first few years of the 4L80E. bad transmission?

[84CUCV]

three of these in my family now. my uncles truck is fixed now. hes the best out of the three. his is a 2000 replacement.
The two with the problems are both 91s. took them to a few shops. both said that the early years are weak with aluminum pistons and some kinda wiring problem. both shift really hard. he said there is nothing to do. other then rebuild. drive them to there shot. then rebuild. they cost a lot to rebuild.

any ideas or should i just start saving for a rebuild? thanks

 

[boz42]

Mine started asting like that & I was told the same, one day it stopped shifting cause the a shift seloniod crapped out. i replaced it, but it was too late. Had to have a complete rebuild. I updated the harness too. It requires splicing the truck's wiring harness, but it is no biggee.

 

[jonathon]

Mine was replaced by the dealer in 1998 at zero cost to the owner at the time, and the truck had 53k on it. No idea why, but I figure if they footed the bill something must've been known bad.

 

[Avery4jc]

They've been hit or miss for our family... my sister's C2500 had the entire tranny rebuilt at 80k but my k3500 has 130,000 on the original and it's still in great shape (knock on wood)!

 

[84CUCV]

thanks, anyone know where i can find out more about these problems?

 

[rob h]

About a 6 of us here have that trans and the highest mileage one is 150,000 miles, mine has 89,000 on it . I have been changing the filter and fluid every 20,000 miles and has been good

 

[84CUCV]

i have been changing the filter and fluid too. helped a little bit

 

[kennyw]

It really comes down to how they were taken care of before you got them... They are 200x better than the Ford E4OD in the early years at least.

 

[b454rat]

My old 97 has over 150k on it, still works like a charm. (knock on wood) I bought it has 57-ish, did the tranny flush thing, and didnt' drive it hard. Only towed with it once, NY to CO and back towing my car. Buddy is the same way, did a filter and fluid, still works great.

 

[86-1ton]

i read somewhere (Alldata i think, as i'm a college kid) that early 4L80's with a certain vin code had bad transmissions and there was a Service Bulletin out for them to be replaced...

 

[84CUCV]

i will look into that

 

[84CUCV]

old post. i looked into it. could not find a things about a bulletin on the trans ..

 

[rdn2blazer]

So a 4L80e out of a 2002 3/4 ton 4x4 burb should be a good one correct??