You May Need a Replacement Transmission.

I was cruising home yesterday, enjoying my little 1970 Porsche 911T, when my cell phone rang. It was my neighbor Franklin and he said my transmission has blown planets. Quickly I told him I would come over when I got home because I don’t like to talk on my cell and drive. Especially in a car with a standard transmission and squirrely as heck.

Franklin told me he lost reverse asap, and only has 2nd and 4th gear. He also had been to this blog, GotTransmissions.com Blog and puled up my article on loss of reverse in a Chevy 4L60E transmission. He did not read the article on I can’t diagnose it over the phone, even if you bring it closer to the phone!

I was impressed with Frankiln’s research skills and the fact he knew the best automotive transmission website in the world.

Red, my dog and I walked over to Franks house and met him in the back yard. The vehicle in question is a 1996 Chevy 1500 pickup truck with a 5.7L engine and a 4L60E transmission. It has about 250,000 miles on it.

The first thing was to look at the engine light, the engine light also comes on when the tranny goes bad. He said it is always on. Well that is a problem because any reputable transmission man or mechanic for that matter will tell you that the engine light is critical to diagnose transmission problems on computerized transmissions. Frank was surprised, as he should be, to find that out.

Next I looked at the transmission fluid, it was low, but I wanted to smell it and look at the condition of the fluid. The fact that it was low may be a contributor, however since the transmission is damaged, that is a mute point now.

The dipstick was stuck in the tube, that is not a good sign that the fluid was being checked very often. Sure enough, it smelled like it had been on fire, and was contaminated with metal specs and clutch remnants. I asked Frank if he was getting his transmission serviced regularly. He no, never. I said do you get your engine oil changed regularly? He said yes. I said how long would your engine last if you never changed the oil? End of conversation, I think he got my drift.

Here is what I told Franky. You will need to have the transmission removed and inspected. If you do not fix it the shop will charge you the labor to take it out and examine it. If you fix it that is part of the deal. We know the transmission is damaged, especially with no maintenance ever.

Frank expressed that he really needed to stay on a budget. The truck is old with a lot of mileage and I want to fix it if it is affordable, then he started to ask me prices. I don’t and can’t quote prices till I know all the facts. This is what I recommended.

Buy a good used low mileage transmission from GotTransmissions.com and get an excellent value on a transmission for cheap and have it installed by a professional who will get the cooling system clean. I told him that would be his best value in terms of meeting his monetary goals and ending up with a good value in a used transmission, and that if I were in his shoes, that is what I would do.

You will have to stay tuned to find out the rest of the story. I’m going to call GotTranmissions.com @ 866-320-1182 and get Frank a price this morning. I don’t have anything to do with pricing, I am the resident transmission expert and blogger. Talk to you soon, Danny.