Rebuilt transmission died at 33k....

[Martinjmpr]

Not happy right now!

I got my '04 Suburban 1500 4x4 in December of 2015. Did great pulling our little T@B trailer through Colorado for most of 2016. Then in August of that year, coming back from a camping trip, I lost gears 3 and 4. The good news is that I was able to "limp" home in 2nd.

Had the transmission rebuilt by what I thought was a reputable company in Denver. Cost was $2000 which I considered reasonable.

In January of 2018 we upgraded to a bigger trailer. This one is an R-Pod 179. About 3500lbs fully loaded. Still well under the 'Burbs rated tow capacity.

However, we camp a LOT and live in Colorado, which means I am pulling this trailer up an 11,000' pass probably dozens of times a year.

I do have a Scangauge to watch transmission temps and I had a trans temp gauge installed when my dashboard was rebuilt in 2016. I watch trans temps like a hawk. Just a month ago I put a Trucool 40k trans temp cooler on there and it dropped trans temps dramatically.

Then, on Monday, coming back from a 4 day camping trip, with the trailer and fully loaded truck, the trans just stopped. No noises, no smells, no lights, just...no transmission. In any gear.

Had it towed 30 miles to a transmission shop and they told me the pump failed and basically destroyed the transmission. Since they were the only place around that could do the work, I ponied up $3500 (parts and labor) for a new transmission. The good news is that it comes with a 3 year/100k warranty from GM.

But I'm still pissed - more at the shop that "rebuilt" the trans in 2016. I guess I didn't know enough to ask but I assumed that a "rebuild" would replace parts like the pump that can fail catastrophically.

At this point, with the cost of the new trans already paid, I feel like I'm committed to at least another year with the 'Burb, maybe more. The thing is, I really do like this truck. They really don't make Suburbans like this anymore and this one is perfect as a hauler for our camper.

I guess I don't really have a question, just wanting to rant a little bit. My advice to those who get a "rebuilt" transmission is to know what, exactly, is being "rebuilt" and what is not. If I had ponied up the extra $1500 for a new transmission 2 1/2 years ago I'd still be under warranty and probably in much better condition.

 

[SnowDrifter]

Damn dude that sucks.

Let me rant with you

Hearing stuff like this makes me so incredibly weary any more. I have a bornerline paranoia when it comes to even so much as replacing a wheel bearing. It really sucks because warranties are relatively short - basically a leave the lot type gig - and errors in building that might not show up for a few ten/thousand miles are passed onto the customer. Then if you want an appropriate warranty, you need to pay extra for it (if it's even offered). Not because you get better parts, but because you're paying extra in advance for the company's expected failure rate per unit. Gahhhh. Drives me up the wall. I'd assume pay a couple hundred(or even a thousand for larger parts) more for something that is truly built well and not whittled down to the minimum viable product.

It's incredibly frustrating. At this point, I've largely lost faith in any sort of reman'd product, and at this point, consider only 3 options when I need to replace something.
1. NEW oem
2. New from a company who specializes in a given product (timken, mechman, melling, felpro, etc)
3. Rebuild it myself

A few examples of horrific reman practices I've found:
- Rebuilt power steering pump was cleaned, resealed, and painted. Internal parts appeared to be reused
- Rebuilt alternator had bearings, brush, pulley changed. Other parts appeared to be OEM - I found that one out when I turned the key and was greeted with a billowing of smoke. It had a failed rectifier
- Rebuilt differential which had new bearings, but a bad gearset was reused
- Rebuilt engine which did not have the cam bearings line bored and proceeded to spin them.
- Rebuilt heads which were not appropriately checked for alignment, warped, and cracked a camshaft


It got to a point in the shop we'd just order parts in pairs if a customer needed pickup same day just because the failure rate was so high. Power steering pumps in particular were a bad one. At some point I put my foot down and just refused to do the job unless we could get an OE pump.


/rant



For my own info; how many miles were on your original trans when it failed? What failed? And who rebuilt it (pm this one to me if needed)?

 

[Jeff Groves]

That's the problem when your on the road. Many places know they have your ****** in the palm of their hands.
And they also figure they will never see you again so screw you. I can't tell you how many times We have been through that type situation.

All the Company vehicles now are serviced at the dealers. It costs more sure but dependability of our Trucks have increased immensely. Should my truck suffer a tranny failure again? I'm covered at ANY GM service center.
Those local shops may be fine if you don't travel coast to coast. We avoid them now after to many issues.

 

[Scottydoggs]

sadly most trans shops only fix whats broken, and slap it back in with all your old parts and call it rebuilt, when its only repaired.

i like to know all wear parts are replaced, as well as the solenoids, have a shift kit installed for towing too, and its not a bad idea to get a hardened input shaft. a lot can be reused, but theres a ton of small crap they gloss right over and reuse.

 

[swathdiver]

The second shop even seems suspect to me. When rebuilding the transmissions, use the known HD parts to make them even more durable, not just a stock rebuild.

I'm no transmission expert but when my pumps went over the years we had plenty of warning by the sounds they made, TH350, TH200, TH200R4, TH700R4.

 

[Doubeleive]

powertrain products gives a 3 year parts & labor warranty (nationwide), with an option for 5 year unlimited miles no fault warranty, just throwing that out there for future reference. stuff breaks, trust me I know good and well.