Thanks DVaughan. I'm not sure about you guy's area, but around here- they are money hungry. I can ask them to hook up monitors and read codes all day long- they probably won't do it but say they did- then tell me I need a new transmission. I just don't think there is one single person I trust in my community that would be honest with me. I give them the symptoms and before I'm even done speaking, you need a new transmission. The price for one here is 2,200. I'm just worried about the the cost number one, number two-i'm worried that the shop isn't aware nor do they care about the case specific issues with the 46re transmission therefore they won't do the proper fixes.
I would take the truck down to Charleston- but I can't drive her 8 hours down there. An Auto-transport, even with my discount, would cost quite a bit of money. Just worriesome. The whole damn thing.

 

I read through the post and am a little curious. After the second go-round and you replaced the gasket, new fluid etc, did you change the filter, then button it up. If not, start there.
The fluid HAS to go through the filter before anything else first, if you starve it there, you starve it everywhere. You may want to dedicate a full day of going through that thing from square 1 again. Sounds like the low condition may have caused some slipping from the brown tinge you mentioned.

 

Thanks Gone Fishin. I ordered this Transmission service kit complete with the borg Wabner solenoid upgrade.
http://www.cascadetransmissionparts....cekit9899.aspx

My plan is to drop the valve body- completely clean with brake parts cleaner and install the parts that come with this kit which appears to include the wiring harness, people say have been problematic, the accumulator spring, solenoid, transducer, 02 sensor, filter and gasket.

Maybe I'll check the play on the band while i'm in there. Any other suggestions?

 

http://www.cascadetransmissionparts....cekit9899.aspx

 

So after talking with the transmission parts guy, I decided to buy a remanufactured valve body. This comes with everything including the borg wabner gov pressure solenoid. I described my problems to him- he asked what the mileage is and I told him 148,000 miles.

He stated,
no , 99% you don't need a rebuild
when you have the pan off i would suggest a band adjustment
there is some good internet forrums on the subject that are excellent

we also offer the tech manual which has torque specs and a variety of additional info about the transmission.
http://www.cascadetransmissionparts.com/technicalmanual46re47re48re.aspx
Robert J. Gaul Sr.
Owner
Cascade Transmission Parts

yes unfortunately the industry always tried to push the consumer into rebuilding the units.
the truth of the matter is a complete rebuild is rarely needed
hope the discussion goes well with the wife

If you need some time we stock 10-12 of these at anytime

Thanks ,

Robert J. Gaul Sr.
Owner


I'm going to try this and let you all know how this works out for me. Hopefully this thread might save someone hundreds of dollars being spent unecessarily on a tranny rebuild.

 

Sure. Thats because the valve body is clogged with crap from the bands and the failing TC.

 

Interesting. Tell me, what exactly did you glean from my posts that would cause you to offer the diagnosis to get the transmission rebuilt? Did you ever try any of what I mentioned above before you got a transmission rebuilt?

Why are so many people on here talking about sonnax sure cure and cleaning the valve body if the end result is- rebuild the transmission? Why do they even make a larger governor pressure solenoid to relieve the problem of high pressure flow going through the smaller OEM solenoid if this doesn't help to alleviate some peoples transmission problems? I guess they are waiting for some poor sap like me to come along and buy these things knowing full well that I can only fix this problem with a rebuilt tranny because I'm hoping that I won't have to shell out $2200.00. It's downright predatory!

Honestly, I guess this is why you have 16,000 + posts to be able to diagnose my transmission so effectively with such little information. Thanks so much for you help. Your insight has been invaluable.

 

The Sure Cure will not magically restore clutches and bands that are at end of service life. When those parts are done for, you must rebuild the unit to restore normal operation. There's no way around it.

Please hang around the forum for a while after doing all of that work, as I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is curious to know how far you get.

 

Chill a little.

These transmission have real issues. If there is friction material in the fluid, rebuild is coming. When depends on the amount of wear on the frictions. The valve body has some inherent issues as well, and the Sonnax Sure Cure kit alleviates only the VB issues. I drove mine with the std VB, then dropped and installed the one rebuilt with the Sure Cure. Big difference. Went through the same process with the BW solenoid. Why? Because I am too retentive to just take a lot for granted AND I wanted to be able to see if I couod really feel the difference by testing this changing one component at a time.

So bottom line, if someone is trying to sell you something, and they tell you that a rebuild is not needed, they may be telling you this just to make a sale. Maybe. But why not install the Sure Cure yourself? How much is he chargeing for the "rebuilt" VB? How can you tell it is rebuilt? What is the warranty he is offering? If frictions are wearing (and they do) and steels are bluing (and they can) and seals are weaing, a rebuild is the only fix. But when doing a rebuild, doing some things to upgrade (like SUre Cure and other changes) only makes good sense.

 

I'm chill. No worries. A rebuild is expensive for anyone. That's why I'm hoping to alleviate this situation with this Re-manned Valve Body. There's nothing wrong with being hopeful. If I do this and it works, imagine how upset I would be if I had just had a tranny rebuilt instead of trying this. I just want to make sure I've explored all my options before having a rebuild done.

As far as the re-manned valve body. Cost is 350 bucks. I have to send my core in and get 100 bucks back from that. It has a lifetime warranty on this product. http://www.cascadetransmissionparts....eman96-99.aspx

gdstock, you were the one telling me to look into getting a borg warner solenoid upgrade- that search is what lead me to this place.