The End of the saga. So I did all the research as suggested. It’s a 4l80-E Transmission. The owner wanted a local guy who suggested the lacquer thinner approach to do the work. I bought that, the filter, gasket and 12 quarts of fluid.
He poured the lacquer thinner in started the engine. He then dropped the pan, replaced the filter, started the truck, and drained the fluid using the line by the radiator while adding tran fluid. When the color was right he took it for a test drive and I paid him $150.
Now everybody’s happy and my responsibility is over in that drama.
The work was completed Thursday afternoon and I haven’t heard any bad news since. I am very grateful to all who responded and conveyed the comments and suggestion to the mechanic. The conversation here taught me about the workings of the transmission. Thank you all!!!
I’m glad to hear that the lacquer thinner method worked . . . to the owner’s satisfaction, anyways
It’s not exactly what I would have recommended, but success is success . . . !
Because the transmission is a 4L80E, that means the truck is a 2500 or 2500HD. That certainly puts things in perspective, again. It’s capable of a lot more, versus your typical Silverado 1500, with the small 4L60E transmission
Thanks db. I hope I never see that truck again. The truck was working Thursday. We’ll see. I think I got out at a reasonable expense.
@sacco As for never “seeing” that truck again, the best way would be to never borrow it, and do not perform any maintenance on it
And yes, you did get out at a reasonable expense
If the transmission soon fails and needs an overhaul, it’s not your quart of gear oil that did it in. It’s the lack of maintenance
There was only a few quarts of fluid in there the mechanic told me. He knew what he was doing. Time will tell if the lacquer has a negative effect
If you drop the pan and do a fluid and filter service, the capacity is 5 quarts. Not sure how many more quarts are in the converter, lines and cooler
Like I said, you taught me a great deal. I was actually conversant in trany speak with the mechanic.
I found the transmission model , researched the fluid capacity. A change of fluid is about 7.5 and a complete is 13.5.
He had to add some just at the beginning, plus he poured a gallon of thinner. To bring it to the right amount after all was said and done it took the 13.5.
By chance, do you know if the mechanic used Dexron 3 or Dexron 6
The reason I’m asking . . . that transmission can get by on Dexron 3, which is cheaper. Plus, I’m not even sure Dexron 6 existed in 2002
Water under the bridge, at this point
Just being curious . . .
By the way, next time you’re on this website, let’s hear about YOUR vehicle, not your friend’s truck . . . !
Its actually an 03 as I found out. I went to NAPA and he looked it up and I do think he gave me Dexron. The other 5 qts were picked up by the mechanic which I paid for. This is where I got most relevant detailed info.
It’s a 2500HD . . . ?
That means it’s got a full-floater rear end
Your friend needs to maintain it better than he has been
This sounds like one of those jobs where the owner needs to take better care of it too. Since it had already been neglected and all, I would not assume any responsibility for this one in the future. Print out this forum with all the opinions that the damage was already done to this truck.
I work on computers and deal with the same stuff. People bring them in ONLY when they basically no longer function. This truck didn’t see any work until it HAD to have something done. The gear lube is the least of the problems with this one. At least it has fluid now which it didn’t before. It was also probably old and broken down crud. With the computers, I end up telling these people all the things that are wrong and need to be done. They say “There was nothing wrong when I brought it in” or “I only brought it in for that one thing, not all these other problems you are telling me about.” They blame you for making things up that aren’t wrong just to get extra work just like with mechanics. People are willing to drive a car with a million things wrong or operate a computer that barely runs as long as they work just enough.
I don’t know what the main component of Berryman B12 is but Transman on here suggested adding some of this to a clunky transmission a while back. I added it just before it was flushed and had a new filter installed to clean out any varnish. It didn’t seem to hurt and the transmission was smoother with new fluid. I don’t know which made the biggest difference.