4L60 bad after long Winter Nap: Solved

[TerryKing]

Hi, Just one more experience / symptom to relate:

Parked my faithful 92 Yukon very nose-up in the yard for the winter, not wanting to tell it I bought a 2012 Tahoe. My wife said, "I don't want to make you feel bad, but maybe you can just consider your Yukon as the Work Truck."

So Sgt. Preston (as my Dad named the Yukon ... he named all his cars) started up OK, warmed up a bit and then put in reverse. Wow.. a lot of slippage. Backed in down level. Wow, slipping in drive. Grrr....

I warmed it up more, still bad.. Don't want to make it worse, but need to get it to the barn. Put in low range 4WD, easy gas.. Made it..

So I let it idle for 45 minutes to really wake up. Now.. much better but not normal. OK, check fluid. UhOh. Off The Stick.

+ 1 Quart, plus 2 Quarts, plus 3 quarts. Now On the stick... No leaks! Drove to town 5 miles checking, get more ATF. Really warmed up, hard throttle, all OK. Phew!

Back in the barn, idle 15 minutes. No Leaks. Where the heck did it go?? Checking the parking spot I don't see anything. I can only guess the rear seal leaked 3 quarts out over 5 months on that big angle, mixed in the deep snow, melted downhill and has apparently disappeared.

Learned?? Don't park a truck very nose-up all Winter??

Thanks for all the info I have received on this group!

 

[Parentnoia]

I'm in a similar situation. I cracked both heads on my Suburban and it wound up getting parked for essentially the winter (September - February) on a decent incline (more to one side rather than front to back) and when I started her up, the trans sounds like it's grinding. Didnt do that before it got parked, and I know it had leaked a little while it was parked, so I added some fluid and it's on the stick, but still grinding at low speeds. Think the parking would have contributed?

 

[TXVortec454]

This happened to my 4L80e after being parked on a hill for a couple of days. Ended up leaking a quart and a half into the transfer case. After I pulled the truck off the hill it slipped. Turned the truck off and back on and all was well again except for a delay going into drive. Drove it for 3 more months and then it developed a jerk going into 2nd. Ended up needing a full rebuild.

 

[TerryKing]

... Ended up leaking a quart and a half into the transfer case...

OH. Guess I better check the transfer case level! Might be a little high??

 

[95Suburban]

When the seal went bad on my nv4500, it dumped all 5 quarts of gear lube into the transfer case. She held it all without leaking any out. It's surprising how much the case can handle. Now I check it's level often.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

 

[TerryKing]

OH. Guess I better check the transfer case level! Might be a little high??

OK, got Sgt. Preston in the barn over the pit.

Sure enough, about 2 quarts of ATF came out the upper transfer case plug.

Mystery Solved. And Don't Do That! (Park very nose-up all Winter!)

Thanks for all the help here...