Trans is dying...

Took my VX to the shop last week to have some seals replaced. Well they also flushed the trans. Now it's worse than before.

Ever since I bought the vehicross, it would have an issue that caused it to pop out of gear if I kept it around 25mph and didn't accelerate fast enough.

Got it back from the shop two days ago. Now if I accelerate too much in first, it'll slip badly then catch gear. I wish I had the tools and ability to swap out to a manual trans. I would do that in a heart beat. Should I just take the car to my local trans repair shop to have them diag it first before anything else? I'm pretty sure they're going to say it will need to be rebuilt.

I got a quote for a rebuild which was going to be around $2700 all said and done. But If I can get a manual trans/t-case in there for the same cost, I'd rather do that.

Damn, I missed this thread before replying in the others, so I'll just say it again. With this thread, gunbarrel's, and Jeeperkate's, it's starting to sound like a person with trans shifting problems would be better of just finding a low(ish) mileage transmission at a U-Pull yard for a swap than to have any kind of repairs attempted.

So just any 4L30E from a junkyard will do? I thought that the one built for the VX was made differently than other 4L30E transmissions.

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Originally Posted by HeckaTrebeka

So just any 4L30E from a junkyard will do? I thought that the one built for the VX was made differently than other 4L30E transmissions.

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Not sure about that. After seeing these three dying trans posts recently, I searched the site for threads/posts about compatible GM transmissions and didn't really find a lot of conclusive info.

Crazy to see so many dropping like flies. Thinking quite hard about the manual transmission if this rebuild doesn't work. For some reason, my mechanic spoke highly of the transmission in the vx. Hope you have better luck.

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Originally Posted by HeckaTrebeka

So just any 4L30E from a junkyard will do? I thought that the one built for the VX was made differently than other 4L30E transmissions.

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My VX had a Trooper 4L30E replacement before I bought it. It is a direct replacement. It was slipping and shifting rough when cold prior to me going with the 5 spd though.

It probably has less to do with how good the transmission is and more to do with when they need to be serviced.Being the second owner of this Vehicross, I do not know exactly how the P.O. drove it, but I do know how he maintained it. Apparently, when the P.O. thinks maintenance, he thinks oil change. That's it. Nothing else was changed in the Vehicross for the 11 years that he had it. Thankfully, he wasn't the type that I would think to beat up on the VX, nor did he ever take it off the asphalt(which is unfortunate).

A few thousand miles before he decided he wanted to sell(~80,000) he decided to have the transmission flushed. After reading up on these forums, I'm sure that this is what caused the start of his trans to go out as when I received the car, it would pop out of 2nd around 25 mph.

I would seriously consider getting a donor Trooper for a manual swap. Unless I don't have the means for the manual swap, I will not be having this trans rebuilt.

There is a really good current thread in the planet discussing other transmission options that are compatable to our engine (keep in mind some fab work/modding will be necessary for fitment). Those mentioned included the 4L60 and R700 among others that use the same bolt pattern...just have to use your current bell housing.

Billy, do you have a link to that thread.

i think mines gonna go too cuz it wont go over 80

i have a 97 chevy k1500 - 357,000 miles on the original trans and the fluid still looks good - i know if i mess with it it will fail - my vx has 115k miles and i know better than to do a flush it can only end badly - i have however drained as much fluid as i could from it and added fresh (only can do about 3 quarts at a time i believe it was) with no negative consequences yet (5k miles ago)

in my experience unless it has been flushed every 30k miles since new the flushing will almost always causes problems - the old "if it aint broke dont fix it" apparently applies bigtime to transmissions

side note: chevy 5.7l v8 = great engine