Signs of aging A4LD

[eightynine4x4]

Howdy all,
89 2.9L 4x4 automatic
One thing I haven’t touched in my truck that I got a couple years ago is the transmission, other than checking level and smell testing.
Soon I’m going to drop the pan and change the gasket and do the fluid, and also put in some new O rings and gasket for the reverse servo since mine is quite slow to shift into reverse when cold. It’s fine once it’s warmed up.

So when I drop the pan it will give me some insight and maybe evidence, but I’m wondering what tend to be the first behavioral signs of an aging A4LD needing to be rebuilt soon.

Depending on how aggressive I am with the pedal, sometimes the shifts can be pretty firm. Not like it rocks the truck, but just a clear short hard thud feel when it shifts. Pretty sure this softens up when I’m not revving hard. Anyways, that’s the only thing I have noticed in the couple thousand miles I’ve put on it.

In unrelated vehicles in the past, I’ve been advised that hard distinct shifts are a good thing and mushy shifting means wear and tear. But I’m totally unsure if that applies to the A4LD.

I don’t know the real mileage of my vehicle and have tried to find out but to no avail. It says 87K, and it was a work truck with a logo on it and markings from rack equipment being hooked up on the bed, so it could in fact just be 87K. Or it could be 187K or I suppose 287K.

Any pointers for determining the health of my transmission based on behaviors?

 

[Shran]

Not shifting into overdrive at all, slipping in any gear, no reverse.

They can fail at any time as can any other automatic. The trans in my 2010 Chevy at work failed at 105k, the Astro van I had before that went well over 200k with nothing but fluid changes and everyone cries about 4L60e's being good for 150k at the very most. Keeping them cool, fluid at the correct level and changed regularly is the main thing.

Nice firm shifts are good but only to a point. My buddy had an E4OD rebuilt for his F350 and asked them to make it shift firm - well they did, 1-2 and 2-3 were a violent BANG that shook the truck. He took it back and they said he got exactly what he asked for. On the other end of the spectrum you have my C5 which is so mushy in all forward gears that you can hardly tell when it shifts, up and down... it's annoying.

 

[2Krngr]

Not shifting into overdrive at all, slipping in any gear, no reverse.

They can fail at any time as can any other automatic. The trans in my 2010 Chevy at work failed at 105k, the Astro van I had before that went well over 200k with nothing but fluid changes and everyone cries about 4L60e's being good for 150k at the very most. Keeping them cool, fluid at the correct level and changed regularly is the main thing.

I have a 2008 that I have put 228,xxx miles on with a 5.3 and 4L60e, I've towed the car trailer 100's and 100's of times, as well as extremely heavy loads, and the trans still feels like it did back in 2008 (knock on wood!!)..

I had always heard 4L60e was junk and would fail early, and towing cars with it would be the quick death of it. So the first thing I did was put a 30,000btu B&M bar/plate cooler right up front in the grille for maximum airflow, and have changed the fluid a few times to be a preventative as I could. As well as trying to mostly tow with O/D off, and always using the tow mode button.

Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe those few things are why it has been trouble-free (so far), but with the millions of 4L60e's out there, sometimes I wonder if it's a little exaggerated on how bad they 'really' are...

The chevy lifter tick was a different story tho, I just listened to it from 140k to 180k haha, before I had enough and installed a dod/afm delete, new cam, lifters, pushrods, and springs to shut it all up again.