what now? with transmission

posed about a week ago with my tranny probs and got great feedback. thanks. unfortunatly, i had no success on my own so i went to several transmission shops and got the same answer. terminal, inoperable. they also said the 4l30e sucks. is this very true under proper maintenence? (i would love to get more than 135 k out of a transmission.) if so, can i bolt any other tranny to a 94 passport 4x4 3.2L? if i can't do that, should i look for used 4l30e, have mine rebuilt, or buy new? thanks guys.

Are you the original owner?

Are you sure that it was maintained properly?

I'm not doubting whether you had the maintenance done on the transmission, what I'm saying is there are thousands of mechanics who can easily screw up a transmission by either their lack of knowledge or simply not caring to do it right.

I have heard too that these tranny's are not the "greatest" - but in my opinion, they are more reliable than the transmissions in fords, dodges, and even some chevy's.

Even with proper maintenance I have seen several relatives bury their tranny's to an early grave in their ford rangers, dodge and ford caravan's.

It's hard to say what I would do, thank goodness I haven't had to come across that, and I hope I don't for another 100K or so.

I agree with you though, it should last to at least 200K or so with proper maintenance and not a lot of heavy hauling or heavy footing off the line.

Good luck, keep us posted. And definitely make sure you can trust the mechanic you choose - so so many times there are mechanical issues on a vehicle due to the mechanic you thought you could trust.

Went back and found your first post, I apologize, should have done that first.

It still sounds to me like either the lube place where you took your truck may be to blame - i.e. not enough fluid and/or flushing particles into the torque convertor.

Sometimes the latter can happen when the transmission hasn't been serviced in more then 35K miles and has a lot of gunk.

I have to wonder how this truck was maintained by the previous owner. You listed having to do a lot of maintenance when you bought this truck, this leads me to believe the original owner didn't keep up with everything.

If I were to sale my truck today, at 137K miles, it would only need an oil/filter change, due in 500 miles. The next maintenance would be in about 15-20K miles, before it would need anything else.

I unfortunately wonder if the original owner knew something was happening to the tranny; or possibly nothing was wrong with the tranny, just hadn't been serviced in a long time, in which, particles may have gotten shifted into not-so-good areas.

One thing about these tranny's, they either need pan dropped fluid/filter replacement every 15-20K miles or transmission flush every 30K miles with filter cleaned at 100K or so.

One thing you could count on, if you were to get another 4L30-E tranny, is with proper maintenance it would last you quite a time.

they also said the 4l30e sucks. is this very true under proper maintenence? (i would love to get more than 135 k out of a transmission.) if so, can i bolt any other tranny to a 94 passport 4x4 3.2L? if i can't do that, should i look for used 4l30e, have mine rebuilt, or buy new? thanks guys.


The 4L30E is a very reliable and rugged transmission. They don't know what they're talking about. I have heard it refered to by mechanics as bullet proof. These are the same french made GM transmissions used in older BMW's. The key to long life in any tranny is proper maintenance. There are plenty of Isuzu's @ or around 200k miles with the orig tranny. Check ebay and phoenix transmissions for rebuilt trannies.

ramblin,
i know the three origional owners before me and they all took good care of it for the most part its just that im going to another college after the summer that is 1000 miles from home and was trying to have the truck in perfect shape before i left for school. i got it for only $2000 from a good friend of my dad's so if i put another two or three thousand dollars into it to fix everything compleatly it won't bother me. good to know that the 4l30e is good, but should i get it rebuilt, or buy another new/rebuilt one. i talked to two tranny shops and they said $2000 to rebuid! is it worth it or should i buy from phoenix and change it in my driveway? thanks.

i talked to two tranny shops and they said $2000 to rebuid! is it worth it or should i buy from phoenix and change it in my driveway? thanks.

That is a lot of money. I am not saying it isn't a fair price, but it is a lot of money. Sometimes things don't last like they should, unfortunate, but this may be the case. I would shop around. You are going to spend all this money so research your options.

If you buy a used tranny, well it is used and you don't know what will happen. It is a gamble I think. If it was me I would find a good shop and rebuild yours, unless you can find a good remanufactured one. I want to say I saw some post with a link listed before on here that had reman. tranny's for a grand. Maybe some one will know what I am reffering to.

Any way you choose, good luck and I hope you get a fair deal. Just look at all your options.

Marc

Makes sense. Good luck!

ramblin,
i talked to two tranny shops and they said $2000 to rebuid! is it worth it or should i buy from phoenix and change it in my driveway? thanks.

Here's a rebuilt tranny from phoenix transmissions for $950 + ship. Dyno tested with nationwide warranty. And no I don't work for these guys.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7970785313&category=33727&sspagename=WDVW