4L80E Clean out

[BigMikeO]

Does anyone know of a good website that has some pictures or instructions for how to remove the transmission pan, and transfer case on my truck, maybe even installing an aftermarket pan or something.

I bought the truck used with 154K miles on it and I want to clean the whole system out.

I am not much of a mechanic, actually this is the first vechicle I have worked on. Because of that I really need the pictures or a decent walk thorugh.

Thanks

[ttpost]

hello, i have found a site that has really helped me out.i have quite a bit of mechanical experience and needed a manual for some things till i found this site,it costs 25.00 a year but in my opinion is well worth every penny, helped me save hundreds if not thousands of dollars on my truck, things i would have had chevy do if i hadnt found this site( in fact thats how i found it because the local chevy dealership uses it for there information)it is ALLDATA.COM TRY IT ITS WORTH THE MONEY

[Black95TD]

Big MikeO

The tranny pan is easy - just messy. Crawl under and look. Just remove the bolts and down she comes. I bought a large plastic storage bin to catch the fluid. NAPA sells a kit to install a drain plug but be careful. I found the small o ring to be useless and went out and bought a small copper washer that worked well. My fluid at 50K was really brown and dirty looking. Put a new filter on and then drained the fluid a second time. I'm going to drain the fluid once a year from now on. Good luck.

[JoeyD]

Find a trans shop or any shop that has a machine to flush the fluid. Much better than just dropping the pan, which you still need to do to change the filter.

[Dan Nicholas]

If you're going to take your transmission pan off, consider replacing it with the B&M alum pan. I'm a big fan (have it on my motorhome and truck). The pan costs about $170. Here are the benefits in my point of view:

- thick alum gasket ridge (no warping, good seal always).
- extra 2-3 quart capacity (more fluid to disperse heat...).
- drain plug (never have to drop pan again to change fluid).
- can drill and tap your trans temp sensor into pan (not the ideal spot, but is quick and easy if you current have no temp gauge).
- alum pan disapates the heat quicker.

As others have mentioned, changing or dropping the pan is more messy than hard. Undo the bolts and pry the pan down (gasket usually sticks). I usually leave a couple of the front bolts in then pry the pan just direct the oil a little bit.

Regarding the B&M pan swap. There are a couple challenging bolts when putting the deeper pan on (near the crossmember). The mounting lip is so thick and rigid I was able to leave 1 bolt out. Torqued the others, no leaks, no problems.
A filter extension, but the install directions are pretty good if you have the pan off then orientate yourself by looking at the valve body and comparing it to the install pics.
In either case, if you feel you don't want to attempt this yourself, I can't see a shop charging you more than 1 hrs labor to do this.

I've never taken the transfer case out, but there is a drain and fill plug. Simple drain the fluid, screw the drain plug back in, remove the fill plug, fill transfer case and screw the fill back in. This is how it works on my 96 anyway. No pan or filter I know of???

Good luck.

[MTTwister]

BigMikeO - look at - http://forum.thedieselpage.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=006074

John C has an easy way to get fluids out of the tranny. Some left in the pan after the first step, but much less messy - "less" being the operative word. Just went through this ballet on mine. Toughest part was getting to the rear pan bolts with the support block in the way. Couldn't they have made that 1/4" narrower 'up front' for clearance? < or whatever that is in mm smile.gif >
10mm bolts, btw.
Torx head and metric nuts to get the shield off to get at the transfer case. Drain and Fill plugs. Could make use of a pump bottle, or a turkey baster. I used a funnel, hose setup, but not anywhere near Ideal method to re-fill.

[BigMikeO]

Thanks everyone

I will be trying this in a couple weeks.

Mike

[rjwest]

Just did the B$M Pan install. 10-20 degrees
cooler than before with 3000lb truck camper., Rear bolts to big, used 2 GM original bolts, just enough threads to tighten, ( not overtorqued ).

Directions some what lacking, Called tech suppoirt,
quick answer, to questions...