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Transmission's skip or mis

Jeffrey1988

New Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2021
Messages
5
My wife's 02 Avalanche was running fine and still does. Here's the set up to the problem. We recently had an unusual amount of snow in the area we just moved into. She's had her truck for about a year and we've put a lot of miles on it without issues. Mostly hwy miles but some city but no off road. We hadn't used the 4wd portion of the truck until the snow hit us up here on the mountain. We live in a hole that got lots of snow and not much sun for about two weeks making the steep drive out to the hwy slick. I'd use 4 low to get to the road about a quarter mile away then stop and shift into 4 high to get to the post office another mile away. From the post office down the mountain to "town" could vary from 5 hwy miles to 20 hwy miles generally run with the auto 4x4 switch engaged. If we went into the "city" I'd be able to use 2 high until I got back to the snow where I'd start shifting down through the switches until ultimately returning home in 4 low and 2nd gear.
Yesterday was a trip to the city for supplies, more beer and food. By the time I had gotten to clear roads and hwy speed we developed a problem that was only getting worse as the trip progressed but we did get home.
The problem is hard for me to describe. The engine runs perfect. However it feels like it has a serious intermittent hard miss fire that it doesn't have. RPMs didn't stumble on the tach a bit. At around 40 mph and up, in high gear, is when the skip or miss was really noticed. I stopped and switched into 4 low then I drove a few feet. Next switched to 4 high and drove a few feet. Next I switched to auto 4x4 and drove a few feet before I finally switched back to 2 high thinking maybe a switch or solinoid hadn't disengaged fully or properly.
The problem was evident as soon as we were in 2 high and almost up to speed. The whole trip was around 75 miles and by the time we got back to where I was driving at a reduced speed close to home it was happening more frequently. Like once or twice a mile. Under load I didn't feel it unless it was a gradual increase in the throttle like a slow incline but out of a corner or steep incline when tranny was almost kicked down or had kicked down the problem was gone. It is a mountain road with lots of corners and it's up hill all the way home or down hill the other way to more beer and gas so lots of time without cruise control as a luxury.
Again, the truck has developed a miss or skip or a stumble at hwy speed that I feel is beyond the engine and is intermittent. Tranny? Trans case? I'm under the impression that those are the responsible components since the problem started today and we've only used the 4 wheel drive never times until about 2 weeks ago when it became required to get more beer and food. I haven't plugged in the code reader yet because it's cold and dark right now but I need to address this first thing in the morning because I didn't buy enough beer to last through the next impending snow storm. Thank you in advance for any advice.

P.S. The more I dwell on the problem I'm starting to think about things like wiring to tranny solinoids or a solinoid just misbehaving. I've never experienced anything like it before and I've been around Chevy trucks all of my life as well as I am a pretty experienced mechanic.
 
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Little tip:

break up this one huge paragraph into many smaller ones so it is easier to rear the various computers and phones etc that visit the site.
 
Just given the age of the truck, if it hasn't had a transmission rebuild yet, it could be due.

And while it is possible, I have never had one of my failed transmissions ever throw a code.

They just stopped working with no error messages.
 
The tranny was rebuilt but I'm kinda unsure how many miles ago due to the gauge cluster having been replaced at some point in the trucks past. The receipt pile is not easy to follow. I can narrow it down to 9 years ago but not how many miles ago. I really don't think the tranny itself is failing because it doesn't slip and the fluid doesn't smell bad.
 
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