rosencra38

Heading into work this morning I noticed that my 05 burb wasn't running right. I usually go just 65 on the expressway and when I put the cruise on I noticed that the engine was revving up and down a bit, looked and saw that it was going up about 500 rpm then back down. Took it off cruise and I had to keep the foot in the gas and up at around 70 to get to work (about 10 miles). After 2 hours I had to go across town for a meeting and noticed that it would jump up in RPM's right before shifting into 3rd gear. Stopped off and made an appointment to get it looked at (for Wednesday morning) and went back to the office. Later I had to run up north for another meeting and had to get on the expressway again. I was struggling to keep her at 60 and was pushing almost 4000 RPM. Got off on the next exit and when I got the green light to go I could feel the grinding in the rear, almost like I was dragging one of the tires too. Pulled over and had her towed to a local shop and am awaiting the dreaded phone call to give me the diagnoses. Really worried about what this is gonna cost me...... Good thing I made it home pulling a boat on a fishing trip across the state yesterday afternoon...

oldchevy

Don't keep us in suspense. What happened? how Much?

rosencra38

No clue at this point. The shop said they might be able to look at it this afternoon to try and diagnose the problem but weren't certain.

hicksvilleshick

allright, 60mph @ 4k rpm, sounds like what 2nd gear???


sounds as if you lost some gears there buddy.


:chug:

Chevrolet Customer Service

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I'm sorry to hear of this issue with your Suburban. Please keep us updated of the results from your shop.

If you have any questions in the future, please feel free to contact me.

Louis
GM Customer Service

rosencra38

Talked to the shop earlier this afternoon and the transmission needs to be rebuilt. $1200... Less than what I was expecting it to be.

How can I tell what transmission I have in the burb? Friend of mine has an 05 Silverado with the 4L60E tranny, he lost his at just over 100K miles. Said he had his rebuilt with upgrades due to known issues with that transmission, his set him back $2500. Would it be the same transmission in my Suburban? Should I ask the shop about doing any upgrades? I mainly use it for normal driving but do tow my camper some during the summer, boat and utility trailer on occasion as well.

jeffsw6

I have easily 20k miles of towing a 4000# enclosed trailer with my 05 Suburban K1500 5.3 and what I do is change the transmission oil and filter more often, as well as the rear differential oil. It sounds to me like you just got unlucky, the 4L60E is pretty reliable these days. :knock on wood:

I alternate between pan drop/filter, and ATF "flush," I do one of them every 10k to 15k miles. Whenever I do the pan drop I also get the rear differential oil changed. This extra maintenance is not cheap and you may honestly be doing well spending just $1200 on an unlucky rebuild, I've spent probably about that on extra maintenance.

How big is your boat and how often are you towing it, across what terrain? Most reasonable-sized boats are fine behind any Suburban but I know a few guys who push their luck. I recently bought a 97 Dodge 2500 V10 so I could keep some of the towing miles off my Suburban. Only cost me $2450!

hicksvilleshick

yeah sounds like a unlucky failure of some sort. for what you say you do, a simple rebuild would be fine (provided the rebuilder is competent) you could do like your buddy and throw some money into upgraded parts, or see what it would take to put in a l80, but again its gonna cost a bit more prolly, others would be able to tell you if it's a bolt up or if you would need an adapter or something. but I think that you would be fine with a rebuild.

:chug:

rosencra38

It's just a small 16' Sea Nymph, my camper is a 28' that weighs 5700 pounds but I only tow it a couple times a year as we usually just keep it on a lake lot all summer.

I'll just stick with the simple rebuild and not worry about it.

jeffsw6

I'd say the 16' boat isn't working it hard but your camper sure does. That's basically like towing a parachute made of lead. My 05 doesn't like towing my 7'6" tall, 8.5 wide box trailer when it is EMPTY, and it only weighs around 4000# empty. IMO the camper is where your transmission wear is coming from, even a short trip could dramatically reduce its life. $0.02.
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