Best and Worst Transmissions

[Kestas]

That's right, benjamming. You're in a minority. Survey says people want mashmallow shifts. Shift character is highly engineered into a transmission's design.

Fortunately, when I had my Cutlass transmission rebuilt, the mechanic asked me what kind of shift quality I wanted. I had him firm up the shifts a bit, and it came out perfectly.... nice, firm shifts without jolting me.

 

[Oldswagon]

Best:

GM TH400
C-6 Ford

Both very strong, great firm HD shifts, simple and reliable.

Worst:

Ford E4OD - how could anyone make something based on a C-6 so bad?

I noticed the 4L60E was mentioned a couple of times. I have actually had decent luck with that trans so far. Had a '84 Parisienne wagon with a TH700-R4 (the 4L60E's predecessor) that went 180,000 miles before it started to slip. That was also with NO tranny services EVER, and mostly city miles.

My current Suburban has a 4L60E with 174K miles on it. Still shifts great (knock on wood), but was serviced regularly and has a HD auxillary cooler.

A friend of mine had a '91 K1500 with a 4L60 (ie 700-R4) that went 250K miles before it blew up. That included having overheated it twice while towing, and much abuse (the truck was lifted with 35s).

 

[74DartSport]

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Thats funny. The Tranny is what I consider the weak link in my Dodge Ram.

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And it's because of that soft engagement. I know several plow operators who had theirs re-programmed after seeing other's cook their trans after a couple of weeks of plowing when the new Rams rolled out in the mid 90's.

 

[nascarnation]

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A very experienced transmission mechanic told me that new transmissions have components made of stamped and punched steel, where the old transmission designs would have used forged or cast components. He was very dismayed with the quality put into modern transmissions.

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He's correct, but different processes don't have to mean weaker parts if they are designed properly.

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Like I've said before, it seems like we've taken a step backward with progress. Any money we've gained with fuel efficiency by introducing 4-spd transmissions and lockup torque converters is spent on repairing these units later on. The 3-spds decades ago didn't seem to need any repair for the life of the vehicle.

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although the vehicle "life" back then was generally about half what we are expecting now.

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The only gain is that automakers can claim higher EPA gas mileage for bragging rights, which mean nothing to the person that wants to go from A to B as cheaply as possible for the life of the car.

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federal CAFE laws certainly comes into play here also

 

[mcrn]

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didn't the SHO have Yamaha made v8?

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Yes sir.

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I thought the SHO had a Yamaha supercharged V6?

 

[Curious Kid]

As for the trans shift firmness, I think it would have been nice to have a selecter switch for this rather than "economy/sport" mode - 850 volvo.

 

[Curious Kid]

I failed to mention that with the 850's auto transmission ('95 model year), I was surprised to find that it doesn't have any filtration, just a magnetic drain plug. When I added a magnifine filter I found that there was some material (not metalic as I recall but white/tan in color), floating around in the fluid. I don't believe it was from my catch container.

 

[PowerPeeCee]

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didn't the SHO have Yamaha made v8?

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Yes sir.

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I thought the SHO had a Yamaha supercharged V6?

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First and Second Generation Taurus SHOs were V6s, the 3rd Gen was a V8. with a catastrophic failure problem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Taurus

 

[55Test]

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I thought the SHO had a Yamaha supercharged V6?

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Nope. Normally aspirated V6. The later SHO's had a Yamaha V8.

 

[55Test]

You should see the reaction when I tell people there was a V8 Taurus.

 

[DJ]

The 4L60E can be a great transmission biggest reason it gets a bad rap is when someone does have one fail the shop they trust to rebuild it usually does a poor job.
The 90s b-bodies(think 94-6 Impala SS as the most identifiable) are my car of choice, people blame the electronic controls for the increased number of tranny failures over the older TBI cars but neglect to consider the 30% power increase the engine got the same year as the tranny went electronic, not to mention these cars are 400+lbs heavier than the 80s bodystyle. 30% more power+ 10% more weight equals a heck of a lot more abuse.
At 100k I hada preventative rebuild because I was planning on engine modification, chose a good shop that just could not handle this tranny, lasted little more than a year and still just barely started engine modification.
Then I went with a more proven shop that was better able to handle my performance goals that was over 3 years ago and I have literally more than doubled the HP the car has, at a 4150lbs raceweight with me it will lift the drivers front tire a few inches off the ground.
I know other guys running nitrous in heavier cars than mine with pretty good reliability out of the bone stock 4L60E, one friend was aiming for 10 second time slips on a GM remanufactured 4L60E when the 250shot proved a bit too much for the stock pistons, he made 100+ passes on 175hp shot on that stock shortblock and GM reman tranny just this summer before he got greedy and wanted that 10.9 instead of the usual 11.2-3.

I actually had more problems with a New Process 1-3-OD manual tranny I had in a 84 K-10, my Dad had an 85 with the same tranny and both of us had repeated bearing issues. Don't know if it is true but one shop told me it was designed for diesels and the gas engine rpms were what hurt the bearings.

 

[peterr]

Manual
Best: Porsche 016R 5 speed manual in my Porsche 944 Turbo. Very Precise. Very German.
Worst: Chrysler A525 5-speed manual in a LeBaron GTS of my brother. Worst clutch feel ever. Absolutely guesswork but at least the car talked.

Automatic:
Best: Second generation Acura Integra 4 speed OD. Throttle control.
Worst: Chrysler A413 automatic in a Plymouth Shadow. Worthless to begin with and failed repeatedly. "Repairs" lasted momentary periods.

 

[thrace]

Bad trans? Honda auto in Acura TL 1999 to 2003, CL 1999 to 2003, MDX 2001-2, Honda Odyssey 4 and 5 speed 1999-2003, some Accords 1999-2002. These are 4 and 5 speed units. They often fail before the first scheduled fluid change so that owner maintenance is usually not the cause. Bad design and manufacture cause failures.
Those above are worse than Ford AX4S and AX4N of similar years in the Taurus.

 

[EricZoom]

Jatco 5 spd. ATX in the 03-04 Mazda6. Poor design - sloppy shifting,runs hot. Cross your fingers it makes it to 50k miles.

 

[peterr]

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Jatco 5 spd. ATX in the 03-04 Mazda6. Poor design - sloppy shifting,runs hot. Cross your fingers it makes it to 50k miles.

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Is that the same Mazda tranny that was in the early Mazda5? There was some issue where if you left that vehicle in Manumatic mode it would never shift out of second, would rev up to redline on highway speeds and burn itself out.

I got a 2006 Mazda3 in the summer as my wagon queen family truckster. The spousal equivalent drives it daily, for me its just a family trip thing. Still, I would have preferred the Mazdaspeed3 with the 6speed and Turbo but she does not drive stick.

Anyhow long story short, I really like the Mazda 5 speed Auto/Manumatic thing in this car. One of the better auto trannys i have driven. Way way way better than the 2000 Honda Civic or 1996 Toyota corolla ATXs that were the predecessor in the "family truckster" role.

 

[caprice_2nv]

I think one of the biggest things is driving habits. This week I rode with my 20 year old sister in my mom's 99 Olds Alero with the 3400V6 and 4T40E with around 135K miles on it. It has been serviced only once at 130K at the dealership I worked at when i insisted my mom do it. I realized my sister when she drives it does not know how to treat a transmission. Cruising at 50-60mph she constantly lets off the gas enough for the lockup t/c to disengage before stepping on the gas again, so it locks and unlocks about 50times in one half hour drive where it would only do it a few times with me driving. This is what kills most newer O/D Lockup trans.

I've also had 1 700R4 transmission with 150K slipped 1-2 shift for 30K at least i think due to lack of maintenance i changed it sometime after 125K.

Also had several 2004R transmissions GM's overdrive in a lot of 1981 to 1990 G bodies and B bodies, no problems with any of them.

3 TH250C's no problems. TH350's no problems.

 

[GMBoy]

While I like the 4L60E in my 94 corvette because it shifts so smooth with normal driving yet nice and crisp when hot rodding it, it has giving me trouble. Right now, the transmission has no engine braking when manually downshifting to 2nd or 1st gear. I can;t "hold the gear" when in 2 or 1. As soon as you let off the gas instead of holding the gear, the trans just coasts until you press the gas again. The only issue, runs perfectly otherwise. Since I don't shift manually all the time, I haven't fixed it. But it still p&^**es me off. I change the fluid/filter at 30k intervals and use Mobil 1.

The 200 in my 1987 Grand National has been flawless all these years and never once failed. I just drop the pan and change the fluid and filter every 30k or so with Mobil 1. Car has 67k now with plenty of mods that add to the transmissions burden.

My 2006 GMC Sierra Denali pickup went back to the dealership 2x for transmission problems. 1st at 600miles and 2nd at 1100 miles. Finally turned out to be a defective torque converter. Never left me stranded, though - just started shifting so hard it'll snap your neck. I'll keep with the Dexron 6 when I do a fluid service at about 40-50k.
Truck has 10k on it now and no more issues since.

Just sold my 2001 Old Aurora 4.0 to get the Denali, trans in the car was nice, but started to notice some strange shifting patterns just before selling it. Never did service the trans, but it had 41k when sold.

Now, the T150 3 spd manual in my old '78 Jeep CJ7 and the AW4 in my 2000 Cherokee Limited (XJ) have been no trouble at all. The CJ has 200k on that trans/transfer case combo and the Cherokee has 76k.

Not sure what I'm trying to say here, but just wanted to share my experiences...

 

[Ray H]

Hmmm... Nothing about Hyundai automatics.

 

[Black Bart]

How good a tranny is depends on what it is behind. The dodge truck has problems behind the turbo Cummins but would probably do fine with a lower torque engine.
Many vehicles mentioned in this thread have engine not much bigger than a lawn mower.
Would not take much of a gear box to hold up behind them.

I have a 1989 Corvette with a manual ZF-6 speed it has 1178 horsepower at the flywheel 1038 at the rear wheels and with 12.6 inch wide sticky rear tires It has took six years of beating on it without a problem. This tranny was used in the 89 and 90 Corvette but the large gears made a slight whine and the Corvette owners whined about the noise so GM cured the noise by putting much smaller gears in every corvette from 91 up.
Now that don't make noise they just break
I believe the new ones use a tremac and they are pretty good also.

 

[GMBoy]

1178hp? Stock tranny? Doesn't add up to me.