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The Glitter Machine: How Bad Can You Possibly Nuke A 4L60E?


The Glitter Machine: How Bad Can You Possibly Nuke A 4L60E?

The best lesson I learned last year? I hate…HATE…working on automatics. It’s one thing to know how they operate, but either take the time to learn properly with a teacher that will go over stuff with you and follow up the classroom stuff with ten years of shop work, or just suck it up and pay the money. The A904 transmission that our Imperial project had was the most aggravation of the year. We could’ve been putting miles on the car if second gear would’ve actually marched in time with the rest of the parts, but nope. And it wasn’t even the first dead transmission in the last twenty years! The TH400 that was in the Cadillac limo sent first gear to the great beyond after one very angry human did a valve-floating neutral drop in genuine, unabashed rage. Prior to that, the last time I had sincere transmission issues was 1998, the day my mother shifted the TH350 in my Impala from drive to reverse while moving in an effort to keep the car from stalling out. That noise will haunt you.

But if I had to pick one transmission that is most notorious for it’s ability to pack it’s own bags and head out, it’s GM’s 4L60E automatic. The electronically-controlled four-gear is the source of the jokes about “adding another neutral” and what happens when you ask for a 1-2 shift at wide-open throttle (hint: looks a lot like a 1/4 ratchet with a lot of step-up extensions to a 2″ nut being spun by an impact wrench set on “I warned you”) and is renowned for turning gears to glitter before you can say, “Was that slip?” It wasn’t meant to be a powerhouse gearbox. It was meant to happily move cube vans full of furniture across the country…and even that is in question. Proper care and gentle use means that you will have a happy transmission. You can use your imagination as to what happened to these poor units…


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5 thoughts on “The Glitter Machine: How Bad Can You Possibly Nuke A 4L60E?

  1. Steve

    These videos are awesome! Precision transmission has a whole bunch on the Youtubes and they seem to know what they are talking about! Great stuff and the information they give you on what to look for and what to do is awesome!

  2. Piston Pete

    The 4L60E in my Astro didn’t exactly grenade, just sorta busted, but the B+M model it was replaced with chirped 2nd gear even with the six . . . til it hydrolocked.

  3. Bkbridges

    I’m nursing my “new” zf Quattro 5spd in my 2000 audi a8 (thanks dad…) If it blows again the whole thing gets towed to the scrap yard.

  4. tw

    Never had a problem in my 94 cheyenne 1500 . Towed my 3000 lbs drag car with it . Added a second trans cooler for safety .

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