Auxiliary fan - purpose.

[HotWheelsBurban]

2x on keeping the auxiliary transmission cooler. These modern electronic overdrive transmissions do not like to run hot and it's not going to tow well if it heats up either. And getting the transmission properly overhauled is likely going to cost more than you paid for the truck, from what I remember when my other Burb needed that done.

 

[Supercharged111]

2x on keeping the auxiliary transmission cooler. These modern electronic overdrive transmissions do not like to run hot and it's not going to tow well if it heats up either. And getting the transmission properly overhauled is likely going to cost more than you paid for the truck, from what I remember when my other Burb needed that done.

Especially on his side of the pond. I'm curious, just how bad is it to pay for repairs on foreign vehicles like this there?

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Especially on his side of the pond. I'm curious, just how bad is it to pay for repairs on foreign vehicles like this there?

And wait for parts to be shipped over?

 

[Pinger]

Especially on his side of the pond. I'm curious, just how bad is it to pay for repairs on foreign vehicles like this there?

First point I'll make - and I'm not trying to be arsey - is that all vehicles here are foreign. There is some assembly done here but the British auto industry died some time ago.
For those, the standard is dealer network for the first few years out of (3 year) warranty and some marques - eg, Mercedes, BMW, *** - will have independents who invest in the required tools (diagnostic/coding/etc) and specialise in their chosen marque. They tend to charge at around half the dealer hourly rate which is circa £150/hour ($188/hour)
Away from that, there are the typical 'back street' garage that will take on anything (they feel confident with) and charge around £45-50/hour ($60/hour). It is to a garage like that I'd have to go with my truck if I had to farm the work out. Thankfully I don't but by a stroke of luck, if I did, there is a local garage who has a good reputation for working on American vehicles (see pic of his 'yard'). In rural Scotland, that's quite a find.

Then there's the parts prices which I'm working on. The timing cover, oil pan and water pump gaskets I needed in a hurry and bought from one of the few UK importers of American parts and you saw already what I paid for them.On an MB forum there is a thread about European parts being cheaper to buy in the USA even with shipping. To that end, I'm looking to compile a list of parts I'm going to want for my Suburban and look to see if I can buy them from Rock Auto and have them shipped over and still pay less than buying them here. Early days with that - but I'm working on it.

The above though isn't the whole picture. Here, we went down the route of diesel and they are a nightmare in their own lifetime. They have things like dual mass flywheels, EGR, inlet manifold swirl flaps, very high pressure fuel pumps, piezzo injectors, dual clutch transmissions, etc, etc - all of which can fail without warning and throw big bills. Bills in the £thousand are the norm. And much of the replacement involves 'coding' the part to the vehicle - back to the dealer who has the kit (or indie if your lucky). Much of this was what put me in the direction of my Suburban which is pretty simple relative to all that.

But, going back to the trans in my truck. It is probably the component I most fear going wrong (I can rebuild an engine - did the smart's in 2016 - and probably a rear axle, and the other stuff won't phase me) but even if it does need a rebuild there are repair shops specialising in auto transmission who could rebuild a 4sp box for around £2500 ($3125). Or, I might just consider attempting it but I don't really have the 'clean bench environment' for that. Better then, that I look after it.

So, at a guess, if you've made your way through all the above - you now know for sure that you are better off on your side of the pond than mine!


Bert's yard.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Pinger]

And wait for parts to be shipped over?

Working on it! See above post.
I take it that's your Suburban in your avatar? Looks to be the same colour as mine. If it is the build sheet I have, there's an entry that says ''11U Exterior color primary'.
There's some unexpected things on that sheet - eg, high capacity air cleaner, speedo in km, and daytime running lights delete. What I suspect are daytime running lights to you are now my indicators (trafficators/turn signal indicators) with orange bulbs and no bulbs in what probably are your indicators (behind orange lenses).
Janesville is also mentioned - but I thought Suburbans were built in either Canada or Mexico not Wisconsin. My key fob has Canada written on it. Is that where mine was built?

 

[thegawd]

I have installed a couple transmissions, unfortunately used ones. So one in my burb only lasted 20 000 kms.... i was pissed. I wanted to have it rebuilt the best it possibly could be. Fast forward to one of southern Ontarios best mom n pop race shops that's been in the business for over 50 years. We strike up a deal on a stage 3 Heavy Duty as it fit my budget, rated for 800HP. Lol my trucks 5.7 is completely original and untouched, except maintenance items of course... dist.... starter ect... it should last forever.

Anyways halfway through the build I get a call. Upon a transmission fluid analysis they found engine coolant in the tranny fluid, without a doubt why the last 2 trannys failed. My rads internal tranny cooler was leaking coolant into the lines, like someone suggested above when the truck is not running. Damn. My rad still needs to be replaced 5 years later but they bypassed it to the external oem cooler which was never hooked up. these dont come hooked up from the factory like the 7 way trailer plug, someone has to install these. They did offer a better solution but it wasnt in the budget. So I inspect this often but they did use top of the line hydraulic hose and it hasn't cracked at all.... seeing how fast a dorman piece of **** rubber anything cracks in no time I was kinda worried but it is good to go.

Take care!

Al

 

[Pinger]

I would put it back the way GM intended, but the open lines would concern me as dirt has likely found its way into the thing now.

You can flush the system with something like this stuff.

You must be registered for see images attach

Going to give this a lot of thought.
Two things on my mind so far are that it should be possible to flush the cooler - as suggested - but without removing the rad, it could be difficult to get anything out that has gravitated to the lower part. The reluctance to remove the rad is because of the need to break open two other fluid systems. I've just changed the coolant and engine oil but, as I may yet change the inlet manifold gasket and/or break open the heater hoses - my mind remains open.

More pressingly though is why the cooler was bypassed at all. Doubt that there's a Valeo type leak between trans fluid and engine coolant or the engine coolant would still be leaking but maybe an external leak. In which case I'd be looking for a standalone exchanger plumbed into the engine coolant (yep, back to breaking into the engine coolant!) though they tend to be bolted to an engine rather than connected with hoses, There is probably an aftermarket one with hoses I'd guess.

I need to decide if I'm going to change the inlet manifold gasket - my (very slight) coolant leak appears to be from the area around the EGR valve though I've not dug deeper yet to be certain. Picking off a couple of jobs together seems to work well for this truck. Trying to plan in advance what is needed and as per previous post, a big order to Rock Auto. In lockdown, I have the time for this - but the actual execution may have to wait for my finances to improve (self employed commission only sales and most of my customers have shut for now - though I'm well aware I'm not the only one here with such woes).

 

[df2x4]

First point I'll make - and I'm not trying to be arsey - is that all vehicles here are foreign. There is some assembly done here but the British auto industry died some time ago.
For those, the standard is dealer network for the first few years out of (3 year) warranty and some marques - eg, Mercedes, BMW, *** - will have independents who invest in the required tools (diagnostic/coding/etc) and specialise in their chosen marque. They tend to charge at around half the dealer hourly rate which is circa £150/hour ($188/hour)
Away from that, there are the typical 'back street' garage that will take on anything (they feel confident with) and charge around £45-50/hour ($60/hour). It is to a garage like that I'd have to go with my truck if I had to farm the work out. Thankfully I don't but by a stroke of luck, if I did, there is a local garage who has a good reputation for working on American vehicles (see pic of his 'yard'). In rural Scotland, that's quite a find.

Then there's the parts prices which I'm working on. The timing cover, oil pan and water pump gaskets I needed in a hurry and bought from one of the few UK importers of American parts and you saw already what I paid for them.On an MB forum there is a thread about European parts being cheaper to buy in the USA even with shipping. To that end, I'm looking to compile a list of parts I'm going to want for my Suburban and look to see if I can buy them from Rock Auto and have them shipped over and still pay less than buying them here. Early days with that - but I'm working on it.

The above though isn't the whole picture. Here, we went down the route of diesel and they are a nightmare in their own lifetime. They have things like dual mass flywheels, EGR, inlet manifold swirl flaps, very high pressure fuel pumps, piezzo injectors, dual clutch transmissions, etc, etc - all of which can fail without warning and throw big bills. Bills in the £thousand are the norm. And much of the replacement involves 'coding' the part to the vehicle - back to the dealer who has the kit (or indie if your lucky). Much of this was what put me in the direction of my Suburban which is pretty simple relative to all that.

But, going back to the trans in my truck. It is probably the component I most fear going wrong (I can rebuild an engine - did the smart's in 2016 - and probably a rear axle, and the other stuff won't phase me) but even if it does need a rebuild there are repair shops specialising in auto transmission who could rebuild a 4sp box for around £2500 ($3125). Or, I might just consider attempting it but I don't really have the 'clean bench environment' for that. Better then, that I look after it.

So, at a guess, if you've made your way through all the above - you now know for sure that you are better off on your side of the pond than mine!


Bert's yard.

You must be registered for see images attach

Thanks for this post. It's always interesting to hear details about vehicle ownership and maintenance from other parts of the world. Also always neat to see pictures of GM vehicles in other countries. It's fun to see such familiar machines in unfamiliar surroundings.

 

[alpinecrick]

Pinger,
thegawd may be right about the auxiliary cooler leaking into the trans line, and might be the reason for bypassing it. Other than a pressure test I’m not sure how it could be checked.

The auto parts stores over here all offer fairly cheap flush kits. Cut into the heater hose and a T fitting provided in the kit is how it’s done. It works well.
DexCool was a new thing when the GMT400’s came out and a lot of well meaning owners dumped conventional green coolant into the orange DexCool. That makes sludge and bad ju-ju......
Flushing the cooling system should probably be a priority if you determine the radiator is still good.

 

[Pinger]

I have installed a couple transmissions, unfortunately used ones. So one in my burb only lasted 20 000 kms.... i was pissed. I wanted to have it rebuilt the best it possibly could be. Fast forward to one of southern Ontarios best mom n pop race shops that's been in the business for over 50 years. We strike up a deal on a stage 3 Heavy Duty as it fit my budget, rated for 800HP. Lol my trucks 5.7 is completely original and untouched, except maintenance items of course... dist.... starter ect... it should last forever.

Anyways halfway through the build I get a call. Upon a transmission fluid analysis they found engine coolant in the tranny fluid, without a doubt why the last 2 trannys failed. My rads internal tranny cooler was leaking coolant into the lines, like someone suggested above when the truck is not running. Damn. My rad still needs to be replaced 5 years later but they bypassed it to the external oem cooler which was never hooked up. these dont come hooked up from the factory like the 7 way trailer plug, someone has to install these. They did offer a better solution but it wasnt in the budget. So I inspect this often but they did use top of the line hydraulic hose and it hasn't cracked at all.... seeing how fast a dorman piece of **** rubber anything cracks in no time I was kinda worried but it is good to go.

Take care!

Al

Boom! Another piece in the jigsaw!
I had no idea they weren't connected from the factory (though was loosely aware of the towing electrics but yet to find mine).

I don't think I have the Valeo leak or the coolant would be leaking. Going to look for the plastic being split that would permit the trans fluid to just leak externally. There's a reason it has been bypassed just as there is a reason behind everything - just a case of finding it!