2005 GMC 3500 UPDATE

[ceaser_22000]

I have recently purchased 2005 GMC 3500 diesel 6.6. Drove the truck this morning everything was fine. When I left work truck shuddered between 50 and 60 mph when under acceleration transmission temp was 150 did the same thing last weekend under load and when not loaded. Problem goes away when transmission reaches 200 degrees any ideas of what this could be truck only has 97000 and 20 percent oil life left engine runs smooth at idle could this be a fuel filter issue.

Thanks Brian

[ceaser_22000]

Had transmission serviced Fuel filter changed as well truck seems to accelerate much smoother and so far no shutter

Thanks for all the good replys

[6_6_Oilburner]

drcook wrote:

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but you could have purchased an Edge insight monitor for around $300 for the older version (Which will be discontinued soon in favor of the $399 version) that will read all the info and PIDS you referenced. Im assuming whatever you purchased will read TCM codes, which is key on an Allison truck.

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but my diagnostic tool also does my 2007 Ranger and any domestic U.S. car/truck up through 2010 that uses OBD2. Diesels, gas, etc. I can also buy updates to get to current if I want. It will read and deal with airbags, body control modules, A/C issues ad nasueum.

Maybe you should have asked what I had before speaking out your a**.

Some of the 04.5 and 05 GMC and Chevy Duramax Allison trucks were notorious overheaters. GM lost lots of lawsuits on them. Due to health issues at the time, I was not able to get ours back into the mountains to film the heat issue and beat them in court and force a buyback.

So I fixed mine. This is part of the fix below.

There is something wrong with the OP's truck that needs diagnosed. A lot of these trucks change hands when the problems arise and the new owner gets stuck with the problem. I have recently spoke to a person that didn't know get stuck with putting in 6 injectors on a 2002 and another one surfaced and got bought that had bad head gaskets.

A head gasket job is 600 to 1000 to do it yourself and 4000 to 5000 at the dealer. Transmission issues can be equally expensive.

People that don't understand these trucks, or don't care can hurt the 04.5's and 05's very expensively.

You made no mention of whatever you purchased having the ability to read all the vehicle modules. So my assumption was an oversight, not @$$ spewing like you with your generalizations and out to lunch dollar figures on repairs for these trucks. The overheating trouble that very select LLYs go through is typically attributed starving for air and has very little to do with the cooling system itself. This is why the most common fix is an LBZ mouthpiece.

[larry_barnhart]

We are leaving Monday for a 2200 mile tow before going to Az. Our truck is another awesome 05 duramax dually that tows our 35 ft alpenlite very nicely.

chevman

[GoldWingRyder]

deltabravo wrote:

ceaser 22000 wrote:
Problem goes away when transmission reaches 200

Something is definitely wrong if the trans reaches 200 degrees while driving the truck around empty.

The only time mine gets to 180 is when towing, and a hot day.

The Allison is well known for running about 90 degrees above ambient temp when empty and about 100-110 above ambient temp when towing.

That's the temps I see on both of my Allisons.

Mine does as deltabravos truck, has since new.

[Norskeman]

I had a 2005 and traded it for a 2011. I would get some "shuttering" around 50 MPH. I think it is due to the length of the drive shaft and angle

I installed an edge insight CTS on my 2011 instead of pillar mount gauges.

The 2005 tranny ran hotter than my 2011. 200 to 205 degrees in the summer on the 2005 and 165 TO 180 on the 2011.

I use Transynd in both of the transmissions and Rotella T synthetic in the engine.

My 2005:
2005 Chevy Silverado CC LB 3500 SRW - LLY Duramax, Bed Rug bed liner, Bilstein shocks, Isspro gauges (boost and pyro), Luverrne SS running boards, Allison deep pan, PML diff. cover, Silverline 4" T304 SS CAT back exhaust, LT265/75R16, Air Lift air bags.

[crcr]

200 degrees trans temp is no problem at all and nothing to be concerned about. But as was suggested, get an Edge Insight Monitor and find out the actual trans temps off the vehicle computer.

[Golden_HVAC]

A new fuel filter will never hurt any engine. With diesel, it is particularly important to have a clean fuel filter.

Check the transmission fluid. If it looks dirty, then have all of it changed. For my Ford, I remove one of the oil cooler lines, and put it into a bucket, run the engine about 2-3 minutes to pump out most of the fluid from the transmission reservoir and torque converter. Then removing the pan and changing the filter in there is really easy. I found that the magnet inside the pan also has a lot of metal shavings on it when the RV was 15,000 miles on it.

If you are running 200F while not towing, then a larger transmission cooler will really help things out. . . If you live where it snows, then a self regulating cooler is required, where it would be bypassed until above around 180F.


Good luck,

Fred.

[FlatBroke]

I have a few Pita issues remedied by disconecting the battery and burping the computer. Clears out those old dead codes.

[drcook]

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but you could have purchased an Edge insight monitor for around $300 for the older version (Which will be discontinued soon in favor of the $399 version) that will read all the info and PIDS you referenced. Im assuming whatever you purchased will read TCM codes, which is key on an Allison truck.

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but my diagnostic tool also does my 2007 Ranger and any domestic U.S. car/truck up through 2010 that uses OBD2. Diesels, gas, etc. I can also buy updates to get to current if I want. It will read and deal with airbags, body control modules, A/C issues ad nasueum.

Maybe you should have asked what I had before speaking out your a**.

Some of the 04.5 and 05 GMC and Chevy Duramax Allison trucks were notorious overheaters. GM lost lots of lawsuits on them. Due to health issues at the time, I was not able to get ours back into the mountains to film the heat issue and beat them in court and force a buyback.

So I fixed mine. This is part of the fix below.

There is something wrong with the OP's truck that needs diagnosed. A lot of these trucks change hands when the problems arise and the new owner gets stuck with the problem. I have recently spoke to a person that didn't know get stuck with putting in 6 injectors on a 2002 and another one surfaced and got bought that had bad head gaskets.

A head gasket job is 600 to 1000 to do it yourself and 4000 to 5000 at the dealer. Transmission issues can be equally expensive.

People that don't understand these trucks, or don't care can hurt the 04.5's and 05's very expensively.

[6_6_Oilburner]

drcook wrote:
You should also have someone with a good code reader look and see if there are any historical codes. An Autozone type (cheap) will not see the historical codes. You may end up taking it to a dealer for diagnosis and code reading. GM garages use what is called a Tech2 (or above) to work on these trucks. The Tech2 is a 2 way diagnostic tool and can program/set switches in the CPU. I have a good, but 1 way scanner that lets me see everything about my truck. Unfortunately a good code reader/diagnostic tool is a bit north of $500.00. We spent $1200 but I can see the injector balance rates, all the other PIDS, rail pressure, commanded vs actual etc etc etc. There is a lot to these trucks.

If you take it to a dealer to have them scan it with a Tech2 they will be able to tell if someone stuck a different program into the ECM. If they did, they will (for a charge of course) reprogram the truck back to stock.

As long as that truck has not been hurt, it will make you a good platform once you get it tweaked back into shape.

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but you could have purchased an Edge insight monitor for around $300 for the older version (Which will be discontinued soon in favor of the $399 version) that will read all the info and PIDS you referenced. Im assuming whatever you purchased will read TCM codes, which is key on an Allison truck.


The OPs problem certainly doesn't sound good, but I will note that the Dashes in these trucks are not always spot on with the temp gauges and I would hook up a scan tool and see what the ECM data for trans temp is. 200* is high.

[drcook]

You should also have someone with a good code reader look and see if there are any historical codes. An Autozone type (cheap) will not see the historical codes. You may end up taking it to a dealer for diagnosis and code reading. GM garages use what is called a Tech2 (or above) to work on these trucks. The Tech2 is a 2 way diagnostic tool and can program/set switches in the CPU. I have a good, but 1 way scanner that lets me see everything about my truck. Unfortunately a good code reader/diagnostic tool is a bit north of $500.00. We spent $1200 but I can see the injector balance rates, all the other PIDS, rail pressure, commanded vs actual etc etc etc. There is a lot to these trucks.

If you take it to a dealer to have them scan it with a Tech2 they will be able to tell if someone stuck a different program into the ECM. If they did, they will (for a charge of course) reprogram the truck back to stock.

As long as that truck has not been hurt, it will make you a good platform once you get it tweaked back into shape.

[drcook]

Here is a really good place to go and learn about that generation truck

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/

If you have the transmission serviced, be aware that there is a serial nbr cutoff on the Allison transmission where you should not use Dexron VI in it, this is per Allison.

I run Transynd in mine. That is an Allison recommended synthetic fluid. It is a little more pricey, but once you get it all swapped over, you can run extended drain intervals. It takes 2 changes to get to the correct percentage, unless you do a complete drain, including the torque converter.

Allison no longer owns the part of the business that makes the pickup transmissions. GM sold off the remainder of Allison and kept that part. However, with a little digging, you can find the information on the Allison site.

There is a lot that can be right about that truck and a lot that can be wrong. Take a few nights and do some reading. It will educate you about Duramax/Allison combination. You will need to check the 8th digit of the VIN to determine which engine generation you have.

Here is a VIN code/Engine ID chart. At the tail end of 2005, there is some speculation that a few of the next gen engines slipped out. You will need to learn about the differences.

http://duramaxhub.com/duramax-vin.html

As an aside, have you cleaned the cooling stack ? Is the trans cooler dirty ? If it is an LLY engine and you are pulling heavy, the trans cooler that came on them is a bit undersized. If you look at the size of the 2006 ones, they are twice the size.

I put a new trans cooler in mine and I haven't seen over 180 on it pulling, even in 90+ degree, stop and go traffic due to the pig truck that took out the split to I-80 westbound this side of Chicago.

For a fuel filter, get the oem nbr and do a cross reference. They are made for GM (or were) by Racor. You can get Racor filters less expensive than what the dealer will charge you for the same thing, just with different numbers on them. The current filters are 4 micron water coalescer ones. Don't run anything micron wise above this. Back in the early Duramax days, they had 10 micron filters and a lot of grief was caused by them.

I have a diesel parts shop order the Racor filters for me. You will also need to get a WIF (water in fuel) sensor wrench. They are pretty cheap. You can change them from up on top. You probably will slop a little diesel fuel.

[deltabravo]

ceaser 22000 wrote:
Problem goes away when transmission reaches 200

Something is definitely wrong if the trans reaches 200 degrees while driving the truck around empty.

The only time mine gets to 180 is when towing, and a hot day.

The Allison is well known for running about 90 degrees above ambient temp when empty and about 100-110 above ambient temp when towing.

That's the temps I see on both of my Allisons.

[KD4UPL]

Do you know the last time the trans. was serviced. I'd have everything serviced on a new vehicle that I didn't know the history of: Oil and filter, fuel filter, trans. fluid and filter, air filter, T-case fluid, diff. fluids, and coolant at a minimum.
Some people have no idea that vehicle require maintenance. Maybe the previous owner was one of them.