Alison failure

[hunts800]

Just back from 21/2 week trip along Oregon coast. Took truck (Chevy Duramax) to car wash, and when pulled out of car wash parking lot transmission failed, lots of warning signals (stabilitrak failed, shift interlock engaged). Long story short, towed to dealer - failed transmission control module. Dealer said very rare failure, has to order part, will not get truck back for a week. Only bright spots are it is covered under warranty and it did not happen on the trip. Truck has 66,000 miles without any problems. I did keep transmission in manual mode for much of the time while in the Coastal hills and Oregon mountains, but I have always done that. Can't think of any reason why car wash would have played a role -I go there frequently.

[grayghost03]

Did the car wash have under carriage spray sound like a possible water short in control module or wire loom connection, a short in the connection will(can)destroy a ECM, don't know why a transmission module would be any different. Good luck and I hope it was a fluke, and you have no more problems.

[hunts800]

Car wash did have under carriage wash, but I've been through it over 15 times, plus in rain soaked roads frequently -so, hard to think of that as the cause but who knows.

[grayghost03]

Rain spray and a direct pressure are different animals. Vibration can loosen up the gel seal on the wire loom connections, I have seen ECM failures due to high pressure washes. Water and electrical connections just don't mix well. My money is its a fluke failure. Thank goodness for warranty. Sometimes the dealers will send bad parts back for exam and get a little feed back on what happened. If they do, ask them to keep you in the loop and let you know what may have caused it. Due to the electronics involved, not a lot to go wrong, voltage variable, heat or short(resulting in voltage variable)

[1retired06]

Those Allison trannys have a great reputation. Wish I had one in my ford.

[sambam]

True, these transmissions are pretty much bomb-proof. Hope it won't turn out to be anything. The only Allison failures I've read about are on the dieselplace forum where guys build their Duramaxes to the point where the tranny can't handle the torque anymore. The stock trannys are very reliable.

[fauch]

http://www.dieselhub.com/compare/tor...n-vs-68RE.html

[Hooker]

We recently returned from a rally for our MH coach. I attended a seminar put on by Allison. Allison now has 100% of the MH market. When asked a question about our usage, he smiled and said that most P/U and MH users of Allisons don't even come near to taxing it's capabilities. The example he gave is how we drive versus how garbage trucks or school buses use their Allisons.

[mlh]

You can also find Allisons in 50,000 pound fork trucks but like those in the MHs they aren't the 1000s found in a pickup. The 1000 Allison in the pickups is a GREAT transmission but Fords Torqueshift is too. The dealer I use is the largest in western Virginia. Since the Torqueshift came out in the 2003 Super Duties they have had to go into 3 of them for repair. Less than 1 every 3 years, not a bad record.
Lynwood

[rames14]

When I worked for BorgWarner, the Allison was (and still is to my knowledge) the best out there. That is what kept me from getting anything other than a GM pickup until Ram added the Aisin this year. My guess is that your failure was either a coincidence or the seal finally failed with water right on it. Good luck getting back on the road.

[fauch]

Max input torque rating, 2010:

FORD 1,400 lb-ft
ALLISON: Estimated. 775 - 800 lb-ft
Chrysler DODGE N/A, same input torque rating designation "8" (1-10 scale) as 48RE