6L80E Inspection

[mikekirby1]

I bought a "low mile" 6L80E about a year ago for my Camaro project. Before I put it in for the last time my instincts tell me I should have it rebuilt or at least looked at to verify it is low mileage. I'm thinking if I take it to a tranny shop they will just want to rebuild it regardless of what they see inside. Anyone know of a pretty fool proof way to determine if this is really a low mileage tranny? Anything I could check for myself?

[andrewb70]

I bought a "low mile" 6L80E about a year ago for my Camaro project. Before I put it in for the last time my instincts tell me I should have it rebuilt or at least looked at to verify it is low mileage. I'm thinking if I take it to a tranny shop they will just want to rebuild it regardless of what they see inside. Anyone know of a pretty fool proof way to determine if this is really a low mileage tranny? Anything I could check for myself?

Did you source it from a salvage yard? Does it look "clean?"

Personally, I would just run it and see how it goes.

Andrew

[mikekirby1]

Picked it up from an individual on Craigslist. The outside looks a little grungy. Supposed to have 15k miles on it. I'm hoping there is some easy way to look at anything inside the pan and know right away if it's toast. I hate to have to pull it with the engine in the car. I'd rather verify now and if I can't then just bite the bull it and have it rebuilt.

[rustomatic]

Signs of burned (brown) fluid, cooked gaskets, and metal shavings are usually good indicators that you can add 100,000 to whatever mileage number was advertised. On that note, I'm hoping to put my own "60,000 mile" 6l80 to work by some time this summer. If you're providing the labor, it may cost you less to try running it first, but there may always be a price to pay in sanity . . .

On that note, I've never had any luck with paying people to rebuild much of anything, so I'm pathologically resistant to the idea . . .

[Craig@Bowler]

Signs of burned (brown) fluid, cooked gaskets, and metal shavings are usually good indicators that you can add 100,000 to whatever mileage number was advertised. .

I agree with this. If you see any signs of "dirty" fluid be careful, this typically is friction material that has worn off after a period of time. Also, once you clean it up really well on the outside check closely for any cracks from mishandling or abuse. We get cores here periodically that appear to be fine until you start cleaning them up. Maybe one way to go would be to try and find a transmission shop near you that has a transmission dyno that they would be willing to run it on. This would at least give you some idea of how it would perform in the car.