GM 4L30E trans question

[whiskychaser]

Not sure if just disconnecting the battery will reset the adaptations or clear the fault code memory. It certainly needs to be done. My tool of choice would be DIS but I imagine INPA will do it just as well

[kouks]

Actually on the 1995 it does adapt. I found a procedure from Shogun.

1. Disconnect Pos and Neg battery cables, wire them together.
2. Place key in position 2 and wait 10 minutes
3. Reconnect, start car, let idle for 5 minutes, shut off for 5 minutes.

Other than that, the trans swap did not go well...

1. Installed trans and went for test drive, would not go into 4th gear
2. Talked with tech department of the company and troubleshot the process.
3. Disconnected the electrical lead to trans to force it into 4th (both solenoids are OFF in 4th), did not work
4. Dropped pan and took solenoids from OE trans and install in the reman, did not work
5. Cleaned the shift position switch, did not work

Reman worked fine in Sport mode (only uses gears 1-3 anyway), and in Manual mode up to 3rd gear, would not go into 4th when in Manual/Drive.

Finally the company and I agreed the reman was not completed correctly and 4th is dead. So instead of me doing another trans swap in the garage and spending 2 days under the car, I gave up and took the OE trans to a local rebuild shop. They will swap it with the reman and the reman company has agreed to take it back for a full refund.

Friday should be end of this story.

[whiskychaser]

What a sickener. There is only one consolation in this. You are least able to get your money back on the recon. Hope you get the car back on time and can put this behind you

[ross1]

That's a real bummer, sorry to hear this.
Incompetence is rampant. I hope the seller will be compensating for your troubles. Right.
Your option 2 in an earlier post now seems best because, as the old saying goes, if you want it done right do it yourself.

[kouks]

That's a real bummer, sorry to hear this.
Incompetence is rampant. I hope the seller will be compensating for your troubles. Right.
Your option 2 in an earlier post now seems best because, as the old saying goes, if you want it done right do it yourself.

Compensating me...are you kidding? They said they would send out another trans, I said great, I'm tired of working under the car, pay for the install, they said no, then I said I want a full refund. They were good about that though.

As far as option 2, you know how many times I though, "Should have done this myself, I'd be done by now for half the money".

My daughter is still driving it though until the OE gets done by Friday. She just stays in Sport mode and I told her no faster than 45mph to keep the RPMs low, perfectly fine for around town driving.

My plan was to have it painted by now, wanted to get that done before it got too chilly, even in Cali.

[ross1]

Yeah, I was kidding. I know it's too much to ask for them to take responsibility.
I'm also dealing with a situation that is costing me time & money over someone else's mistake which they refuse to own up to. Less $$ and aggravation than yours but I feel your pain.
At least the new hired gun needs to deliver a fully working vehicle before cashing a check.
Look at the bright side, you could have been dealing with a rust belt car and all the extra work that always presents.

[kouks]

The car came back from a local shop called Transmission Specialist (I think they are a nationwide chain) and it works great, like new actually, you can't feel the shifts barely. Autozone apologized profusely for the problem trans and the manager gave me a complete refund, he also filed a complaint with corporate against the company that supplied the trans, both for taking over 6 weeks to deliver it, then delivering a bad product.

The local shop owner and his tech had some friendly talks with me, I think they enjoyed that I worked on BMWs. They do a lot of BMW and Merc work. They showed me the problem.

Basically, the planetary gear (this is the main gear assembly in any transmission that takes the pressure from the clutches and transfers it to the drive shaft) started losing teeth in the central gear (called a Sun gear). This is why the car would not move when put into gear, the loose gear teeth would jam the gear system. Then my daughter would apply more gas pedal, and the gears would break free, breaking more teeth in the gear system every time this happened. The loose teeth also got into the 3rd gear clutch drum and about a third of the drum portion holding the retaining ring was gone. It was close to losing the gear altogether.

Apparently, when these trans get old, the planetary gear "grenading" itself is not uncommon. The tech said he has seen it many times on the 4L30E. He was able to get parts off some other lower mileage trans they had sitting in the shop and from a supply house in LA.

So now, I can finish the project by painting the car.

[ross1]

Glad for you that this is out of the way.
'gonna paint it yourself, right? right!

[kouks]

Ready for paint! Just joking, I would never do paint, except on minor small parts, like a Volvo lip maybe, which I have sitting in the garage....

[dxxxiiii]

Great thread. Thanks OP!
I have an 01 Isuzu Trooper, 172k, on it's THIRD GM 4L30E tranny. Original replaced under warranty at 110k. Second failed at about 140k, no warranty. Third one starting to go.
I guess it should be no surprise. Apparently many GM 4L30E's trannies were built by Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[ross1]

I'm curious about maintenance and usage. If not maintained failure at 110k isn't surprising, especially lugging around a 2 ton lump.
I suspect the subsequent replacements to have been poor quality re-mans. Mine is happily churning away at nearly a quarter million miles, albeit not burdened with the same payload.

[dxxxiiii]

I bought the rig new. My one and only brand new vehicle purchase.
Maintenance was done on schedule, by myself, dealership, and trusted indies.

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[ross1]

So what is the maintenance recommended(or not as BMW) for the trans? Did Isuzu also contend the trans was filled with "lifetime" fluid and no service needed?

[whiskychaser]

The Vauxhall Carlton/Opal Omega and Cadillac Catera all use the 4L30E. AFIK, they are the same car. The Vauxhall guys say they are supposed to be filled for life. GM say it is not even necessary to check the level unless you have a leak. You only need to change it at 50K miles under 'continuous, extreme operating conditions'.
https://files.spectralcoding.com/fil...%20Service.pdf
I suppose it depends on how long they thought the car would last

[Sleepyhead97]

I have 209k on my GM 4L30E. The transmission was built in France. My 97 doesn't like being pushed hard @ 90mph, ie do not floor it. Trans fail safe kicks inn but goes away after I turn car off start it and slowly get through to 3rd gear... Shut off then its normal again. I would buy a used one with guarantee than buy new or rebuilt. Guy out of Florida, Quarry Motors sells great stuff. That is where I got my m52 with 100k miles.. Running perfect.

[Jason5driver]

Hi !
I have a 1997 528i with a GM 4L30e , 4-speed transmission .
It wants to stay in 2nd gear , but shifts manually .
It is also slow to engage in Reverse .
I bought 2 new shift solenoids , and the Tcc solenoid .
I know there’s also the Brake Band Solenoid , the EPC pressure solenoid .
However , I’m not sure I need those .
I was wondering what you recommend ?
The car also has no power to reverse into the garage , like reverse has no power . Please let me know .
Thank you !
Jason