did you ever adjust the bands?how many mile on your truck?

 

I hate to be the "bad news bearer", but I think it is time for a rebuild on the tranny. If the tranny slips at all, warm or cold, the clutches in it burn up quickly. How many miles on the truck/tranny? If the fluid was discolored as you said, that is also a bad sign. The internal clutches slip, and that creates more heat than the factory, or any cooler, for that matter can get rid of.

I lost two trannies in the first 60k miles I had on the truck. I believe that I had a bad TPS almost from day one which was never diagnosed by the dealer - and that bad TPS caused a lot more shifting/torque converter locking/unlocking than necessary - which along with not having an extra cooler besides the factory one in the radiator helped to burn mine up. No problems since.

The check ball, if actually stuck shut, can keep fluid from flowing through the factory cooler. You can take it out of the system by cutting the hard line before it and attaching the hose from an auxillary cooler to that line and do the same on the return line - which bypasses the radiator cooler altogether. I left my check ball in when I did my aux cooler, because the purpose of it being there is to prevent "fluid drain back" when the truck sits for a long period. If the ball isn't there, the fluid in the lines and cooler can drain back into the tranny, creating air bubbles which can cause hesitation when you try to move it in the morning. I was told by a dealer tech that if the truck has been sitting for several hours, you need to start it and put it in "neutral" for 20-30 seconds to get the fluid flowing well before you put it in gear and take off.

There are pictures and detailed instructions on how I installed my external cooler in the "FAQ" sticky at the top of the page - post #20. I would not suggest adding a cooler until you find out what is up internally in your tranny - as any metal that might be floating around in there will get in the new lines and cooler. You need to get that thing to a good tranny shop unless your truck is still under the 7/70k powertrain warranty, or the 7/100k powertrain warranty offered in Oct/Nov 2001. Your dealer can find out if it is covered by running the v.i.n # on there computer if you call them......

 

she has 149,000 on her. i just bought the truck about four months ago!!! i ran into the previous owner at a local resturaunt and he told be that was a strong truck and he just had the tranny rebuilt, well the resturaunt burned down and now i cant find him to tell me who did the work.

this sucks, i cannot afford a rebuild, i have always kept up all my vehicles and done my own work. i checked this truck out from the ground up, even had a mechanic buddy check it out.
this has not been an ongoing problem that i have ignored, it just happened almost instantly, thats why i keep telling myself that it is something minor, who am i kidding though, right!

thanks for all the help guys,

XHAUSTED

 

after i bought the truck, i always said the only thing this truck was missing was a five speed, should've takin the time to find one! kickin' myself in the a$$ now

 

A buddy of mine at work has a '98 with 160k miles on it and his tranny let go almost without warning the other day. He had NEVER had any problems with it until now. A friend of his is rebuilding it for around $1k. Mine was rebuilt by the dealer at 40k, and it went out again at 60k. So you never know.....
Look around for a salvage truck. You might get lucky and find one with the tranny you need for cheaper......If you find one be sure to get the converter also.

I would look up the name of the previous owner on the title or bill of sale or something - and find out more on when and where it was redone. A little detective work might save you big bucks!

 

i found a tranny locally out of a 97 4x4 dont know the miles just yet. what are some of the things i need to look for so i dont end up in the same situation. i'm sure i can get him down on the price maybe even get an extra t-case, what would be the average cost of a rebuild?

 

From what I've read on here and what I know from some friends who have had it done - you are looking at $1,000 low end and $2500 high end to get it rebuilt. I think the average is about $2,000. You take a chance when you buy a used tranny - unless the place you get it from is willing to provide a short warranty. About the only thing you can really do is to look at the fluid and see if it looks burnt or discolored. I personally would not go the used route. I suggested it to you because you said you could not afford a rebuild. You can get one cheaper - but you risk getting one that is WELL used also......
Good Luck!

 

Removed ours completly, after burning up 3 rebuilt trannies... 6900$ later!!! replace the lines compltly and then remove the check valve. not sure if the check valve is on the new line when you buy from dealer or not, but remove the check valve all together! Save ya $$$