Problems with Reverse and 1st gear

I am having a couple of minor tranny problems. The first problem has been going on for a few months but I just haven't had time to take a look at it. When I put the tranny in reverse, it does not seem to fully engage. It is almost as though it is slipping when I back up. Could this be a neutral safety switch? No matter what I do with the shifter, it does not "clunk" into reverse.

The second thing could be normal for the 4L60E but I have never had an occasion to use the tranny this way. I was recently towing the horse trailer down a fairly steep grade on a dirt road and shifted the tranny in 1st gear to help keep me slowed down. It doesn't seem to stay in 1st gear as it does not slow me down at all. If I step on the gas the engine revs up to where it would be if I was giving it gas, but the RPM's drop back down to almost the idle level even though I am going down a hill @ 20mph with the shifter in 1st. I normally have the tranny in the tow/haul mode when towing the horse trailer but tried switching tow/haul off and it doesn't seem to make any difference. Could this be a programming problem?

Everything else seem to be fine.

By the way 02 Z71 with 124k miles....

I sent trannyman a PM about my problems and he says that it sounds like something is coming apart internally    . Trannyman is going to send me the name of some local transmission shops. I will probably take the truck in tomorrow morning. I will keep everyone up to date.

Your reverse problem sounds like the one I just had on my 02.  It started to not fully engage, and before I had a chance to get it in, I lost it alltogether.  It had basically exploded internally.  Had to get a new one at 100k miles.  GM wanted $3700, but I was able to negotiate down to $2900 by showing them estimates from a few shops around town.  So at the same price as the other shops, I get the GM warranty for another 100k miles.

After doing some research into my transmission problems, it appears that what has happened to my transmission is a fairly common failure for the 4L60E. I do quite a bit of towing as a matter of fact with gas prices being what they are these days, I am mostly using the Avy to tow the horse trailer probably 50% or more of the time. Since I work from home most of the time, I try to use the motorcycle for the everyday running around.

Since it is an internal failure of the transmission I have opted to go with a re-manufactured Jasper transmission that has the 3 yr 100k nationwide warranty. After doing quite a bit of calling around to various recommended transmission and repair shops for quotes, I went with a local transmission shop that quoted me a price of $2551 out the door. That includes the transmission, new torque converter and complete system flush with pressure check. The best part is that they will have the job done no later than Friday afternoon. That's a 3 day turn around!

They got the old tranny out this afternoon and will let me know the status of the old tranny tomorrow morning.

hope the swap goes smooth, let us know what they find out

Well the old tranny is out. They checked the computer for codes before they did anything - no codes. They cracked open the old tranny to have a look at it. They said it was basically getting ready to self destruct with many failed parts and many parts getting ready to go. I am glad that I took it in when I did rather than having the transmission go out in the middle of no where with the horse trailer in tow.

They are putting the new transmission in right now. It should be ready by tomorrow morning.

02 Z71 said:

Well the old tranny is out. They checked the computer for codes before they did anything - no codes. They cracked open the old tranny to have a look at it. They said it was basically getting ready to self destruct with many failed parts and many parts getting ready to go. I am glad that I took it in when I did rather than having the transmission go out in the middle of no where with the horse trailer in tow.

They are putting the new transmission in right now. It should be ready by tomorrow morning.

Click to expand...

no doubt, that would be awful

wow I really picked the right shop to do this job  The shop called @ 3pm today to tell me that the truck was ready. That's a 24 hr turnaround. I guess it helps that I knew that it needed a new tranny so the tranny was delivered @ noon today.

They only charged me for the actual labor rather than what "the book" says to charge for a tranny R & R which I know is 10 hrs. Total price $2357.94 and the labor charge was only $370.50   

The truck once again drive like a dream with nice smooth yet firm shifts and no skipping in reverse.

Thanks for the support Wildfire 

wow, that's some awesome service, looks like you research paid off 
even better to hear you are happy with the results
Happy AV'n!