I practice what I preach. I am going to do a complete maintenance and look-over of my 1995 Buick Grand Road Master Station Wagon. It is actually my dads car, but is on permanent loan until he officially signs it over to me. The Focus is on the rebuilt transmission today.
Before I start my verbiage, lets become acquainted with this particular Buick. It had a rebuilt transmission put in it 5 some years ago.
It has the Chevrolet or General Motors transmission designated 4L60E. Which is a rear wheel drive, 4 speed automatic overdrive transmission with a lock up torque converter.
It has a General Motors 5.7 liter cop car engine. Simply put, it has Vortec fuel injection, a spicier camshaft, more compression than stock and the hi performance heads, just like the cop cars. It will outrun a new GTO and give a new Hemi owner an inferiority complex. It also gets 20 MPG on the highway at 80 MPH..
A true American classic, however it is not at all exempt from breakdown problems. About five or six years ago when I still owned my transmission shop, and my parents were here on vacation the transmission failed. He had a very comprehensive extended warranty policy, it payed me in full to put a full updated rebuild transmission in the car. Of course I had to prove there was no nepotism involved since we have the same last name!!
Other wise, the Buick engine is running great. It is one of the 100,000 mile spark plug change models. It has the original spark plugs in it at 68,000 miles. As I mentioned in my post on changing the spark plugs is an involved job for a specialist. Which I will do at 100,000 miles.
For the 25 years I owned my own business, one might say I was spoiled. I had 8 lifts available to me almost anytime I wanted to use a lift. Inevitably, I had my 1988 GMC on a lift just checking and making sure, or my 1970 Porsche 911 on a lift to look at it’s raw beauty in engineering. So now, since selling my shop three and a half years ago I don’t have lifts and scanners and oodles of tools at my convenience. I do have 3 giant Snap On tool boxes loaded with sets ans sets of wrenches and sockets and a Snap on truck full of specialty and general tools.
I don’t have a car lift now, so I use a 2.5 ton floor jack (see the article on Safety) that can be purchased at any parts place or Lowes, Home Depot or the like for about 100 bucks.
Once it is safely jacked up this is what I’m going to do to the bottom side of the car.
1. Change the rear differential fluid
2. maintain your transmission fluid and filter with a new pan gasket.
3. change the engine oil and filter.
4. Lubricate the front end, driveshaft u-joints (if equipped with Zerk fittings).
5. Spray the chassis, inner fenders, parking brake cables and body bushings with WD-40 or the like.
6. Look for leaks of any kind.
7. Take a look at the brakes when I rotate the tires.
Everything on the list will be examined and maintained. Questionable issues will be handled. FYI: The reason for a rebuilt transmission is that the ‘sun shell‘, which is a hard part, was a known defective part in these units. Although Chevy never admitted it, they redesigned the shell so it won’t break. The original shells would shear off causing an immediate lack of reverse. The redesigned, upgraded sun shells were installed in every rebuilt transmission we did.
Reputable transmission suppliers always sell transmissions with the upgraded shell. When one runs into a situation that requires a rebuilt transmission, it is a good thing to be an educated consumer. Our Blog is full of tips and recommendations on how to make your car last longer. Please enjoy.
