should i Rebuild or buy a new transmission?
Asked by bman2441 Nov 26, 2014 at 11:32 PM about the 1990 Chevrolet Suburban V2500 4WD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Need a little help understanding exactly what's going on with my transmission, seeing as every mechanic doesn't know how to explain it to me. I was driving it down the freeway and suddenly the engine won't accelerate. I let it slow down a bit, and gave it some more gas to see what would happen. As soon as I got it up to highway speeds, I heard something clunk and grind, and then a loud revving noise every time I stepped on the accelerator. I decided it was time to try a tranny flush and replace the filter and gasket. I drained my pan and it was just brown fluid hardly resembling tranny fluid.. At the bottom was maybe a cup of thick, mettalic grey sludge. I cleaned it all out, and got everything back together and let it idle for a while with the new fluid, but even after that it now won't kick into drive or reverse. Any help?
8 Answers
Not a mechanic by a long stretch, just a hobbyist. However first thing that comes to mind is some kind of failure in the torque converter. They rarely go out unless people like abuse their cars, but like anything else, they do crap out.
Rebuilt or new its going to big bucks.. I would take it to a place thats does transmissions only. I've found most regular mechanics have no clue.
Auto_Reserve answered 10 years ago
Your transmission is a TH400/3L80. Very common and available at most parts stores. Expect to pay $700 for a rebuild. I have seen deals for $1200. for new including torque converter. Start with summit or an online place like them and you can shop by vehicle. If you cannot do the work yourself a shop near you should be able to do the work for around $500 plus fluids. Hope this helps
Go rebuilt have the mechanic find out what failed then strenghthen it on the rebuild other wise a new mah have the same problem
If you are going to do the work yourself, once you pull the transmission and unbolt the torque converter from the flex plate, you can shake it to see if any shrapnel comes out.
Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated. I've had a lot of people tell me a lot of different stuff, ranging from spark plugs to exhaust leak haha.
Your transmission is blown up. You need to rebuild it or buy a new one. Youlost the hard parts in your transmission...meaning the metal parts started hitting each other ( why? Don't really know. It happens to these transmissions) and broke that is what was in the pan and now after you flushed it all the broken metal pieces are stuck in all your moving parts. My father has been rebuilding transmissions since the 90's. I paid attention as a kid.
so if you take all the shrapnel out of the transmission, what would come next, put it all back together and take it and the car to a mechanic and seeing if they could help build and get the new pieces that were broken. i'm 15, in a few days i'll be turning 16 and getting my permit. if i cant save this car of mine, i'm screwed cause it has 100,000 miles on it....if i buy my friends 1997 Chevy silverado 1500 for $2,000, i'll be 30,000 miles short. If anyone knows please tell me. i'm from Washington court house and i don't know if i have to go out of town to get it fixed cause i'm finding no luck for this car. i have a 2014 GMC Yukon denali=(.
