08-09 Vue Trans Problem
 

Just curious but at what mileage did members have the wave plate problem. I have a 09 with 165000 and still runs good. Must be just lucky so far

08 Vue XR, 93 K. 6T70.

I would think it's probably related to the type of driving ( city stop n go vs Highways... essentially the number of 2-3, 4-5 and park to reverse shifts.

Are you sure you have a 6T70 or 75?

Oops you said you had an Outlook not a Vue.
I do believe all of those are 6T75.

Too lazy to look it up right now. But here's your first data point.

No, you said you had a Vue.
And you even posted in the Vue section.
Other forum members can vouch for my inexplicable cluelessness at times. Or most of the time, depending on who you ask.

I was reading about an Outlook with the 6T75 and got confused because I am getting older and disoriented. Apologies.

If it is a Vue XE front wheel drive it may not have the 6T70 transmission. I don't think they used that with the 2.2 ecotec. But I don't know that for a fact without looking it up which I'm still too lazy to do right now. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry for the Saturn vues and which tranny went with what flavor.

I believe the xr always came with the six cylinder and the 6T70.
Oh hell, I'm going to think about it until I look it up. I'll be back.

Okay, the base model and I believe the XE use the 2.4 l ecotech not the 2.2, mated with a 4-speed automatic transmission, whereas the XR had a v6 mated with a 6T70.

So if you have a 4-cylinder, you have a 4 speed Auto tranny and therefore you should not experience the wave plate issue. Here's hoping you do..... Have a four cylinder that is...

Sorry need to add my Vue is XE 3.5L AWD

Mostly stop n go or highway driving?

Highway driving mostly. I am a careful driver never abuse any of my cars always done the standard maintenance

You have many fewer shifts using that clutch pack for 3 and probably R than those that drive in the city. I suspect that is the key to the longevity of your transmission.

We used to have a transmission expert/was his occupation on the forum. he said that if you have never changed your transmission fluid and it gets up past more than 75000 Miles to just leave it alone. In fact you said many shops, if you tell them the fluid has never been changed and the mileage is much above 75k, they will politely decline to work on your vehicle. He said the reasoning is that with fluid that old there are bound to be little bits of seals and other debris and that it may actually be some of that debris that is keeping the transmission functional in the sense that it is sealing up leaks in the internal channels thereby keeping the necessary pressures what they need to be. Change the fluid and flush the transmission and all that stuff is gone and frequently you will have many problems you never had before and there isn't much way to fix them other than a rebuild.

You said you do all the scheduled maintenance, and these transmissions I believe we're sealed for life so to speak. If you changed at 100,000 miles, my two cents is to leave it alone going forward.

The unfortunate part is that he really don't get much of a warning. You'll feel a slight slight flair usually in 5th gear if I remember correctly. Then it quickly spreads 2/3 and the flares get pretty noticeable. So it would be difficult to trade in the car without the problem being noticed. Not that I am implying you should be dishonest, only that you would want to trade in a car with as few obvious problems as possible

Just keep doing what you're doing. GM's additional warranty coverage went to a hundred and twenty thousand miles.that tells me they expect about half of them to go before 120k and the other half afterwards because Lord knows GM will not stand behind its product 100%. They are half-ass about everything. Hence the 50%

Last trans fluid was a drain and fill at about 90000 mi. That was the second one done. The first was at 50000mi. Since its paid for and not worth much I plan to drive till it fails then get a rebuilt trans.:mad:

Hell, by then you could probably pick up a freshly wrecked Vue of that vintage with an already rebuilt tranny for the same cost of a freshly rebuilt one. And depending on the trim level it could serve as an infinite parts car....

Those who had there trans rebuilt or remanufactured how did it work out? Anymore problems? Since mine is out of warrenty can independent trans shop do the job be trusted to do the work? Like a AAMCO

Saturn farmed its transmission work out to a local place (at least mine did in Jersey).
Smooth as butter afterward.

The only hiccup is that they reinstalled the tranny mount 90 degrees from the proper orientation. Talk about vibration.

Once fixed, all systems go.

As I understand it, the work is not terribly difficult - it is almost all labor in terms of cost. They have to pretty much take everything else out and apart to get to that waveplate to replace it. Which means new seals on everything during installation, proper torquing of fasteners, proper alignment of this that and the other thing, you may have other defects (leaking clutch pack, etc) that would make sense to get fixed now, if the wave plate fractured and debris is strewn about, they must properly flush the tranny plus torque converter or the debris will likely damage the new seals, etc, ......

Basically, it's not a rush kinda job and it needs to be done by someone with experience with this GM's line of transmissions (from the GM-Ford partnership).

There may be very experienced folks at AAMCO. I really think it varies by location. A tranny specialty shop (non chain) may be better. The only way to sort it out is by digging through the reviews of these places.

If you have a GM dealer that used to be a Saturn distributorship, ask them who they farmed their tranny work out to.

The only experience I had w AAMCO was horrendous but that was in the 80's. They told me I needed a tranny rebuild on a 1980 Grenada that had jumped time, idled at 2500 rpm to stay running, and did not generate enough vacuum to keep the tranny in upper gear. The vacuum was the issue for the tranny.

So you need to do your homework, then pick the best shop w a reasonable price.

Thanks derf for your info. i will check for ratings at local trans shops but more importantly I will go to there shop to check the place out and talk to them to make sure my BS meter doesn't go off.
So you had a rebuild done as opposed to a whole remanufactured trans dropped in?

Stay away from AAMCO. That stands for All Automatics Must Come Out. Had a buddy years ago with a vacuum line of a shift modulator on his little Mustang. He called me from AAMCO for a ride and when I found out they had told him that he needed a rebuild on his trans, I told him to get out of there and let me check it out. After we got it back to his apartment, I put it up on my ramps, saw the vacuum line was off and it was split. I cut off the bad part, put it back on and it shifted fine. Had to put a little type F back in it, but no big deal. Cost him a 6 pack of beer instead of $800. Con artists. That's just one of several stories I've heard about AAMCO over the years. They screwed me royally on a clutch R/R on an 87 Ranger, but we won't go into that one.

Never heard the "All Automatics..." thang.
Thank you for a chuckle to start my day.

The four cylinder uses the 4T70, a much less robust transmission than the 6T70