Transmission Rebuild in Progress: I'm in the really school now for VX OWNERS! WANTED!

[LeglizHemp]

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[Leon R]

My advice, take it or leave it, service the damn thing regularly with quality oil and filter and never, ever, ever, ever flush it OR run it out of fluid, EVER!!!!!

I do not know how many times I have seen people having a tranny failure after a flush! You ether flush your tranny 20-30k miles or... NEVER!! EVER!!! Just drain the fluid and change the filter, per manual.

LeglizHemp, it is possible that your shop flushed the tranny when did an engine swap... So your tranny could have been OK before all the work. But you will never get them to admit to possibly causing this failure.

But, I am curious to hear what usually fails in these trannies! Can those parts be upgraded?

All the people running superchargers are pushing 30-40% extra torque through the these trannies, how many failure are they reporting?

[LeglizHemp]

just went to have a talk with the dealer about tranny faliure. he says sometimes when changing out an engine things move and a problem you never noticed pops up. i asked him to pull my service records to look at 60k service, 3 yrs ago. shows they did maintenance on transfer cases and differentials but nothing to tranny. i remember asking them about that and being told not neccesary. he also said typically they do not touch the tranny until at least 90k miles, no fluid no filter no nothing.

i guess it really doesn't matter, its out of warranty anyhow,and won't drive without transmission. i did not scream or yell and maybe it will pay off. i'm also getting new brake discs and brake pads and new wipper arms. lol i think i'm gonna get a free detail job out of it.

[LeglizHemp]

well after keeping my kool and being patient with the dealer i am getting new brake pads and discs for all 4 wheels, new windshield wiper arms (mine were rusty), rear window defroster fixed and a rebuilt transmission plus getting car detailed all for $2400. not too bad i guess. but i think the dealership may go out of business next year since they lost isuzu and now are losing suzuki. so who covers the warranty on my new engine and tranny i'll have to investigate.

[HeckaTrebeka]

so who covers the warranty on my new engine and tranny i'll have to investigate.

I'm guessing Chevy/GM would be the ones to cover the warranty.

[evillecutter]

glad you got her going again!

the trans we have was put in beemers, cadillacs, troopers, acuras, and hondas - none of which i believe were originally meant to tow anything - i think most of the people on this site that have a hitch and tow know enough about precaution and maintaince to keep it from failing but im not surprised that it happens

[tom4bren]

glad you got her going again!

the trans we have was put in beemers, cadillacs, troopers, acuras, and hondas - none of which i believe were originally meant to tow anything - i think most of the people on this site that have a hitch and tow know enough about precaution and maintaince to keep it from failing but im not surprised that it happens

Light on the skinny pedal is what it's all about whilst towing ... but I tow with my '03 Eclipse too so what do I know???

[LeglizHemp]

finally got the car back this week. took them almost 7 weeks to do the work. lol bob rohrman on indy southside, these guys are on the ball. they did discount the repair heavily so thats a good thing. they say they will be around to cover the warranty on motor and trans because they will be covering suzuki warranties for long time. tranny seems kinda tight though, the shifter gets stuck and can't get key out sometimes or get shifter to move into gear sometimes. i'm sure this is temporary.

[MSHardeman]

tranny seems kinda tight though, the shifter gets stuck and can't get key out sometimes or get shifter to move into gear sometimes.

There is a little switch that allows you to put the transmission into gear while depressing the brake pedal. If that switch is going out, or is not contacting the brake pedal correctly, it could stop you from putting the transmission into gear, or getting it fully into park allowing you to take the key out of the ignition.

Someone here replaced/repaired that switch a while ago and did a write up on it. I would have to do some hunting to find it if you need it.

[LeglizHemp]

thanks MSHardeman, if you find the link please post it. guess i'll take car back in since it should be covered under warranty.

[BigSwede]

Read page 3 of this document, it talks about the history of the 4L30E, as well as some valuable advice for rebuilding.

http://www.transtec.com/downloads/re...2nd_q95r-n.pdf

[CowboyErik]

From the time I got it, my tranny never ran right, shifting was sanding, slow, clunking, I thought this was simply the way VX was, my VX is my first truck/SUV; I servied the tranny multiple times; looked good, pans normal, no worse the what's Ive seen in my Nissan or buick tranny pans, cleaned it up, filled, cycled, filled and checked again, no leaks; what finished me off, was intercooler failure, after market part, spring a leak, I limied home a few miles, tranny light came on, drove low speed; 4L30E manual states there is a "limp home"feature, well, I did that; upone taking my tranny down, it's totally on the insided, shiims, pads, seaals, all totalled; there was a part of the case, where a large plunger or piston seated in to it, a fine fit, this shaft rotated and was also self sealing; a nasty grove was work into it; so I even had to get a replacement case; CLASS III/II hitching had ruined it by shop said. I called around shops, not saying I had an Isuzu, just that I had a General Motors 4L30E that needed rebuild; qouted $1200 to $1500; I was at $1500 cuase of all the extra parts and work that are not routinely totally wasted like they were in my case; I got a 12K/1year warranty; so far, so goot, shifts like Lexus, never did that before; millagage up about 2o percent; next tackling these rotton bumpers, bad O2 sensors; oil burning, ABS issues, serviing my axciles; maybe do a 3rd roller bearing repack; there cars were made to runforever at all; lots of short sites. rotted numper bars gotta to go, when I take off claddimg, I should be prour, not embarrased at whats under neither there; and my license plate lights, those need to be address; I have new lights, holders and OEM bracket to put in; shirts crazy, LOVE MY VX!! Did my brakes right, rotors are forever; checking pads soon; need to soften my ride, someone put super hard springs on my BV, they suck; ; need worn rear srpings to install; and I love my fogging headlight again, I've polished them 5 times, yellow haze always comes back; pealing center caps suck,cant get the logo's off them to get them down to chrome, bought a set of 4 new Rodeo rims, late model, great condition, hopefully they are same bolt configuration; new hood words, old one rusted out, still have it, trying to restore the bolts so I can put different logo on it and be able to swap; I could do on, but I'm tired, good nite! My VX is WARM and in his garage happy with plenty of insane tire shiine on his plastic cladding!

[vt_maverick]

From the time I got it, my tranny never ran right, shifting was sanding, slow, clunking, I thought this was simply the way VX was, my VX is my first truck/SUV; I servied the tranny multiple times; looked good, pans normal, no worse the what's Ive seen in my Nissan or buick tranny pans, cleaned it up, filled, cycled, filled and checked again, no leaks; what finished me off, was intercooler failure, after market part, spring a leak, I limied home a few miles, tranny light came on, drove low speed; 4L30E manual states there is a "limp home"feature, well, I did that; upone taking my tranny down, it's totally on the insided, shiims, pads, seaals, all totalled; there was a part of the case, where a large plunger or piston seated in to it, a fine fit, this shaft rotated and was also self sealing; a nasty grove was work into it; so I even had to get a replacement case; CLASS III/II hitching had ruined it by shop said. I called around shops, not saying I had an Isuzu, just that I had a General Motors 4L30E that needed rebuild; qouted $1200 to $1500; I was at $1500 cuase of all the extra parts and work that are not routinely totally wasted like they were in my case; I got a 12K/1year warranty; so far, so goot, shifts like Lexus, never did that before; millagage up about 2o percent; next tackling these rotton bumpers, bad O2 sensors; oil burning, ABS issues, serviing my axciles; maybe do a 3rd roller bearing repack; there cars were made to runforever at all; lots of short sites. rotted numper bars gotta to go, when I take off claddimg, I should be prour, not embarrased at whats under neither there; and my license plate lights, those need to be address; I have new lights, holders and OEM bracket to put in; shirts crazy, LOVE MY VX!! Did my brakes right, rotors are forever; checking pads soon; need to soften my ride, someone put super hard springs on my BV, they suck; ; need worn rear srpings to install; and I love my fogging headlight again, I've polished them 5 times, yellow haze always comes back; pealing center caps suck,cant get the logo's off them to get them down to chrome, bought a set of 4 new Rodeo rims, late model, great condition, hopefully they are same bolt configuration; new hood words, old one rusted out, still have it, trying to restore the bolts so I can put different logo on it and be able to swap; I could do on, but I'm tired, good nite! My VX is WARM and in his garage happy with plenty of insane tire shiine on his plastic cladding!

I think based on all of the above it's obvious someone beat the hell out of your VX, including and especially the tranny. When half your truck is in need of this much work how can you fault the tranny's design but blame everything else on abuse?

[Marlin]

The key factors to my success are as follows. I'm the original owner. It has not suffered neglect and abuse like so many VX trannys that are bought used. I've had preventive maintenance done five times on my tranny.

Our VX version of the 4L30E absolutely belongs in a VX. It's not the same trans used in all those other vehicles over the many years it's been around. The 4L30E gets different internal components based on what specific vehicle it's gonna be used in. You can't even swap in a Rodeo or Amigo trans in a VX. It's has some different internal parts. It may work, but for how long?
That is strange, I have had a rodeo tranny in mine for 3 years now. No problem. Joe Darlington has a rodeo tranny in his as well, I helped him pull it out at the junkyard. I wheel mine and I tow occasionally with it.

Isuzu says the VX trans was beefed up to handle the extra HP of the 3.5L. The only Isuzu that has the exact same 4L30E is the 3.5L Trooper. That's it.
The VX is not rated for towing. I am gonna have to call this one incorrect. The Trooper comes with a Class II hitch mounted on it by Isuzu. Even my wife's 3.2l has a class II hitch on the back. It is prewired and predrilled for just that application, meaning, it was meant to be able to tow. Since the VX is nothing more than a fancy looking short Trooper, that means it should have the ability to tow as well.

You should not drive it like ya stole it or beat the hell out of it or rally race it.Isn't that exactly what it was built for, a Performance Utility Vehicle? Yet lots of people have bought a VX and not realized that the previous owner(s) have done just that to it. All the problems of the trans and engine and everything else caused by that abuse and neglect get dumped on to the new owner.
I bought my VX 4 years ago with about 114K miles. It was pristine, obviously garage kept and well maintained. I had the tranny serviced at an Isuzu dealership. A few months later, boom, tranny dead. Been with the Rodeo tranny since.
Mark Griffin

I will say, based on the specs for the tranny, we are hovering right at the max torque ratings for that setup. That means our lucky brothers with S/Cs might be over that rating. Isuzu put the GM crappy tranny into a truck that is way too heavy and has too much power for it to handle. Hence our ridiculous tranny failure rate.

I agree, you had wonderful success with yours, but of your fantastic high mileage, how much of that was freeway/highway? I would guess your commute is no joke?

[Marlin]

I think the no towing is due to the requirements for testing that the DOT demands of manufacturers. With a limited run of vehicles, it would not be worth the cost. Mechanically, the tranny is the same as the 3.5L trooper, which once again, comes with a classII 5500lb hitch. That means at a drivetrain level, it (tranny) is designed to tow. I agree neglect and abuse can contribute to issues. My truck gets worked hard, but I meticulously maintain the old girl. Premium fluids and routine maintenance. I am on my 3rd set of wheel bearings and so on. I pay to play so to speak. Right now I am DDing 70 miles a day in the old girl. Not fun, those kevlars get louder every trip!
I love my VX,(obviously) short of a fire, flood or major collision, she isn't going anywhere!