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Thread: Chevy Transmission Reflash.

  1. #1
    mixedgas's Avatar
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    Default Chevy Transmission Reflash.

    Mixedgas is ticked. He just forked over his LA LEM money to have the program in his Chevy Equinox transmission reprogrammed by a dealer service department. Why it failed at almost exactly 76,000 miles, right after the 75,000 mile planned service to keep the third party warranty up, is beyond me. Why the dealer had to connect a interface to the factory via the internet is baffling.

    So you know, it presents as a valve pack failure or torque lockup converter problem. You find you cannot make it above 60 MPH and it will not shift into overdrive. You need to floor it to about 4000 RPM to get it to shift to get to 65, and then it can't sustain 65. It acts sluggish. There is a service directive out on this, but no mention of it on the public Equinox forums.

    Methinks its curious a modern car CPU does not have a cyclic redundancy check or other form of error correction.

    Oh well, I should be happy its not a 2400$ replacement transmission. Considering the amount of paperwork and frustration needed to make the warranty claim, I'm going to eat it.


    BTW, if you ever need to break into a Equinox, I'll tell you where to break one tiny thing under the hood that will instantly cause all locks to cycle open for hours and then kill the battery by shorting all the lights across it.

    Some time when I'm in a better mood, ask me how many clips you need to undo to change a headlight.



    Shame on you Chevy.
    If the economy ever recovers, Hello Honda! Twice the price but 1/10th the crap to put up with.

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 01-26-2011 at 19:36.

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    PM me exactly what happened and what was "programmed via the 'net"

    I'm not OE, but I am in the industry....

    *edit* What year is it?

  3. #3
    mixedgas's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mophead View Post
    PM me exactly what happened and what was "programmed via the 'net"

    I'm not OE, but I am in the industry....

    *edit* What year is it?
    2005

    For about a month I was wondering if I was loosing high gear, or a valve pack, slowly loosing or no torque around 55 and up, and the normal shifting into high gear (Overdrive?) ) at 60-61 mph got worse and worse. Harder and harder to get to 65. Then it got cold here, and bang, no way to get above 60. I could almost floor it and it would not speed up above 2K rpm/60, but if I floored it, got the RPM to 3500 or more, then released the pedal quickly, then accelerated, it would go to 65 for a few minutes.

    They took it out for a LONG test drive, claimed they could not see the problem at first, checked fluid level and cleanliness, and the showed me a service directive calling for a software upgrade and claimed they would do a reflash. Got the car back post "reflash", all the shift points are a bit different, purrs like a kitten, shifts just fine at the 60 mph point and no sign of any issues.

    No codes, no check engine light, and I own a basic OBDII reader, which showed normal, no codes.

    I had the transmission flushed (damn expensive, special fluid) at 50K per the manual.

    This is the one that has no dipstick on the transmission and you need the special machine to flush it through a port on the bottom. I feared I was loosing the transmission.

    Service manager claims they have to hook into the cpu and it talks to the factory to download the code. I could not see the service directive, he held it far away. I call BS , but I cannot find a recall.

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 01-26-2011 at 20:43.

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    Steve,
    Pm me youre VIN #, i have access to GM service bulletins,
    Im curious as to what they actually did (hopefully not just a resetting of shift points/firmness), as that would only be a temporary patch on a more serious mechanical failure.
    I want to see if there is any common failure/ tech bulletins applicable to your equinox.

    Carlos

    PS , mostly all reflashing of conroller modules (inc. Imports), is done via the web, this ensures you are getting the latest software updates).
    Last edited by carlos3621; 01-26-2011 at 20:53.
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  5. #5
    mixedgas's Avatar
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    PM sent.

    Usually I'd use a local transmission shop that is world class, but the warranty requires me to use the dealer, who has been cost effective, til now. Its the one you drove on the NY,NY gig!

    Thanks,

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 01-26-2011 at 21:30.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mixedgas View Post
    PM sent.

    Usually I'd use a local transmission shop that is world class, but the warranty requires me to use the dealer, who has been cost effective, til now. Its the one you drove on the NY,NY gig!

    Thanks,

    Steve
    Steve, what a nightmare. But at least you don't have a Toyota Prius. They seem to have a habit of not being able to go 'below' 65

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