I have been trying for well over a month now to get the required "36 month" DTC fluid drain and fill accomplished on my '21 C-8 in North Florida. I have contacted all 7 of the dealers within 75 miles of my home (including one in south GA) ALL of them show the fluid on backorder and NONE of them can tell me when they expect to get it. The supply code is listed as "direct delivery" which, I am told, means that it's a system-wide problem. So, now I am past the 36-month fluid drain and fill timeline - with no end in sight.

The good news is - I did find 2 dealers that had ONE QT each in stock and managed to get one dealer to buy a quart from the other one so I could get my fluid level topped off after the required cartridge filter change. Yay!

Is this truly a system-wide outage, or am I just lucky to be in North Florida?

 

Interesting. I hadn't heard that but when I was searching a few weeks ago I did notice a lot of places said out of stock.

I swear I ordered 12 qrts but then a few days alter there was no charge on my credit card and no email confirmation. Best price I found was though RockAuto and almost the same through Corvette Central. Make sure you get the correct fluid also.

ACDelco FFL-4 DCT Automatic Transmission Fluid 19418016

 

Just went to RockAuto on-line. They have ACDelco FFL-4-1 listed as Part # 104130 - "GM Original Equipment" at $22.79 a qt. So, I ordered 12 qts with a predicted UPS ground delivery of 01/09. All in (tax and shipping included), 12 qts will cost me $28.75 per quart for a total of $345 out the door. The various GM dealers I talked to charge (tax included) anywhere from $42 to $46 a qt for a total of from $504 to $552

So, IF this all works out, I will have saved between $159 and $207 - just for the fluid. Not life-threatening - but - certainly a waste of good beer money.

Oh, by the way. when I had the DCT cartridge filter changed at the dealer yesterday I watched the guy do it. It took him 45 minutes from the time he started taking off panels to roll out time. The GM standard work hours for the task (as verified by 3 different dealers) is 2.3 hours. Plus they charged me $238 for the cartridge filter that RockAuto sells for $104. So, what they charged me for the cartridge filter change at $185 an hour was $425.50 for a task that really should have cost about $185 (rounded up to the nearest hour) AND the cost of the cost of the filter AND all the misc. shop charges and taxes was $800. So, the DIYers out there are saving somewhere around $700 to change the cartridge themselves The ONLY task they can't do themselves is the hyd flush procedure (which I am told includes some amount of automatic analysis/diagnostics of the fluid viscosity and flow rates) required by the maintenance manual prior to changing the cartridge.

So, rather than quit drinking beer - as soon as my drive-train warranty expires, I will be doing all of this myself. I would start today - except I'm still risk-adverse and will pay the gouge the dealer's want for the hydraulic DCT flush.

.

 

Yup, same. Your welcome. lol

Thats the same I ordered a few weeks ago but it never went though. Maybe I didnt finish my order??? I just ordered it again. Probably doing my own soon since Im in a big fight with the dealer who was Supposed to do mine last week.

 

Interesting. I'm in a big fight with my "former" dealer (closest to home) too. My fight came about because I screwed up and exceeded the 8,000 mile max limit on the original cartridge filter. At the time I brought it in to get it changed, I did NOT know there was a special procedure (penalty) for not having it done on time - and apparently the dealer also didn't know about the special procedure -or- they lied about what they did in the official work order close out - and then went into cover up mode with me. The "special" procedure required the dealer to NOT do the flush procedure BEFORE removing the possibly overloaded original cartridge (as is normally required); THEN put in a brand-new 2nd cartridge; THEN run the flush procedure; THEN remove that new 2nd filter and throw it away; THEN put in a "3rd" filter to complete the procedure. The best I can tell, the dealer did the flush procedure on the overloaded original cartridge and just changed the filter as if it was a "normal change". The cost of the whole process was $850 - and they still hadn't fulfilled the GM requirement to do the full "late-replacement" procedure.

What's your fight about?

 

This is exactly my experience. I bought a 2020 with 8800 miles on it last year. At the time it was 3 years and 4 months in service and had zero maintenance records.

The first week I had it I took it to the local Chevy dealer and had them change the engine oil, filter and DCT filter. They charged me for one filter and no fluid and said nothing about a drain and fill. I was ignorant about the maintenance requirements and about DCT issues reported by owners. Supposedly a multipoint inspection including checking a fluid levels was supposed to be done, when checking out I asked what fluid were checked as it was a new to me vehicle. "All"... So I specifically asked, coolant? Brake? Lift?. She said again "all" but I asked if she could verify and she said the lift wasn't but the way she said it I doubted the others too. I did check them all once I got her home...

After the service I noticed a burnt clutch smell and reading my OM and posts here online decided to get the fluid and socket I needed to drain and fill the DCT myself. In doing so I found the fluid about a liter low, the shear plate improperly replaced, all the heads on the torx bolts rounded off and one bolt hole stripped. This also lead me to wonder if they did the electronic flush, heck also to question everything, did they use the right engine oil...

Happy new year all.

 

Well hopefully you will have more luck than I am having on the forum with what is turning out to be GM Mechanics who are trying to defend what the dealer did or didnt do.

Have you opened a case with GM Customer service yet? I did and the dealer service manager has already called but I wasnt able to take the call so??

 

Ive had Very similar happen but not on my C8, it was on my Dodge Stealth.
Its amazing though how many on this group will try to defend the dealers to no end though and blame you for Miscommunications or xyz. lol
Take pictures and document everything. Luckily not only do I have the work order to prove they screwed up I have several txt messages they admitted fault and would make it right before trying to do a 180.

 

The ONLY task they can't do themselves is the hyd flush procedure (which I am told includes some amount of automatic analysis/diagnostics of the fluid viscosity and flow rates) required by the maintenance manual prior to changing the cartridge.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they changed the requirement for DIYers. The hydraulic flush is not required if you don't do it at the dealer.

 

The official requirement is to perform the hydraulic system flush. Josh Holder has verbally stated that DIY'ers can get by without it. Whether or not verbal statements can supercede written requirements remains to be seen.

 

just a heads up, the Foxwell NT 510 elite does do the transmission filter flush and leak test. I have a 2024 and I’ve done both. I’m not sure if they work for different years, I’m pretty sure it also works on a 23. Software might be different for older cars.
I think the scanner cost me about 150 bucks

 

I had that one but returned it because it didn't work on my BMW.

I wonder if my ANCEL FX2000 will work

 

Just had mine done at a San Antonio area dealer and I got the last DCT fluid they had on hand

 

I think you might have had to load the BMW software for access for the Foxwell . I could not confirm that.

 

I hadn't heard about the shortage in fluid. Glad I had mine done not long ago. Good luck all.

 

It's even murkier than that. The only reference to the hydraulic system flush is in the transmission filter change procedure in the service manual, nowhere else that I know of. Add Holder's statement about filter changes when not using GM's diagnostic tool, and, IMO, for my purposes, I don't need to perform the flush for warranty purposes (that's about ready to go bye-bye for me anyway).

Have a good one,
Mike

 

True, the Hydraulic System Flush (HSF) is a step in the procedure for changing the DCT external canister filter, along with the Transmission Fluid Level and Condition Check procedure, the Hydraulic System Leak Test procedure - also steps in the procedure to change the filter.

But thats not the only procedure that calls the HSF. It part of transmission related diagnostic procedures and sometimes it is successful in resolving those issues.

Its also true that Josh said if doing it yourself, you can skip the HSF.

 

Hey there. Sorry but, I'm band new to the forum - although I've had 2 other vettes ('76 & '15 - both sticks), I'm also brand new to the whole DCT miasma going on with the C8s. So, who is Josh Holder?

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...sh-holder.html

And welcome to the forum!

 

Hey there. I must be living right. RockAuto just shipped my 12 qt order this AM. SOOOOOO, if there's a "system-wide shortage", it must only be in the GM system in Florida (and apparently in San Antonio,TX too). Strange indeed. My guess is, the dealers who are now zero balance for fluid have been asleep at the supply switch. DCT is a critical "consumable" - and given that fact (and the fact there are very few other consumables as critical as this one), there should have been red flags, flashing lights and alarm bells going off throughout the service section when the stockage level dropped to the min allowable level - which - because it takes 12 Qts to do a flush and fill, should have been no lower than 12 qts - but probably multiples of 12 qts to be safe. Supply system 101.