It was not a gimmick to me and many others, I'm not lying when I said I squeaked out a couple more years on the tranny's.

No you do not have to remove the fluid, it is added it to the existing fluid. You do not want to have to much more than the tranny's rated fluid capacity so that's why I remove some. For the siphon pump go to Walmart in the automotive section by the tranny fluid and funnels etc is where it's at, or Harbor freight and they both have the little red siphon pumps with 2 hoses in the kit for about $10. Insert the suction side down into the trans dip stick fill tube and have the other hose end inserted into a bottle and then just hand pump some of the old fluid out. Perhaps 2 quarts and then add 2 quarts of the Lucas product. It is pretty thick viscosity so don't expect to just pour it in to the tranny. Use one of the long neck tranny fill funnels, pour some in let it settle and then add more till finished. Never hurts to heat it up with a hair dryer before you pour it in, then it will flow quicker down the fill tube. I know all the tricks with it, lol. Expect the tranny to act up again in about 6 months if you don't drive the heck out of your car and then just repeat the whole process again.

See the images below, this is the small pump your looking for.

 

Thanks for the link. That's what I presumed the difference was, it was good to clarify.

You make a valid point with the used tranny. My local guy has always done superb work for me, but that's been for things I don't feel comfortable with (i.e.-seized bolts on a 140k MC exhaust system). I'm sure he can do the master kit and it should work out fine, but there is a certain risk to be understood when you crack that thing open. He was doing the labor for $1100 then I was going to get the kit and the fluid. I should ask him what the on/off labor would be for a rebuilt trans. I'd love to accept the risk of doing it myself but this is my daily driver and I don't quite trust myself for this to be a weekend warrior project.

 

Your going about this the right way by thoroughly researching you options.


Doing the job yourself is probably not one for you to consider. Besides the labor and learning curve that I've experienced with this first time challenge there are some pretty major expenses incurred just in the purchase of special tools such as an engine support bar and low profile transmission jack. I would not be doing this if I wasn't sure I'd be doing it again to either my keeper or another flipper. That's when the dividends will pay.
As for your choice of having your Hot Rod shop rebuilding your existing trans. or replacing it with a remanufactured one, it seems to come down to warranty. Sounds like the cost would be similar if the repair included parts similar to a remanufactured one that comes with a 3 year unlimited mile warranty. Unless your shop can match that and warranty their labor, I think I would go with the remanufactured if the R&R labor is around $1,000.00.

 

Well this is rather fortuitous. I found out today I work with a guy (we're both mechanical engineers) who worked in the transmissions group for GM in the early aughts. He's bringing his scan tool tomorrow, he's going to hook it up then check all my shift numbers on a quick drive. He worked on our 4T65E's and he remembers all the "stuff" that happens to them. Hoping to update tomorrow.

 

This is rather fortuitous, wonder if he could adjust your line pressure or that may be getting in to a pcm tune and other equipment. Will be interesting to see what he odd information he can glean from his checking out your tranny.

 

First off, thanks to the mods for moving this.

Second, this is anectdotal, but the last three days I've been driving my temp has pegged at 170. He plugs in his Tech2 scanner, we go to DTC's and there's a P0128 for coolant temp below regulating temp. I kind of thought I needed a new t-stat, now it's confirmed!

Ok, on to the real topic.

That Tech2 scanner is awesome, I love all the data it gives. I had set a P1811 (Max Adapt and Long Shift). He went into (stop me when I say the wrong words) the steady state and 1-2 and 2-3 and 3-4 adapts (line pressure) to show me what the computer has been learning. And all the line pressures it gave (he said) are deltas to what it should be, so if it said 0 then that really means the computer applies exactly as much pressure as needed to shift. A delta then means it's asking for more authority than what it should take. All of my steady states were 0 psi which he said is good. He said, likely, if I was watching the steady state data live, then when I take off from a stop and it does the delayed engagement, I'd see that delta shoot up quite a bit. But I couldn't get it to do it for him, so that looked ok.

So then onto the 1-2 adapts. There's 14 (12?) different torque settings and subsequent line pressures. My first 5 were all up in the low 20's, meaning it's asking for more 20psi "more authority" when at low torque shift points. He thinks the maximum allowed "extra" is 25 psi and I likely got my P1811 by exceeding the 25 once or twice. He still has friends at GM, he's going to confirm the 25 psi number as the max.

Outside of that, the 2-3 and the 3-4 adapts were fine. The 2-3 had one or two pressures at around 8 or 10, but nothing else was more than a couple psi.

So, it's incredibly possible I didn't understand what he was telling me and the above makes no sense. If that's true, then I've got further great news, he let me keep the Tech2 for a while so I can continue to monitor. So if there's another number somebody would like to see to provide more info I'd be more than happy to do it.

Final point, since the adapt pressures weren't above 25 he said I don't necessarily have anything that has to be fixed right now. Obviously it shouldn't be asking for more authority, but it's asking for it and it's being applied, so technically it's working like it's supposed to. The transmission needs more pressure, it gets more pressure. He cleared the 1811 to see how quickly it comes back and I'll keep monitoring it. I do understand though this isn't happening because everything's hunky-dory. I'm not opposed to proactively fixing something if everyone's pretty confident on the source of my troubles.

Last point in this long rant, I checked all fluid last night. It is definitely not burnt, it was a proper level, and it looked to be a red very similar to when it was new. So, I don't think fluid's the problem.

What do you guys think? I haven't put the Lucas fix in yet, but I'm not opposed to it. Put it in then see if those line pressures come down?

 

First of all congratulations on what sounds like good news, and the 25 psi is correct. You're so lucky to have a friend like that. Now for the bad news. High 20's is not too good. This means the frictions are still slipping, just not all the time and not enough to throw the P1811 and apply max. pressure. When the pressure exceeds 25 and P1811 throws it is doing it to prevent further damage. As long as you have the Tech 2 I recommend warming the transmission to full operating temp. before checking the data, then go for a 20 mile drive under various conditions (up and down hills, lots of stop and goes and freeway speed). One feature of the Tech 2 is "Snap shot" which allows you record and store the data at whatever stop and start point you want, not sure what the max. time is, but I've gone about 5 minutes and you can store multiple recording periods. It's similar to a video recording and lets you study the data later. You can also select individual solenoid shift times to see if they are delayed and it will tell you the error factor (i.e.=.25 secs.).
The good news is you probably do have some time and Zippy's Lucas treatment suggestion could buy more.
The transmission I replaced last weekend (almost done, just need to reinstall suspension and drive axles) also had a P1811 which I cleared and didn't come back, but at the same time, it would not shift out of 2nd into 3rd gear. I could go 60 mph but rpm's were at 4500. So P1811 is like a warning telling you it's starting to get very sick, but won't die tomorrow, but if it doesn't get some attention the problem will get worse and other indirectly related parts, i.e.-hard parts, may be damaged.
Very interested in long term data and interpretation.
Keep us posted.

 

Alright, I figured out how to record parameters while I drive. The small problem with that is that it requires software on my PC for extraction. Does anyone know the best way to "acquire" said software?

I plan to record data tonight or tomorrow. After that I'll put the Lucas trans fix in, record again (after I upload the first data set) and then probably record again after another week. I'm curious if I'll see line pressures drop or anything of the sorts after adding the Lucas.

 

You can review the recorded data on the monitor of the tech 2. If you want to view and download to a laptop you will need the flat CAT5 cable that comes with the kit and a serial port x USB adapter. Unfortunately the adapter doesn't come with the kit-outdated technology-Boooo!

 

Any data specifically worth manually recording post drive for record keeping? I was able to get the snapshot figured out on the drive home. I got about four minutes of drive time. I'll go back out tonight to get a wider range of shifting and will record whatever you guys feel is the most useful.