The 6L80E transmission in my 2015 Escalade died.  It sounds like the torque converter blew up, which is apparently pretty common on these.  118k miles on it, all stock and pretty much all driving to the mall.  

This is the same transmission in many GM half ton pickups.  

What is the best option to get it rolling?  Local rebuild shop?  Remanufactured transmission?  GM certified remanufactured?

I’m leaning towards purchasing a remanufactured transmission and installing it myself.  Hopefully find one that has upgraded the garbage GM parts that make these things die around 100k miles.

Pull it out and send it to the transmission shop. Should be under 1k with a new torque converter. My last one 7 years ago was only 800 that included a new converter.

Don't forget to fill up the new converter before installing it and remember to align the dowel pins so it fully seats.

Good luck. Just had one die in a van. 6l90. Everyone wanted $5k. Hopefully the 80 is easier/cheaper. Ended up finding a shop that rebuilds and exchanges them. Still almost $2k. Transmissions seemed to have skyrocketed like everything else.

07 Yukon, 4L60E, usually grenade at 100K, this one went to 305K before grenading. 3 grand and included upgrades.
Now my 03 Sierra, same trans, just started going south at just under 300K, doing same thing. Local guy, in business at the same location over 30 years.

Not for a six speed.  I'm going to guess 4kish for a rebuilt.

Lol, Not a chance in hell. Most shops are going to charge around $3k for a rebuild.

I have the big brother, the 6L90 in my CTS-V that I need to get rebuilt, and the cheapest place I've found that seems to actually repair these things is a performance shop in Ohio that works with a lot of the 6L80/90 transmissions and tunes them, Tim King Performance/Rick Crawford Racing. About $2400 plus freight for a rebuild or $3300 with upgrades to help with line pressure and clutch pack (sonnax hard parts) for issues with the 3-4 shift.

None of that includes a converter. That needs to be sent to either be rebuilt or replaced to address it's issues with premature lockup failure that ends up taking a transmission out with it.

just went thru this in my 2015 Tahoe right at 200k on the odometer, TQ failed and took out the pump. this is also another issue with the AFM it has to do with the converter fluid pressures letting the clutches slip in the converter and that causes the friction material to overheat and come apart. THANKS GM!
I had a reman put in total cost was just over 5 grand....

I could have done it cheaper myself but there would have been no warranty by having the shop do the install I have a 3 year warranty.

Mine lost 4-6 gear just driving normally to work at like 108k miles. It started to have hard shifts and false neutrals when switching from R to D. Local shop removed, rebuilt, reinstalled it for $3200.

This literally just happened last Friday to my SIL/BILs rig.

2017?ish Yukon XL, 117K miles.

Shop said the tq converter went out and trashed the transmission.

Apparently when the torque converter disintegrates, it sends metal through the transmission which ends up destroying the transmission control module and the pump/pump housing.  The fix is a new torque converter, preferably a "billet" torque converter which is thicker and more heavy duty (Sonnex website says the issue is the thin wall of the factory torque converter flexes).

Another problem with the factory transmission is there is a weld on the 4-5-6 drum that causes a weak spot.  A good rebuilder will replace that drum with an aftermarket one.  

It's kind of sad that I'd prefer a rebuilt transmission over a GM rebuilt transmission, because I don't have any confidence that GM won't put the same (new) crappy parts in.


I dropped the pan on our escalade and it actually didn't look too bad.  There was slightly more metal than typical, but not a lot more. But it was shifting weird and my wife said it lost power once, so she has lost confidence in it.  I put new fluid in it and it drove fine, so we seem to have caught it on the early side.  

Definitely worth it to call around as prices vary widely:
- Local transmission shop where they rebuild it (including drop/install), was $6000 to $7500, up to 3 yr warranty
- Local shop that installs a rebuilt (elsewhere) transmission, $4500, 1 yr warranty
- Local shop that installs a "value option" remanufactured (elsewhere) transmission, $6245 OTD, 3 yr warranty.  
- Transmission shop in Atlanta sells rebuilt transmissions (rebuilt in their shop) for $2000; will install for $700, fluid is $150.  Total $2850, 1 yr warranty.


So it looks like I'm driving to Atlanta, as their price is cheap enough that it'd be hard for me to install a rebuilt transmission myself for that price (especially considering I'd have to take it to the dealer for programming).  I could rebuild it cheaper myself, but it's too much of a time commitment for me.  If you set an appointment, they'll do a same-day install for out-of-towners.  The rebuilt transmission includes a billet torque converter, an aftermarket 4-5-6 drum, and some other upgrades.  

Where in SC are you located? We’re down in Charleston now but about to move to the Greenville area.

I’m not a transmission guy but we may be soon in the same boat with my wife’s Suburban (230k, has a shudder at low speed) and would love some places to avoid/look out for if/when it goes out.

Exact same thing happened to my 6L80. Just over 100k the torque converter went out which was downhill from there.

It was something like $4200 for a rebuild with a billet torque converter and other things.