Lost the Transmission Today - WED 10/2 Update
*Update at end of thread* Well at 144K miles it finally gave up. Had a great drive today down to Western KY for some camping. Campsite was challenging to say the least...trees on both sides of th...
Forum Discussion
Well it has been an interesting week...I am still camped in the same spot waiting for the truck to get done. Good news is the trans is installed and ready to go. Bad news is that they had to drop the right side exhaust pipe to remove the trans and the manifold flange came apart in 4 pieces in the process...see part #5 in this diagram.
The flange is press fit onto the pipe and is only available as an assembly. Of course nobody makes an aftermarket one so was only available through GM. Dealer ordered on Wed last week and it didn't make it by Friday. The shop is closed weekends, so hopefully the pipe will show up tomorrow and he will get it all back together. The trans is in, all other work is done, just waiting on this part. Since it bolts to flanges on both ends, it should be a quick install....hopefully no issues on the road test.
Shop showed me the old pipe, apparently somebody attempted to repair this previously and did not do a good job. Looked like somebody used a small MIG machine and globbed on metal around the outside of the joint where the pipe meets the flange in an attempt to fill in a crack. No penetration of any sort so it was not even a weld as much as it was globs of metal stuck to the outside of the flange. Will try to post a pic if he still has the pipe when I pick the truck up.
Only two possibilities are the shop that did my exhaust manifold gaskets about 3 yrs ago in NY or the local shop that changed the muffler out in the spring. Neither mentioned having to do any welding on this flange. It's not repairable at this point because there is a groove that runs around the sealing surface of the flange to accept the gasket, so if the flange pieces were welded back together, that groove would need to be re-machined to accept the gasket. Would cost more than the $400 that GM wants for the pipe.
Expectations at this point are that the pipe arrives tomorrow, the shops gets it buttoned up and I can pick up the truck Tues AM and get the heck out of here. DD #1 lives in town nearby (why I was here in the first place) has been coming out to visit and bring supplies...she is tied up with work/classes tomorrow so earliest time I can get a ride to the shop is Tues. Went to the BBQ festival in Paducah yesterday.
I was supposed to enroute home exactly 1 week ago today...the camp worker just came by and hung a "reserved" sign on my sire for this Thurs, and that would be my 14 day limit anyways...if truck is not fixed by Wed I will need to deal with moving the trailer somehow.
The good news in all this is that the shop is doing the right job and replacing that pipe...they could have slapped some JB weld on it and said screw it, will hold for a few months. Disappointed that whoever did the botched weld job didn't do that when they should have...both of those jobs were local for me at the time and would not have stranded me on the road paying nightly campsite fees....
The flange is press fit onto the pipe and is only available as an assembly. Of course nobody makes an aftermarket one so was only available through GM. Dealer ordered on Wed last week and it didn't make it by Friday. The shop is closed weekends, so hopefully the pipe will show up tomorrow and he will get it all back together. The trans is in, all other work is done, just waiting on this part. Since it bolts to flanges on both ends, it should be a quick install....hopefully no issues on the road test.
Shop showed me the old pipe, apparently somebody attempted to repair this previously and did not do a good job. Looked like somebody used a small MIG machine and globbed on metal around the outside of the joint where the pipe meets the flange in an attempt to fill in a crack. No penetration of any sort so it was not even a weld as much as it was globs of metal stuck to the outside of the flange. Will try to post a pic if he still has the pipe when I pick the truck up.
Only two possibilities are the shop that did my exhaust manifold gaskets about 3 yrs ago in NY or the local shop that changed the muffler out in the spring. Neither mentioned having to do any welding on this flange. It's not repairable at this point because there is a groove that runs around the sealing surface of the flange to accept the gasket, so if the flange pieces were welded back together, that groove would need to be re-machined to accept the gasket. Would cost more than the $400 that GM wants for the pipe.
Expectations at this point are that the pipe arrives tomorrow, the shops gets it buttoned up and I can pick up the truck Tues AM and get the heck out of here. DD #1 lives in town nearby (why I was here in the first place) has been coming out to visit and bring supplies...she is tied up with work/classes tomorrow so earliest time I can get a ride to the shop is Tues. Went to the BBQ festival in Paducah yesterday.
I was supposed to enroute home exactly 1 week ago today...the camp worker just came by and hung a "reserved" sign on my sire for this Thurs, and that would be my 14 day limit anyways...if truck is not fixed by Wed I will need to deal with moving the trailer somehow.
The good news in all this is that the shop is doing the right job and replacing that pipe...they could have slapped some JB weld on it and said screw it, will hold for a few months. Disappointed that whoever did the botched weld job didn't do that when they should have...both of those jobs were local for me at the time and would not have stranded me on the road paying nightly campsite fees....
