Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.

New Posts Contact us

Just Commodores Forum Community

It takes just a moment to join our fantastic community

Register

VZ 5L40E how much???

XCSEDAN

New Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
KG
Members Ride
XC Falcon
how much would you expect to pay for a VZ 5L40E?
this ones only got 35-36000Ks on it, a mate of mine is selling it for $2500, just wondering if i should grab it or not?
 

calay

New Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
119
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Members Ride
VZ Calais
does yours have any issues? And why's your mate pulled his out if its only got 35000ks on it??????
 

XCSEDAN

New Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
KG
Members Ride
XC Falcon
mines stuffed, its gunna cost 5K to rebuild, was doing skids in 2nd gear and it let go (no surprise). just dont know if this is cheap for a complete unit.

ive stuffed the clutch packs in 2nd and the plastic in the centre has gone through the plantery gearset and chewed out the gears (i kept driving it for a while), i warped the pistons, and the clutch drum is stuffed. basically i need another trans to fix this one.

he bought the trans for a customer (owns a workshop) from a wreckers about 6 months ago, the customer wouldn't come through on the payment (endless bullcrap stories) and obviously he cant return it, so he's unloading it, he pulled it out of the smashed car himself to make sure it worked fine and has had it checked by a trans workshop and it's been given the all clear. he can't remember exactly what he paid for it just that it was around the 3K mark. trans doesn't have any leaks or sweat marks, and the fluid that was dropped out of it was clean (i saw it when it was done)
i've tried calling a few places but no one can give me a firm price on what they are worth with similar K's. most are saying they dont know.
 

XCSEDAN

New Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
KG
Members Ride
XC Falcon
was my last post not approved by the moderators??? :S
 

tHe_sTiG

New Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2010
Messages
190
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
Saudi Arabia
Members Ride
VZ Executive
5L40E ? That must be an SV6 am I right? As far as I've read of the 5L40E transmission, it's very well known to fail at around 150,000 km in some model of cars. Don't know if this is true for Commodores, but he might have abused the car and is trying to get rid of due to this potential gearbox problem (or God knows what). As far as I've seen from the other threads around the forum, if it's selling really cheap, there must be something wrong with it. Here's the link where I found out about the transmission.

GM 5L40-E transmission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

Trent L

New Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2009
Messages
144
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
Penrith NSW
Members Ride
2004 VZ Calais 190Kw
Being a sealed unit they do not require any servicing till 150,000km.

To be on the safe side and get a bit of longevity out of mine, I replaced the oil + filter and sump gasket at 100K. As suspected the oil was starting to look a bit old.

Like anything. Look after it & generally it should last, but the driving described in the earlier post is always going to lead to excessive wear & tear / mechanical damage.
 

XCSEDAN

New Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
KG
Members Ride
XC Falcon
yeah i expected it to blow eventually, but not straight away, it had only done 57xxx k's
just thought they were as strong as the 4spds, im not complaining but, i just was wondering if i am paying too much for it, i know who checked the trans out and he said its all sweet to me, it just came out of a wrecked car. so the condition im happy with, i just don't know how much to pay for it...

what would you guys pay for a transmission like that? it comes with the converter and fresh fluid and a new filter (old filter was still clean but seeing as the sump was off it was changed, he has the original filter still sitting aside) and as i said the fluid was fairly clean that came out of it, about as clean as i would expect it to be. every where i have called so far only has trans with a large amount of Ks on it and they want anywhere from 2000$ up. :)


and yeah its an SVZ ute :)
 

tHe_sTiG

New Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2010
Messages
190
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
Saudi Arabia
Members Ride
VZ Executive
Just wondering... how durable is the 4L60 (4 speed auto) ? I've got a VZ Executive Alloytec 3.6 175kw. How long is the transmission expected to last before problems start occuring?
 

XCSEDAN

New Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
KG
Members Ride
XC Falcon
no idea dude... wouldn't reccomend testing it, but my mates VE 4spd has been going strong and its almost 100,000k on it, and its gone through countless sets of stockies... might just be a fluke but.

thats what i guessed the strength of the 5spd would be, and i got 1 set of tyres out of it lol
 

alex2_s

Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
197
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Location
Newcastle NSW
Members Ride
VFII SV6 Sedan Auto
The 4 speed really didnt like downshifts at WOT (eg, floor the pedal and it would kick down to 2nd) as the 2-4 band would wear out quite quickly (thats why a lot of of the 4spds have a harsh upshift and delay/flaring on downshift) also the 3/4 clutches would wear out often. BUT that being said they were quite tough in terms of abuse and rarely "let go" after burnouts etc, it was more that they gradually wore until the poor shifting was quite noticeable even under normal driving.

on the other hand, the 5 speeds are designed to cut fuel and power under full throttle shifting, eg thats why it sounds a bit like a manual if you are accelerating fast and when it upshifts. that will make the clutches last longer as they dont have that strain under full throttle gear changes.
BUT - the 5l40e box maximum torque rating is 340nm, the 190 kw motor puts out - 340nm.

So go figure, as good a box they are, they are probably designed for something smaller than a commodore, put them behind a v8 and they would fail, unlike the 4l60e's which is virtualy the same box on the 4sp v6's and v8's. not surprised we are starting to see them fail after people abuse their sv6's and calais'.
 
Top