So my PB 80e is having issues - no 4th gear and 3rd is fishy - so I found a guy selling an 80e pretty cheap but he said there were a few things wrong with it. Its from a 2002 heavy suburban, he said it started to whine in all gears, and had a slight leak between the transfer case and the transmission. Said it still shifted fine though, he just didnt want to mess with it and had a shop replace it with a junkyard unit.

Based on this info, can anyone give any insights on what I should look for when I get it and take the pan off? Vince? Andy?

 

isn't your 80e under warranty?

 

Yes, I am sending my PB trans back to them, but I am putting a stock 80e in my truck and saving the built one for another project and its the stock one which I am going to fix myself. Im getting the trans from the guy for around $200, and all the yards around here want at least $1200 for pullouts and local trans shops wont touch it for under $1000 so I figure if it costs less than $800 to fix ill be good.

This is going behind a stock 5.3 btw, nothing fancy.

 

Just my opinion, but get a known good one from the start. I don't understand the point of putting a known defective trans in. Craigslist will probably be your best bet. I got mine for 650 with ~30k on it and it's been perfect for almost a year now.

 

Believe me, ive looked, cheapest ive seen is around $1000

 

My brother has a suburban with a 4l80e. He was going to sell it, and had it tuned up. He also decided to have a tranny flush done at the shop that was doing the tune up for him. There was 125k on it and it never had anything done to the tranny. Well after the flush it wouldn't shift into OD. The shop tried getting it into 4th, and ended up burning it up. He had to have it rebuilt. Well come to find out apparently you shouldn't do a flush on a tranny if it is over 100k without service as it can apparently break sludge loose and mess it up. Was your old fluid in your lines and cooler cleaned out with the new tranny? I hooked an air hose to either end and blew the lines out of mine and was surprised at the amount that came out.

 

As far as the 02 tranny it sounds like the pump is leaking and making noise. I have never rebuilt one myself, but I think I might try one next time a project calls for one.

 

The issue with the trans is probably pump related. Normally this is caused by a worn pump bushing and the inner gear in the pump takes out the crescent in the pump. This will require a new pump.

As for the leak in the rear of the housing that could be as simple as a gasket or even a pan leak. You will not know until you get there. BTW Andy is a sales guy and customer service rep not a builder! TTT or give me a call is all you will really see him help you guys with here! Vince

 

Haha, thats funny about Andy, didnt know that

I took the trans to be looked over and appearently some of the clutches were coming apart and the material was clogging the filter making the pump whine. I think he pulled it out soon enough to not cause any serious damage as the trans guy said all the hard parts were fine. My plan is to start on swapping it in tonight and finish tomorrow.

Thanks for the help

 

How much did they charge you to do the clutches?