2005 Chevrolet Avalanche 1500

AT 80K I PUT MY TRUCK IN REVERSE AND HEARD A CLUNK SOUND AND IMMEDIATELY IT WOULDN'T SHIFT GEARS ANYMORE. I WENT AND HAD THE TRANSMISSION REBUILT WHICH LASTED ROUGHLY 10K MORE. NOW, THE TRUCK WON'T SHIFT YET AGAIN AND THE FILTER WAS CHANGED AND THE REAR OUTPUT SEAL. CURRENTLY, WHEN I DRIVE SINCE ITS MY ONLY VEHICLE, ONE MINUTE IT WILL SHIFT FINE BUT AFTER I TURN THE ENGINE OFF AND ON AGAIN, IT WILL NOT SHIFT FROM FIRST AND THE AGAIN, CHECK ENGINE LIGHT IS ON!

WHILE CRUISING ON RT 101 AT 65 MPH, VEHICLE AUTOMATICALLY DOWNSHIFTED INTO SECOND GEAR FOR NO REASON. IN RESPONSE, I WAS FORCED TO DECELERATE TO 35 MPH. TRIED EXPLICITLY PLACING VEHICLE IN THIRD INSTEAD OF "D" FOR DRIVE, BUT, THE DRIVE TRAIN WAS UNRESPONSIVE. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, A "HOT TRANSMISSION" MESSAGE APPEARED ON DASH AND I PULLED OVER AND CHECKED FLUIDS. FLUIDS LOOKED GOOD. DROVE VEHICLE HOME IN SECOND GEAR WITHOUT ISSUE. UPON INVESTIGATION, I DISCOVERED THAT MY AVALANCHE WAS BUILT WITH A WIDELY RECOGNIZED DESIGN FLAW AND UNDERSIZED TRANSMISSION. VARIOUS SOURCES SUGGESTED I FILE COMPLAINT THIS ADDRESS: HTTPS://WWW-ODI.NHTSA.DOT.GOV/VEHICLECOMPLAINT/INDEX.XHTML. *TR

SERVICE 4WHEEL DRIVE MESSAGE APPEARS. I HAVE HAD THIS PROBLEM REPAIRED NUMEROUS TIMES. NO CODES ARE LISTED IN THE ONBOARD COMPUTER. TECHNICIANS CANNOT IDENTIFY THE FAILING COMPONENT. THEY REPLACE PARTS UNTIL THE MESSAGE GOES AWAY. THE VEHICLE SHIFTS INTO 4 WHEEL DRIVE WITHOUT WARNING. THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME NUMEROUS TIMES. THIS HAPPENS DURING HIGH HUMIDITY OR RAINY CONDITIONS. NUMEROUS TSB HAVE BEEN ISSUED. ONE COMMON CAUSE IS WIRING HARNESS CONNECTOR THAT IS PRONE TO FAIL DUE TO MOISTURE. CHEVY HAS NOT ISSUED A SAFETY RECALL. *TR

WHILE DRIVING ON A 1200 MILE TRIP, THE MESSAGE "SERVICE 4WD" APPEARED AND MY 2WD YELLOW INDICATOR LIGHT WENT OUT. I CALLED ONSTAR AND THEY PERFORMED A SYSTEM DIAG. COULD NOT PULL ANY CODES, SO THEY CONNECTED ME WITH GM. THE CUSTOMER SERVICE PERSON AT GM TOLD ME TO RESET THE WARNING LIGHT AND IF IT CAME ON AGAIN TO TAKE THE VEHICLE TO A CHEVY DEALERSHIP. THE NEXT DAY THE LIGHT CAME ON AGAIN AND I TOOK IT TO A DEALERSHIP. THEY WANTED $990.00 TO FIX THE PROBLEM. I DID NOT HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY WHILE ON MY TRIP. THEY ALSO WOULD NOT VERIFY IF THE VEHICLE WAS SAFE TO TAKE ON A 1200 MILE TRIP BACK HOME. TODAY (3 DAYS LATER, AND AFTER I DROVE ANOTHER 1200 MILES BACK HOME), THE SERVICE 4WD LIGHT IS BACK ON AND NOW A RED LIGHT IS SHOWING IN THE NEUTRAL POSITION OF THE TRANSFER CASE. I LOOKED IN THE OWNERS MANUAL HOW TO GET THE TRUCK OUT OF THE NEUTRAL POSITION IN THE TRANSFER CASE AND PERFORMED THESE ACTIONS. NOT SURE WHAT WILL HAPPEN TOMORROW WITH THE TRUCK. IN MY OPINION, THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN OPEN RECALL AS I HAVE NOTICED MANY OTHER AVALANCHE OWNERS WITH THE SAME PROBLEM. MY CONFIDENCE IS SHAKEN NOW WITH MY GM TRUCK. *TR

WENT TO PULL OUT OF A PARKING LOT, GAVE IT A LITTLE GAS AND NOTHING. ENGINE IDLED UP BUT IT WOULD NOT MOVE. WENT DOWN THROUGH THE GEARS BUT STILL WOULD NOT MOVE. HAD TO PUT IT IN REVERSE AND BACK INTO A PARKING SPACE AND CALLED A TOW TRUCK. $2900 DOLLARS LATER THE TRANSMISSION WAS REPLACED WITH GENUINE GM REBUILT TRANSMISSION. *TR

TRAVELING HOME FROM WORK ON THE INTERSTATE AT REGULATED SPEED (65MPH). AS I STARTED TO ACCELERATE TO MAINTAIN SPEED GINGO UP A HILL, THE MESSAGE "TRANSMISSION HOT" CAME ON THE IN-DASH DISPLAY AND ENGINE BEGAN REVVING AS IF NOT IN GEAR. I COULD NOT ACCELERATE AND HAD TO TURN ON FLASHERS AND MERGE TO SAFETY LANE ON RIGHT. I CONTINUED TO SLOW DOWN UNTIL I COULD ENGAGE THE TRANSMISSION AGAIN AT AROUND 30 MPH IN 3RD GEAR. AS SOON AS I STARTED TO ACCELERATE PAST 35-40 MPH, THE TRANSMISSION SLIPPED AGAIN AND WOULD NOT ENGAGE ANY GEAR. THIS HAPPENED ALL THE WAY HOME SO WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A 20 MINUTE DRIVE TURNED INTO AN HOUR. I COULDN'T GET ABOVE 35-45 MPH WITHOUT THIS HAPPENING EACH TIME WHICH MADE NAVIGATING THE HILLS OF NORTHERN VA IN THE RAIN NOT VERY FUN FOR ME NOR THE HUNDREDS OF FRUSTRATED DRIVERS BEHIND AND BESIDE ME. AS I PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY AND PARKED, I COULD NOTICE A 'BURNT AND SOUR" SMELL...MOST LIKELY TRANSMISSION FLUID. I DIDN'T SEE ANY LEAKS OR DRIPS BUT THE ENGINE WAS EXTREMELY HOT AS WAS TRANSMISSION AND TRANSFER CASE. THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING OFF AND ON FOR A FEW MONTHS NOW BUT IN VERY LIMITED OCCASIONS AND NEVER FOR MORE THAN 10-20 SECONDS SO I HAVEN'T CONTACTED A SERVICE STATION BUT WILL DEFINITELY DO SO THIS WEEKEND AS I AM UNABLE TO LEAVE WORK DURING THE WEEK FOR THIS ISSUE. *TR

THE SERVICE 4WD STARTED APPEARING IN THE DRIVER INFORMATION DISPLAY INTERMITTENTLY. TAKING THE VEHICLE IN FOR SERVICE GAVE NO RELIEF. THE VEHICLE STARTED ACTING ERRATICALLY, SLIPPING IN AND OUT OF GEAR INTERMITTENTLY. IT WASN'T SAFE TO DRIVE ANYMORE, IE STRANDED AT STOP LIGHTS OR AFTER SLOWING FOR TRAFFIC IT HAD NO ACCELERATION. IT BECAME CLEAR AT THIS POINT THAT THE PROBLEM WASN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO BE DIAGNOSED AT A REPAIR FACILITY, WITHOUT REPLACING PARTS NEEDLESSLY AND THEN TEST DRIVING THE VEHICLE UNTIL IT WORKED AGAIN . I STARTED CHECKING ON LINE AND FOUND MANY OF THESE VEHICLES EXHIBITING THE SAME BEHAVIOR AND TRACED THE PROBLEM TO A DEFECTIVE ENCODER MOTOR WHICH FIXED THE PROBLEM I FEEL THE WAY THE VEHICLE ACTED WITH THIS PROBLEM IS A VERY UNSAFE CONDITION AND SHOULD HAVE A FAIL SAFE BUILT INTO IT TO AT LEAST PREVENT COMPLETE LOSS OF ACCELERATION. AT THE VERY LEAST OWNERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN WARNED OF THIS POSSIBLE SITUATION SINCE THERE ARE TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETINS OUT ON THIS CONDITION. *TR