Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Drivetrain discussion including Transmission, Differential, Driveshaft, and related items.
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jpalmer
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Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by jpalmer »

Currently I have about 3300 miles on my 2013 and I am wondering if maintenance would be required at 5000 miles?

In the past GM recommended that a vehicles' transmission should have the fluid changed at 5000 miles. This was to remove any left over crud from the casting or that may have creeped in during the build process that may be circulating in the system. And while I am at it what about the rear diff, usually there is a break-in period and then change the fluid.

Any insights on these past practices of maintenance.

And speaking of maintenance, any thoughts to having a section just for this subject (Maintenance) ?
Thanks,
Jeff

1996 Caprice LT1 B4U - Sold - So long my friend - it was a great 17 years!
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smwalker
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by smwalker »

GM has really moved away from that stance. They don't recommend anything anymore till about 100K. . They found out consumers really like that term "Lifetime Fluid"

Not saying it is a bad idea, just might be a bit wasteful. If you do do it get a sample to Blackstone Labs to see how much crud you pulled out.
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The Tech
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by The Tech »

Just curious, have you changed the oil and filter yet? Even though you just got the car the oil is already two years old. I was caught of guard by this as my car was two years old with only 41 miles when I purchased it in 2013.
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by 9C1fanatic »

I would change the oil for sure like yesterday. I changed mine at 280 miles, again at 1000 miles and again at 4000 miles before I started using the oil life monitor to determine where I'm going to set my interval. I bought a 2014 that sat around almost a year so I was paranoid about the many dry starts it must have had over that time as when I bought it there was 160 miles on the odometer.

Now I am at 58% oil life at 3000 miles since my last change, ill probably go another 1000-2000 miles before changing it cause I cant see going longer than that on my pride and joy.

For what its worth, on my patrol car the city does a 9000 mile drain interval changing the filter and topping off every 3000 miles. So for a car that is actually in service that driven by only one officer but used in a very busy jurisdiction, the oil life monitor reached 0% after about 7,700 miles and that was with a few pursuits, a lot of hard driving in response to a lot of emergency calls and a moderate amount of idle time due to the aux battery cutting down on that some.
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Navy Lifer
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by Navy Lifer »

9C1fanatic wrote:moderate amount of idle time due to the aux battery cutting down on that some.
please elaborate
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by CrashTestDummy »

I think he means that because he has an auxiliary battery, he just turns the engine off in instances he's sitting still, perhaps with the lights on, saving gas and oil life.
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storm9c1
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by storm9c1 »

Transmission no longer has a dipstick or fill tube, so they intend you to leave it alone. Fluids meeting Dexron VI spec are usually full synthetic (or at least much more shear-stable than previous versions). No need for rigorous change intervals. Though I'd be inclined to change it at 50K just because at 100K, that's alot of clutch material floating around, synthetic or not.

Differential -- follow the manual (not sure what the interval is). But lacking the official interval, I'd say every 10 years or 50K miles as well as a good guess. You could get away with a 100K mile interval, but like the trans, a limited slip diff has clutches, and that material needs to go somewhere.

But as others have said, oil is a different story. I have 6K miles on my car. But the car is nearly 5 years old now. I've changed the oil 4 times. Once after a few hundred miles (dealer changed for free) and 3 times myself thereafter. I never reached under 70% on the oil life monitor, but the car sits quite a bit. I believe that long amounts of sitting allow the acids formed during combustion to slowly break down the oil, so I don't take chances and try to change it annually or about every 18 months it seems (I never reach the mileage threshold). I've often wondered if the oil life monitor takes calendar age into consideration. Not sure. I know DexOS (full synthetic) has longer change intervals under normal driving conditions. If I were driving it everyday, I'd go 6-7K, no problem.
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by elc32955 »

On oil changes I usually take it 5000-6000 miles, monitoring the oil level on the dipstick periodically. I'll consume a quart around 4000 miles on average. Also good thoughts on the tranny service, since I'm approaching the 70K mark on mine it's probably time for a filter/fluid swap.

As a side note I just did the carbon mod fluid change on the rear diff, I've been told anecdotally from a trusted local shop manager that the rear diffs do potentially have a high fry rate based on the Camaro performance metrics if you don't do periodic fluid maintenance. Since my pumpkin is out of a 2010 Camaro SS I'm not taking a chance, even though I don't track or autoX my car.
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storm9c1
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by storm9c1 »

If the diff is an Auburn style limited-slip (which GM has historically used, but not sure what style is used on the recent platforms), I agree, under rigorous conditions, it will wear out fast. I've killed many B-Body G80 units over the years. Truck guys complain about them too. In those circles, it's usually something like an Eaton swap and all is well. Changing fluid often will help, but how often is reasonable?
Tom (AKA: Storm)
2011 Caprice 9C3: L77, 8K miles, first-owner, purchased July 2011.
1995 Caprice 9C1: LT1, 178K miles, summer car.
1995 Impala SS: LT1, 21K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 62K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 128K miles. Rust In Pieces
1994 Caprice 9C1: LT1, beater winter car.
1969 Chevy C30: 383ci stroker, 4L80E, rollback car hauler.
1972 Chrysler Newport: 400ci big block, survivor 27K miles, 2-door hardtop.
1969 Dodge Charger: 383ci big block.
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jpalmer
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Re: Drivetrain Maintenance ?'s

Post by jpalmer »

The Tech wrote:Just curious, have you changed the oil and filter yet? Even though you just got the car the oil is already two years old. I was caught of guard by this as my car was two years old with only 41 miles when I purchased it in 2013.
I changed oil and filter shortly after I got the vehicle for that very reason.
Jeff

1996 Caprice LT1 B4U - Sold - So long my friend - it was a great 17 years!
2001 Silverado LS 3500 DuraMax Dually 4x4
2004 Suburban 2500 6.0L 4x4
2013 Caprice PPV 6.0L
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