Rebuild or replace tranny

4L60E tranny, starting to slip a little, has 117000 mi. on it. No foaming of fluid, no burnt smell, level is good, but I can feel it coming. My question, if by chance i don't luck out and it is the TCC solenoid or valve, would a rebuild be worthwhile, or just get a new tranny? the amount of labor involved in a rebuild is not much cheaper than an ATK or other tranny. Do the plates and gears hold up pretty well to a rebuild? I am looking for some advice, and I do plan on keeping this puppy for quite a while.
thanks

4L60E tranny, starting to slip a little, has 117000 mi. on it. No foaming of fluid, no burnt smell, level is good, but I can feel it coming. My question, if by chance i don't luck out and it is the TCC solenoid or valve, would a rebuild be worthwhile, or just get a new tranny? the amount of labor involved in a rebuild is not much cheaper than an ATK or other tranny. Do the plates and gears hold up pretty well to a rebuild? I am looking for some advice, and I do plan on keeping this puppy for quite a while.
thanks

How do you know it is slipping?

What is it doing?

I can feel it slip when I accelerate from going around a corner, for example, and when accelerating from a stop sign. I checked my u- joints, ( replaced in 9/04 with Moog parts), but I have no tell tale clunk. If i keep a light touch on the gas pedal, the slipping is minimal. I do sense more slippage in the morning when the car is cold.

Are the slips only during shifts or have things deteriorated to the point that it will start to slip even after gear changes are done? There could be a number of things wrong that are curable without serious expense or labor, but if there is any slippage at all, it won't take long to burn the clutches to the point that a rebuild or replacement will be necessary.

When it is necessary to rebuild or replace...your best bet would probably be to buy a rebuilt one. The average price to have one rebuilt seems to be $1500 - $2000, but you can buy one already rebuilt for less than $1000. A lot of places sell them already rebuilt. A friend of mine bought a 4L60E for his 94 Impala, locally, he only paid $500 for it. (self install). My brother bought a 4L60E for his 95 Surburban (locally) and paid $700 (included install) There is a fairly large company that sells them on eBay. They say that all their trannys are tested before they are sent out.

the slipping is just during shifting, and only sometimes. Like I said, if i take it easy on the gas, usually no slip. There is no slipping during normal driving at sustained speeds, or when downshifting.

If it were my transmission, I'd drop the pan and replace the pressure control solenoid and the transmission filter, put in fresh fluid and see how things went. Of course, I work in the factory that makes the pressure control solenoids, so that's a cheap swap for me. Since PCSs probably aren't as cheap for you and you don't have an easy way to test the one you've got, you could gamble the price of a new one that it is bad and replace it to see if that fixes your problem. Or you could attempt to get more pressure out of your old one by turning the T-15 torx screw in the back of it about 1/8th of a turn clockwise and then put it back in and see if your slipping goes away. If you do this, make sure the larger plug with two holes in it does not turn with the screw. If your original PCS was calibrated near the low limit of the specification and if there is a signficant amount of magnetic debris in your transmission fluid, the pressure output of the solenoid at higher currents (where shifts occur) could have drifted down a bit and may be causing the slips. If you elect to do any of this, please understand that your problem could still be any of a number of different things. The PCS just happens to be a relatively easy/inexpensive component to replace (or re-calibrate), so this is something I would probably do before paying what the professional shops would charge to diagnose or repair the transmission. Good luck.

Thanks, Allbert, I think I'll try that this weekend.
BTW, I used to work @ the Harvest Cafe,(don't think it is there anymore) and lived up on HWY 7. near the Emerson plant. My wife did her grad school at Ole Miss., we lived there 91-93.

Thanks, Allbert, I think I'll try that this weekend.
BTW, I used to work @ the Harvest Cafe,(don't think it is there anymore) and lived up on HWY 7. near the Emerson plant. My wife did her grad school at Ole Miss., we lived there 91-93.

First, have you even replaced the fluid or the filter?

full tranny flush/exchange at dealership in 8/04, did front xfer case and rear diff myself in 10/04. ( rear diff I pulled cover, cleaned w/ brake cleaner, new gasket, front xfer just pump out and fill) I will have a friend with me who has some more exp. when I drop the tranny pad and look for shavings.

So there is a new tranny filter?

yes, I forgot to list with flush exchange, my bad.

yes, I forgot to list with flush exchange, my bad.

Ok, you don't have to replace the whole transmission, and don't allow someone to convince you that you need to.

Shops will pull that bullshit on you. If they do, walk away.

What they will have to do it replace the main pressure solenoid and/or the 1-2 shift solenoid to fix your problem.

Should be a quick and inexpensive fix.

You did the smart thing by getting informed because you don't want to go to some of these tranny shops without knowledge, they will screw you badly if they can.

Ok, you don't have to replace the whole transmission, and don't allow someone to convince you that you need to.

Shops will pull that bullshit on you. If they do, walk away.

What they will have to do it replace the main pressure solenoid and/or the 1-2 shift solenoid to fix your problem.

Should be a quick and inexpensive fix.

You did the smart thing by getting informed because you don't want to go to some of these tranny shops without knowledge, they will screw you badly if they can.


I am going to skip dropping the pan this weekend,(the Mrs. has a Honey-Do list anyways ) and on Monday i'll visit a few shops armed with that info. Thanks, everyone, i'll post results after the mission!