definitely of interest. I did a pan drop and filter in August and didn't think to send in a sample. You do have a few readings that a little out of range. Especially the first few. I am not sure if it is a concern or not, and being a first fluid change, you typically will get the most contaminates.
My magnet looked very similar to yours (40K miles).

And the fluid was still nice and red. (the particles in the fluid were junk that fell in when I pulled the pan)

Hopefully Copperhead will weigh in on this thread. He seems to have a handle on fluids, lubrication and analysis.

 

Fascinating. Yeah my fluid was not as red as yours. It was slightly brownish but it smelled just like normal transmission gluid. Is yours also Dexron VI too?

I am planning to do a drop and swap each spring a d fall now that I have a real drain plug.

 

6L80 owners! Double check your transmission pan bolts. Two of mine were loose and I removed them with just my fingers when I did the pan drop.

 

I too will be interested in Copper's thoughts. I haven't spent nearly as much time researching oil data as he has.

 

Fascinating. Yeah my fluid was not as red as yours. It was slightly brownish but it smelled just like normal transmission gluid. Is yours also Dexron VI too?

I am planning to do a drop and swap each spring a d fall now that I have a real drain plug.

The fluid in mine was factory so I am sure it was Dexron 6. I had just under 40,000 miles as well so not that many miles.

 

I too will be interested in Copper's thoughts. I haven't spent nearly as much time researching oil data as he has.

Copperhead. Not Cooper....hahaha :lol:

 

I thought it would be fair for me to post a follow up of this 6L80 transmission.

Since adding the PML Deep pan @ 97,146 miles I had done "drop and swap" of the transmission fluid two more times and then the transmission was replaced ($4,442.69) due to a very erratic shifting that had developed @ 159,934 miles this past winter. No additional lab analysis had been completed unfortunately.

 

$4500 for trans replace? Cot dang

 

That sucks. Sounds like you did all the right things to maintain your transmission and it still went out on you. Bad deal.

 

Vehicle manufacturers used to recommend changing the filter / fluid at around 60k

Is this what GM recommended for these trannys these days?

 

Every 50k is my schedule as if I were in severe conditions. I am far from severe though. Here is the factory schedule for Normal and Severe conditions. (K2XX)

 

I wonder if a fella could install a new filter... and then setup an inline spin on filter which can be changed more frequently and just leave the filter inside the pan alone going forward.

That would greatly simplify things cause the spin on filter is cheaper and much easier to change.