Transmission Rebuild in Progress: I'm in the really school now for VX OWNERS! WANTED!

[CowboyErik]

Guys, I'm not here to drag down our VX's, but not to parade and blow sunshine on the ISUZU name that has DESERTED us here in the United States; we have an engine failure poll for a reason, and evidence that the heart, the Janpanese engine of countless VX's were manufactured defective, installed then SOLD here in the USA, DEFECTIVE, burn oil, drain back holes, and the engines run filthy, carbon build up to total clog in our intake manifolds. My VX loves oil almost as much as gas!
When my radiator core blew and I limped home, I once again service my tranny; THEN I found I WHAT tranny was in it, and I was SHOCKED to find it was a GENERAL MOTORS tranny, made in FRANCE, installed in Japan. So I looked up historical info on the 4L30E and found that it's really not the right tranny for the VX especially for 4WD all the time. It is not. It is not made towing. And the radiator's intercooler is a joke, it does not cool. I will post pics illustrating the stock radiator's intercooler portion. We all gotta rebuild now and install real intercoolers and totally by-pass the radiator to preserve our beloved VX's!

[vt_maverick]

... and evidence that the heart, the engine of countless VX's were manufactured, installed and SOLD here in the USA...

I don't know of any VX engines manufactured in the US. Does Jasper or somebody else make replacements? I don't think anyone (other than blacksambo maybe) is arguing that Isuzu is perfect. We're just saying maybe your having a bit of an overreaction.

[vt_maverick]

Oh and I wouldn't call throwing in the towel on the US passenger vehicle market as "deserting" us. If anything I applaud their common sense in pulling out once it was clear the couldn't compete. I wonder if GM and Chrysler would have deserted their owners had the US government not bailed them out? Isuzu continues to make good on their warranties through GM service centers and still provides parts through former dealerships. What else would you have them do?

[chadzu]

I have two 4l30e's in the fleet right now. The trooper I have had since 50k its now at 250k, no tranny problems. I added the vx this summer and it is at 185k, tranny is working fine.
I live at 5000 ft, and I wonder if the reduced power helps the trannys live, but I have had no trouble with either of mine.

[HeckaTrebeka]

Hey, yo Erik. Erik. I'm really sorry for you and Imma let you finish, but GM HAD ONE OF THE BEST TRANNIES OF ALL TIME.

...


But seriously. You had a bad experience. I'm guessing you're not the original owner of that VX and you don't know what the previous owner(s) have put it through. Maybe you can chill out a little on the caps lock, and perhaps look for other solutions, or follow your own advice to rebuild your trans every 75k.

[LeglizHemp]

well, my motor finally gave out this summer at 78,000. i didn't get it fixed right away and parked it. 3 weeks ago i decided was cheaper to get a new motor than a new car so 5k for new motor. picked up the car 2 weeks ago. after a week i noticed some leakage. i took it in today, figured somethin not tight. called this afternoon to have them look at the brakes while its back in there. they don't even let me get that far and say the manager needs to speak with me. transmission is shot. i'm not real happy, mostly because i wouldn't have put in a new motor if i knew it needed a new trans. oh well i guess i'll be driving a vehicross for a long long time now if i gonna put this kinda cash into it. i wonder if i could find someone who wants to buy a vehicross with new motor and new trans for ....hmmmmmmm

i do still love drivin it though and it still gets more stares than the purple SSR i drove while it was down.

[FlyingV77]

What exactly is the weak link in our tranys? Can't seem to find it in the 100ks of posts. Is it the case or the internals? I'm back to work and ill be doing an engine swap and need to know wha I have to upgrade in the drivetrain to keep the tod

[Ldub]

I'm back to work and ill be doing an engine swap and need to know wha I have to upgrade in the drivetrain to keep the tod

Howz about a clutch...

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...ight=speed+TOD

[Scott Larson]

My advice, take it or leave it, service the damn thing regularly with quality oil and filter and never, ever, ever, ever flush it OR run it out of fluid, EVER!!!!!

[LeglizHemp]

.

[Leon R]

My advice, take it or leave it, service the damn thing regularly with quality oil and filter and never, ever, ever, ever flush it OR run it out of fluid, EVER!!!!!

I do not know how many times I have seen people having a tranny failure after a flush! You ether flush your tranny 20-30k miles or... NEVER!! EVER!!! Just drain the fluid and change the filter, per manual.

LeglizHemp, it is possible that your shop flushed the tranny when did an engine swap... So your tranny could have been OK before all the work. But you will never get them to admit to possibly causing this failure.

But, I am curious to hear what usually fails in these trannies! Can those parts be upgraded?

All the people running superchargers are pushing 30-40% extra torque through the these trannies, how many failure are they reporting?

[LeglizHemp]

just went to have a talk with the dealer about tranny faliure. he says sometimes when changing out an engine things move and a problem you never noticed pops up. i asked him to pull my service records to look at 60k service, 3 yrs ago. shows they did maintenance on transfer cases and differentials but nothing to tranny. i remember asking them about that and being told not neccesary. he also said typically they do not touch the tranny until at least 90k miles, no fluid no filter no nothing.

i guess it really doesn't matter, its out of warranty anyhow,and won't drive without transmission. i did not scream or yell and maybe it will pay off. i'm also getting new brake discs and brake pads and new wipper arms. lol i think i'm gonna get a free detail job out of it.

[mborodi]

lol.. I've run mine across the USA.. I know eventually I will have to do tranny work.. Im not a wrench turner.. but I am obsessed with my Proton.. I would no sooner rebuild the tranny @ 75K than I would take a sledge hammer to the body.. I would hope any VX'r would not jump the gun and take every bit of information & run with it.. homework, homework! the price looks good, but not all mechanic's are created equal..


Can you imagine if deermagnet, at nearly 300K miles, was about to do his 4th rebuild?

Erik-
This is an active group of MANY obssessed owners.....many of whom are actual wrenchers.
Many know the history, details, lineage and provenance of every single part/component of this truck. It just doesn't make any logical sense that your mechanic has just discovered some new, unknown info about the tranny in this 11-14 year old vehicle.

They've taken apart/repaired/replaced/adjusted/modified/broken/bled on/changed etc...many of the major components of the truck, like the engine and tranny.
With the VAST amount of experienced people on this forum, who know this truck forward and backwords, do you really think NONE of them would have commented on this tranny issue before?

Like Tom said, I don't mean to question your tranny shop, but I'm 100% certain the many experienced wrenchers on this forum, know the VX far better than the guy you're dealing with.

[LeglizHemp]

ya know, after doing a little more online research, i'm wondering if my transmission needs to be rebuilt. i've never had any trouble with it before the engine swap and only trouble after was it was leaking. it needs like 3 seals fixed and they say they found clutch material in the fluid. maybe i should have them just fix the seals and move on and see what happens. any thoughts on this idea?

[nfpgasmask]

This is a funny thread, and I am going to go out on a limb here and sort of agree with the OP a little, that the 4L30E is not the "best part" of the Isuzu VehiCROSS by any means. That said, I do not think it is a "bad" transmission, it is just a weak point and a severe pain in the boot to maintenance. Thus, many owners fail or their shops fail to do a good job at regular intervals with fluid and filters.

I bought my VX with 24,000 miles on it, and within the first week of ownership, I was slamming gears between 1st and 2nd. I then drained the tranny fluid and my fluid, at 25,000 miles, was BLACK and BURNT. I don't know how this could have happened on such a young tranny, but it is FACT. I have since been using Mobile-1 ATF with good results, changing fluid and filter ever 30-35,000 miles.

I think the tranny, when properly and diligently maintained, is a fine auto tranny for a VehiCROSS in stock configuration. Also, I am pretty sure, the VehiCROSS was NOT meant to be used for TOWING. I also think, it was NOT MEANT to be used for ROCK CRAWLING. So you cannot judge a transmission in a vehicle based on using it for something other than what it was intended.

That said, I do agree, that an Isuzu MUA5 5-speed of sorts or an Aisin auto would have been a MUCH better choice. But we have to remember that it was a partnership with GM that most likely put the 4L30E under our beloved VXes. And it was ALSO GM that screwed Isuzu up in the United States. Honestly, I cannot blame Isuzu for pulling out of the horrid passenger vehicle market in the US at the time. It is sad and unfortunate but it happened to a lot of marques and Isuzu just happened to be one of them.

Bart