s10 stuck in 1st gear
 

Son called me at 3am this morning, stated his s10 with 4.3 engine is stuck in 1st gear. He was driving home from work, could not get the truck to get above 50 mph, then for worse and now cant get it above 25 mph, stuck in 1st gear. I am 1500 miles away.

Any thoughts on what this is and possible fixes? Truck has 160k miles, had trans fluid and filter changed 20k miles ago.

Want to ad that the spedometer is working, max speed of 25 mph going down hill. I am guessing with spedo working it it not the vss.

Could the transmission be in limp mode?

if it wont manually shift into gears with the shifter i would guess its in the trans. i think "limp mode" is third only. but tough to see if you dont have a computer that sees if the pnp signal is getting to the pcm, im guessing so if everything else works

Yes, limp mode is 3rd only. And u can initiate that mode by disconnecting the trans connector.

Another test u can do is, place the gear selector in 2nd and see what happens.

Thanks guys. It is at the dealership- wish I was closer and could see for myself what is going on. Did some research and the VSS is a common issue when stuck in 1st, but the speedo stays at 0 MPH when that happens. Also sw that a defective TPS may cause the 1st only issue, but doesn't seem likely.

The trans, if bad gave no warning. Will let you know what the dealer says.

Still have not heard from the dealer- but found this article from a trans-rebuilder in Milwaukee on the 4l60e most common issues. The rebuilder sells trans on RockAuto:

The top 3 Most Common Problems with the 4L60E transmission - ETE Reman - The Most Widely Found Problems With The 4L60E Transmission

I did a quick Google earlier today and seen something about a sticky 1-2 solenoid.

I can't believe a bad sunshell didn't make his top 3 list. What a douche.

Dealer called, all they would say was a bad transmission.

I am 1500 miles from the S10- so fixing myself is not an option.

Choices:
Chevy dealer
$2900 for GM re-manufactured 3 year unlimited warranty
$2300 to repair the transmission, cost can rise if trans has additional issues not included in repair kit

$1800 ETE re-manufactured 3 year unlimited warranty- ETE has an install shop in Milwaukee, additional $300 to get S10 to Milwaukee
ETE REMAN : Plant Tour Video and Images

$1200- guy that works in tranny in his home shop. 6 month warranty and $75 tow charge
TRANSMISSON REBUILDS FAST TURN AROUND

Will be spending the day trying to look at the above options. Kind of stinks as the truck is nice, but it is worth about 3k. I looked at used S10s and can't justify buying a replacement truck as all S10s need lots of work when purchased used- my S10 has had most of the work already performed.

At this point, you don't have much of a choice. The dealer is probably blinding you, and do you have the option of getting it to another shop?

I had an issue like this once. My 95 Bonneville stopped running in Syracuse, so I had it towed to a dealer and I rented a car to drive back to Ft Drum. Dealer diagnosed it as a bad fuel pump. They wanted $500 something to replace it. I paid $225 to have it towed from the dealer to my house. I spent 2 hours diagnosing it and found it to be a $5 ground buss part, not the fuel pump.

Whatever you do at the end. Insure you get ALL of your parts that you paid for to be replaced.

Mike,

Thanks. The course of action (COA) I would like to explore is to see if the dealer will discount the trans swap by at least $500. I don't like the guy working out of his home garage, if their is a problem- the time cost of bringing it back to him and having the truck sit is an exposure. My Son works graveyard shift in a rural area, and goes to school full time in a rural area. Breaking down in the winter with family over 70 miles away is not so good.

I like the ETE option, they sell trans nationwide and have distro centers all over the USA. They have their own trans swap shop at their plant- but having to tow the S10 150 miles, let it sit for 3 days, go back and get it- all is a lot of time and fuel.

You mentioned the dealer diagnoses on your car being wrong. That has crossed my mind on this dealer. They were 7 hours late to diagnose, and then all they said was trans was bad.

Yea, I don't like a non-discriptive diagnoses of "its bad". That means, its a $10 solenoid or something and they want to charge you for a whole trans and just change the $10 part.

I'd call them back and demand a full explanation of what's "bad".

im not a big fan of dealer techs, either, the part that ends up being bad is always what nets them the most flat rate pay.

there has got to be more than one trans shop, closer than 150 miles

see if your son knows what a phone book is and see if there are any trans shops in it. then call said shops and see what they want

Don't be hating on dealership techs, we all aren't bad! I would call the dealership and ask to talk to the tech personally. Ask him to go over the trouble tree and see why he has deduced the whole transmission bad. Since you have a mechanical background you probably could tell if he is a good mechanic or full of s&!% right away by talking to him or her. Got to be PC these days. If it is something like the 2-4 band the labor cost to go in and repair it is probably not cost effective as replacing it with a SRTA transmission with a good warranty.

Mike/ Justin/ William,

All great advice, input, and comments. All three courses of actions proposed are feasible and rock solid.

I ended up going with the dealer for one reason. The warranty. I learned that by having the GM dealer do the work with a GM rebuilt trans, the warranty is good at any GM dealer, nationwide- no questions asked. The ETE is also nationwide warranty, but it requires a shop willing to do the work.

Renegotiated the price from $2950 plus tax, to $2700 out the door. Not happy, I would rather of bought the ETE transmission from RockAuto for $1200 and did the install myself. Just for the sake of learning how to do it.

BTW- the area is rural and the two independent trans shops we found are both out of business. This one looked good (ATRA certified)- and still has his web-site live:

Car Transmission Sycamore, IL - Winters Transmissions

Mike, can you lend me $2600?

Yes it is frustrating when there is a car problem far away and you know you can fix it way cheaper. A few years back my father-in-law blew the splines off the sunshell in his transmission. They live 6 hrs away and in a appt complex. It just wasn't feasible for me to come down and fix it for him so it cost him 1900.00 bucks for a local trans shop to fix it. Sometimes you just got to bite the bullet and pay retail.

something to be said for a warranty like that, it seems he is going to be traveling with it.

i have many bad experiences to back up my poor opinion. you hear about good techs here and there but have never experienced one in person. i used to know a gm tech that was in our "racing/offroading" group and he was very good, but works too far away for me to bring work there

I don't blame ya Mike. Going with the dealer is probably the best way to go with something like this.
And ummm... isn't that "Conduct unbecoming of an officer" Article 133 to be smooching funds from a junior enlisted/civilian?
And that's SIR to you.
I've always wanted to do that since I got out. LMAO!

And Justin, remember, its not always the mechanic at fault for being the way they are. Shop managers are quite influential with how work is done nowadays.

I'm sorry to hear that Justin, I do admit I have worked along side a couple of crooked mechanics but for obvious reasons they usually don't stay at one place to long. The automotive industry it's self has it's fare share of thieves. We all have seen the Dateline type of shows catching mechanics charging for services not preformed and that is a very dark cloud to try and get out from under. At least when you have your car repaired at the dealer the techs are familiar with the product and have access to the factory repair information as well as you are getting factory parts installed. For the most part the guys working at the dealer are hard working guys trying to make a honest buck. I suggest always wanting to talk to the mechanic personally and follow your gut. Remember the service writer is paid on production as well so it isn't alway the mechanic trying to sell you something you don't need.

absolutely agree with the manager, owners, everyone being wrong. they all want the most flat rate jobs pushed through. ive had run ins with service managers as well were all you can do is shake your head at them and leave.