My H3 2008 Alpha 46k miles is at the dealer for the exact same issue (trans case coolant). I was able to drive it in. But after reading several of these posts about this issue I'm wondering how many of us are having this problem. I asked the dealer about it being recalled, but of course...no.

 

at 50000 im thinking a new rad might be good preventative maintenance??

this tranny trash seems to becoming routine.

a good reliable rad, ???

and they flushed the trans, so now they have a clean start

once trash always trash huh?

 

I don't think the transmission/radiator leak is a big problem by numbers, it has a small chance of happening. Unfortunately when it does its a major issue! If I were worried about it I would do an external cooler mod like some have already done. Easy. I don't expect the drivetrain to last high miles so anything over 150k is just an rpm away from destruction and major rebuild time.

 

an external cooler mod like some have already done""

how about the down side,no heating of tranny in winter.

they all like to be hot huh?

 

Umm, inline thermostat to bypass the cooler when fluid temp is low?

 

without the rad there is nothing to heat it when cold, like -13!! yikes its coming already and it just got warm...

 

The gearbox WILL heat up, just not as fast. The friction from the gears will generate a lot of heat. Touch the diff when its cold out, it will be hot despite not getting help from the radiator to warm up. If you're driving your H3 in sub-zero temps you may not want to do this, gotta use some common sense.

 

Well the dealer called today, and they are replacing trans and all hoses, flushing etc. They said that the price would be 5,800, but GM is picking up 3,500 of the cost because it was only 8 months out of warrantee. It will be another 5 days until I get it back. Now I'm worried that if it happened once what are the chances the same thing will happen again? If you put trans into the search box there are more than 700 results back. This scares me. But thank you all for your replies to my problem. I Love this truck and want to keep it for a very long time.

 

glad to hear that it's ending up well

 

Ok , so finally my alpha will be delivered tomorrow with new radiator , flushed coolant , me hoses, and trans rebuilt!!! Woo hoo I can't wait to drive it again !!!