2018 Chevy Silverado 3500 Serviced

Marcozi said:
An ATF exchange is a bit beyond what an shade tree mechanic can do. This typically requires disconnecting the ATF cooler lines and hooking them up to a machine. The pump in the transmission is used to exchange the old for the new.

$80 an hour!?!?!!! Around these parts the hourly rate is about $150.
Click to expand...
Disconnect the cooler line, pump and fill as you go. I can't count the amount of time I have done it on my trucks. It is easy on the GM HD stuff. Pump a quart or two at time fill and repeat until clean.

I have a 2017 3500HD. I did all of the minus the plugs and wires at like 38,000 miles. I am now at 42,500.
I will probably do the plugs and wires at around 60,000. I

I did replace the transmission pan with a PML 6L90E deep pan which has a drain plug unlike the stock pan.
It is nice because every other oil change I can do a drain and fill. The deep pan uses the stock filter and holds about
3 more quarts. Big reason why I did that was is this truck just tows. I have my travel trailer, boat, and the Submarine Veterans parade float.

It also good as GM recommends the service on the transfer case and 6L90E every 45,000 miles. I think the lack of people doing that kills them early.

I have to ask why Amsoil? The Dex VI is the proper fluid for the Transmission and Transfer case. I don't mess around with that. GM DEX VI or I wait until I can find it. I don't like putting anything else in those items, but I digress, I think the best thing is keeping the fluid in those cleaned and serviced every 45,000 miles.

That isn't a bad price for all that stuff. I found the biggest pain to be the coolant and getting all the air out. The rest of the stuff is pretty straight forward, but I have a nice garage and all the tools to do it.

I had the dealer do the first transmission service on the Caprice 6L80E, fluid exchange and I sat with the guy and chatted about the cam install while he was doing it. I told him I would leave, he said he liked the company. Took about 2 hours. The Caprice is difficult to do with no dipstick and the car has to be perfectly level to check the fluid out of a weep hole. Took longer for the tech to get lines off and on than anything else. It cost about 100 bucks more for the dealer to complete the service then if I had done it at home, so at the time it was worth it to me. I have since added a dipstick, Camaro Deep pan and CTS-V wide mouth filter. Now I can do it myself at home.
 
Last edited:
Phishin said:
No doubt I could have saved myself some money, but here's what it would have cost to buy the materials myself:
8 Iridium plugs: $120
Amsoil ATF: $380 (tranny and transfer case)
Amsoil Gear Lube for Axles: $100
Coolant: $50

So that's $650. Yep, I could have saved $500, but it sure was nice sitting in the dealership, looking at some Medium Duties (6500 4X4's), drinking coffee, and thumbing through my work emails on my phone while someone else was under the truck getting those hard to reach rear plugs out from the wheel wells and unhooking/moving the exhaust so they can drop the tranny pan.
Click to expand...
Did they have to move the exhaust to drop the pan? I wouldn't have thought they’d need to. On my 2008 3/4 ton, the pan can be dropped without touching the exhaust.
 
Sounds like you’ve taken excellent care of your vehicle. I’ve always thought that if you’re getting good service and the work is excellent price to some extent is secondary. Someone I trust and does good work is always more important than price.
 
wtd said:
As long as they did all of these services with the fluids they said they did.

Years ago on my new Chevy truck, I took it to the dealer to get the front end greased because I didn't feel like doing it. I ended up checking their work anyway and all of the grease fittings that were behind the front skid plate, they never touched. I ended up doing those myself because I didn't have time to take it back but I called them and told them what a crappy job someone had done. Needless to say, I didn't take it back for any type of maintenance.
Click to expand...
Yeah but at least if you had pushed the issue a bit more they probably would have thrown you a bone or two.
 
Nesterenko said:
Yeah but at least if you had pushed the issue a bit more they probably would have thrown you a bone or two.
Click to expand...
I didn't want to take my truck back there after that anyway so them throwing me a bone was pointless. If they can't handle a simple grease job then I don't want them working on my vehicles.
 
wtd said:
I didn't want to take my truck back there after that anyway so them throwing me a bone was pointless. If they can't handle a simple grease job then I don't want them working on my vehicles.
Click to expand...
You may be right but they also might do a good job next time knowing they're under more scrutiny. It is what it is though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wtd
Good job. My 6.0 in my 2008 3/4 ton Chevy is at 240,000 running mostly 5w30 Synthetic, AC Delco 6 in the transmission, and various synthetic lubes in the diffs. One item to check are the bolts on the exhaust manifold. They tend to break. I didn’t repair mine. I just ran a bead of Permatex copper along the flanges as they were leaking a bit.
 
Snagglefoot said:
Regarding plug wires, IMHO, they are not normally a wear item. I have 230,000 miles on mine on a 2008 6.0. Sure, it they start to fail, change them all.
Click to expand...

Plugs aren't a wear item? That's a new one. That's awesome you got 230k miles out of your plugs, but I'm staying safe with 100k mile changes.
 
To be honest, plug wires need to be discussed in further depth. There are conventional style plug wires that grandpa had to contend with and more modern plug wires like the ones on Chevy LS engines that have been around for over 15 years on multi coil systems. Those plug wires have barely any length to them and are much less prone to failure. Mine have over 230,000 miles on them.
 
Sorry man. I misread that for sure.

But yeah, I agree now. In my head, once the first cylinder drops, I'll replace all the coils and wires at that time. But I assume it will be awhile.

I just hit 150k on my 2018 Silverado 3500. I might do this coil/wire swap at 300k as a PM if nothing fails by then. My Honda Accord has almost 300k miles, and the coils are still rock solid.

Finally, yes, I agree on the actual plugs. I was amazed at how well they looked at 100k miles. I changed them because it was on the schedule, but also because I do healthy runs with Gumout Regane and figured there might be some ash on the plugs. However, very little on the plugs when removed.
 
The few times I dealt with LS plug wires, they refused to release the plug and pulled apart. Granted, back then I was using my hands and perhaps some good boot pliers would have prevented this, but I doubt it as they do nothing to release the clip on the nub of the plug.

I've also had Subaru boxer wires pull apart (and you're not getting boot pliers on those) and Dodge Magnum wires, too

Whenever I'm doing a plug job on anything not-COP I quote wires, too. YMMV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Impressed with Krown: 2018 Silverado 3500
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
KrisZ
D
2020 Silverado 1500 brake flush confusion.
Replies
4
Views
224
The Critic
P
6L90 Transmission Decision
2
Replies
20
Views
2K
Snagglefoot
P
Oxygen sensors failing on 2018 Silverado 3500
2
Replies
28
Views
4K
TheLastWord
C
6L90 codes
Replies
6
Views
311
CheezWhiz
Back
Top Bottom