transmissions. Where did you gather the info to make such a bold statement?

by **navigator** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:12 pm

Dodge trucks (1500, Durango, Dakota) have a history of the tranny's going out but I don't recall many of these tranny's going out.

by **Flying Monkey** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:00 pm

Funny this was brought up. The other day at oriliey's one of the older guys asked how I liked my trailblazer after he seen it out the window and told me to be careful about the transmission. Said he has been hearing of alot of them going out. But that is all I have heard of it. Just found it odd he was so quick to say it, and now this thread.

by **94 eg** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:50 pm

HARDTRAILZ wrote:
94 eg wrote:Trans on these trucks go out all the time.

That's funny. I hardly ever hear of failure reports for these transmissions. Where did you gather the info to make such a bold statement?

Well I know I have had to replace mine and two of my coworks have also have trans failures. Just kinda figured it was pretty common

by **bdp1978** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:33 pm

94 eg wrote:Well I know I have had to replace mine and two of my coworks have also have trans failures. Just kinda figured it was pretty common

Agreed with 94 eg. Out of my 4 friends and my Dad who all have TB's I'm the only one who hasnt had to put in a new trans. Although 6 months ago I started getting a weird feeling shifting into 2nd. SO, I did the following:

I cut my transmission cooling lines right under the radiatior and put a hose with clamps over them. Once every 1-2 months I pull the hose, fire up the truck and pump out the fluid. Its very fast and you get about 4qts out in just a couple minutes, nice piece of mind that I'm always running fresh fluid.

by **navigator** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:27 pm

I'm thinking about getting that tranny pan with the drain plug already built in it.
I think it is $35 where I think the plug itself cost about $20.
I have the shallow pan so it should give me a little extra capacity.
I'm also thinking about adding a tranny cooler as well.

by **Outlaw_99** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:22 pm

Mine did the same thing that Tango described.. I went to Aamco and got a refurbished one.. Been good so far..

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by **v7guy** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:45 pm

I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary concerning the 4L60E in the 360s. They seem to last about as well in these vehicles as the others and are largely pretty reliable.

by **NC_IslandRunner** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:46 pm

HARDTRAILZ wrote:
94 eg wrote:Trans on these trucks go out all the time.

That's funny. I hardly ever hear of failure reports for these transmissions. Where did you gather the info to make such a bold statement?

had to rebuild mine last year after years of abuse by me, it still wasn't skipping,when I took it in for service it was very low on fluid and about toasted, Was told he had better looming trannys that wouldn't move a truck, thought we have one of the toughest ones around.

by **Opeth** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:34 pm

I've heard the same stories as well. My tranny does some funny things in the summer, feels like it skips or shudders between 1-2. Yet only does it in summer, never in the winter....odd.

by **dirty anton** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:41 pm

they usually give symptoms but ex's went from running normal to sudden death.so replaced the 4l60e (that had good fluid level but alot of miles) out of her 94 s10 blazer this weekend. got a used 4l60e at a friends yard that had updated work done to it for 350 bucks and and swapped them. fixed her 4 wheel issues while at it and now truck is back to normal again.

by **TangoBravo** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:02 pm

I maintain all my stuff like it's a religion, so that wasn't the issue but because of the search and rescue I do I am very hard on the TB so that with the high miles it was due I guess. My main concern was how many has this happend to because it was strange to have it work just fine one day and not at all the next.

by **HARDTRAILZ** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:10 pm

The suddenness doesn't surprise me. My lil bro s blaze was fine then last week...no reverse or 2nd but at 200+k, not a true surprise

YouTube Videos · by **Trail X** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:14 pm

My old car's auto transmission began slipping one day, the next day I only had 1st gear.

At least it seems some autos fail higher gears and retain use of 1st for 'limp mode'. Granted - I beat on it pretty good.

by **chevycrew** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:05 pm

Mine had a new trans put in at 113,000 miles...

by **TangoBravo** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:30 am

Thanks for the feed back guys.

Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys