I suspected the same problems. The torque convertor has completely stopped locking up now and the fluid was closer to "brown burgandy" colored. I took a drastic step today because of other potentialy expensive repairs I might need also.

I purchased the second best replacement part I could find. A used truck. It's just too bad no one will ever know the ouotcome of my problems. Here is a picture of the part I replaced. It's just 4 years years newer than what I had but it seems to run just fine(140k miles). I learned a lot in this forum and I put it to use when I was shopping. This truck had a problem when it was first started in the AM. I watched the owner check the transmission fluid in park with the engine cold as he explained that the fluid was good. The carfax on it showed the last tranny service with fluid change was 2008. I learned in this forum that doing that could very well give a reading of having enough fluid but would change after warming up and checking the fluid in nuetral so I took a gamble and made an offer he liked. It needed two quarts of tranny fluid and it now drives and starts like a cadillac. Im going to take it for a tranny service next week sometime to be sure everything is adjusted properly and nothing is in the pan but im almost certian it doesnt have any issues. I would do the service myself but I need an unbiased opinion and I like the idea of the service records showing up on the "carfax".

Here is the new part that fixed the tranny....I hope:

 

Just for reference....some transmission issues WILL set a CEL. For example, if it slips between 2-3 shift or the 3-4 shift, the PCM sets a count. When Count = 7 (I think) it sets the CEL.

I am not sure what other incidents will or may cause CEL, as these are the only 2 that I have had personal experience with.

 

So did you just buy the "replacement" and just park the problem child behind it?

 

That would be correct. lol I still need to strip the tires, bedliner, toolbox and maybe the rims.

 

One year later and I am working on the newer trucks transmission. I' must be ruff on them. This truck I think I parked quick enough to prevent to much damage. I had posted some pictures in another thread showing the front band being extremely loose and loosing all the friction material. This morning with some help we replaced the front band and governor sensor\solenoid and tomorrow the valve body and pan will go back on(hopefully tonight). I hope this ends my transmission problems for a while. I appreciate all the knowledge in this forum, it really is invaluable. I wish I had taken the new truck for the service I mentioned in the above post. If I had the front band probably would have been found to be loose and adjusted properly.

PS. I sold the older truck to my bro-in-law who removed the transmission from the truck. The OD unit and torque converter were destroyed along with a lot of metal in the pan which had not been there the times I opened it up. I guess the lesson is not to "test drive" it any more than you have to or you can(and I did) make matters worse.