I picked up a 4L80e yesterday from a junkyard. Supposedly it's from an 02 with 96k miles on it. When I dropped the pan, the fluid was a little darker than I expected. Should I be concerned? Or is this normal for the mileage?

It doesn't smell burnt at all, and no chunks/chips of anything in the pan. Just the grime you see in the pic.

It's going behind a stock 5.3, should I just let er ride?

 

It's up to you. If something goes wrong do you feel like pulling it again???

Might get lucky with a fresh filter and fluid. If you plan on beating on it you may want to go through it.

 

I'd have to agree, if pulling it doesn't bother you run new fluids and filter and cross fingers...worst case is you have to rebuild.

 

What kind of gasket was on that thing?

 

Looks normal for something that hasnt been serviced with that mileage...you wont have any problems with it. Do the transgo hd-2 while its apart

 

good converter and a shift kit and let it work. I have 256K on my 80e. I have a converter, shift kit, and deep pan. Shifts hard and right everytime...

 

Mine looked way worse than that with only 40k on it. Now with almost 100k on it, she has been a good one. I put a HD2 in it before it went in the truck.

Dunno why but the 80 is bad about a bunch of material in the pan. Maybe lack of service?
Maybe its from so much clutch surface area?

 

Looks like the factory gasket to me...

 

Awesome, thanks for the reassurance. I'm gonna just fill er up with fresh fluid and let it ride. Maybe pick up an HD-2. Any good vendors on here to get one from, or should I just go to flea-bay?

edit: screw it, just ordered it from summit. After buying a handful of parts at the stealership today (can't afford the downtime for gmpd slow shipping) this swap is getting expensive haha. Oh well, it'll be worth it.

 

If its your first time doing the shift kit I would say put the trans in the truck first and make sure it works alright, then put the kit in. Just so you know if it starts acting up it was something that you did. I got a junkyard one with 130K and the fluid looked iffy, put it in and had all sorts of crap, dragging in park and neutral, shifting itself out of gear, slipping hard on the 2-3, and 2nd gear starts. However, I say go for it that doesnt look like much material. Good luck!