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.