Hey all,
I had my 97 C5 redone last winter. Its an A & A V3 si trim forged bottom end. I put in a Performabuilt level 3 4L60E transmission in it. The car produced 580 rwhp with the level 3 Invincible series
http://performabuilt.com/gm%20perfor...d%20truck.html

I have put about 9k miles on it and dragged 2 runs on street tires. That was back in September. The car was running fine until 1 1/2 weeks ago. All of a sudden the engine light came on, trans temp lights 239* then came on and then no more 3rd and 4th gears. Performabuilt is going to rebuild the trans once they get it.

I don't know if they are going to cover labor and shipping, email sent earlier this evening.

My question is to all of you about your experiences with Performabuilt?
Did I just get a freak bad clutch pack? Or is this a recurring problem with Performabuilt. I did see a few posts on LS1 tech that had the same issue. Obviously, I was no where near the rating on the transmission, no leaks, no issues, just checked out at Cincy Speed in the beginning of November when they installed the meth and dyno'd at 580/509.
Kind of wondering if I should just get the rebuild and give them another shot or go for the refund. I have a set of drag radials that are going to be beat on in the spring so if I burnt it up street driving, the track will kill it.

Right now I wish I had went with my gut and just went with RPM but I listened to cinci speed and went with what they recommended. They said they never had one go bad. Also was trying to keep the wife happy by spending less. That 1200 dollars I saved is seeming pretty insignificant now!

 

I have a level 2. Hundreds of drag strip passes in the low 11's, and 10k street miles.
No issues at all.

Ron

 

I think you'll be pleased with the PerformaBuilt trans. I just got mine returned from them and don't have it completely installed yet, so I can't tell you much about it. I had to send my trans to them for the build because its a C5 and Frank says C5 cores are hard to find. I was happy to have my own trans built anyway because I knew it was a good core. Performabuilt paid shipping both ways - doesn't get any better than that. They're also great to deal with and have a superlative reputation. Go to the Automatic Transmission Forum at ls1tech.com and search for PerformaBuilt. You'll get many hits and excellent reviews. The $995.00 trans refresh cost is also a pretty good deal once the trans is out of warranty. I doubt you'll be sorry you chose PerformaBuilt.

 

At least u got shipping from them, Performabuilt isn't willing to cover any of my costs for shipping or labor to rebuild their trans and its only 9 months old. Only the rebuild is covered. Did they give you a new warranty with the transmission rebuild?

 

 

Decided to go with RPM transmissions. Rather then argue with Performabuilt, RPM is pulling it out and sending it back to them to be rebuilt. Dropped it off at RPM this afternoon. Once I get Performabuilt Level 3 back it will be for sale, lol!

 

PerformaBuilt has a one year warranty. It clearly states that you are responsible to return the trans to them for warranty coverage and that's the norm with most warranties. I don't see a problem with that. It's unfortunate that you had a problem, but things do break from time to time and have to be repaired. That's especially true of car parts that see extreme use and most of us expect it to happen.

RPM has a good reputation and I'm sure their stuff is top notch, but I don't see any mention of a warranty on RPM's site. Have they offered you a warranty and if so will they pay to have the trans shipped back to them if there is a problem?

 

You are correct on the Performabuilt warranty. I had no problem paying the shipping and labor. Which is what I'm doing. However they are not willing to cover the trans once they fix it past 30 days.
That is one reason why I switched to RPM. The next reason is RPM is only 2 hours from my house. So I wouldn't need to pay shipping for them.

If Performabuilt had been willing to give me an extended warranty for 12 or 6 months I would have stayed with them, but they aren't. I wasn't going to pay over 1500 in labor and shipping on a trans that if it dies in a few weeks I have to have it rebuilt all over again. That would cost an extra $995 plus all the shipping and labor over again.

At least with RPM if it breaks, I can have it at their door step in 2 hours