Dead Transmission

Well, 1st real post and it is about transmissions. I was cruising along I-95, headed to St Augustine on Sunday when I noticed that slowing down, gave her more gas but nothing. I coast to the shoulder and turned her off. All guages looked normal, and she fired right up, but when I shifted into gear, nothing happened.




With the help of a friend. We checked to see if the linkage on the tranny was moving, but no action.

 

You check the radiator for pink milkshake? Tranny line passes through the radiator for cooling and the seals on that pass-thru are known to fail with time, age.

If you find pink milkshake, you may get lucky, and a fully flush with WS Red fluid will get you going again, plus new radiator of course, and probably want to flush the coolant too.

Any signs of leakage of tranny fluid, like a seal blew out?

Have you tried manually shifting, in case something cracked or snapped?

 

Thanks and yes, we tried from underneath, no luck.

 

Is it freely moving under, or stuck?
Also, how many miles?
Do you regularly tow anything?
Is there any obvious sign you had a fluid leak, anywhere near the front 12" or so of the trans?

If you plan on working on this yourself versus hitting a shop, I'd probably do the following. Failure to shift can be a byproduct of low fluid. The '05 and '06 had a sealed transmission so there's no dipstick to check levels, unfortunately. That doesn't make it impossible to troubleshoot, but it does make it difficult.

First, I'd check the radiator overflow tank and radiator itself (when cooled) to verify whether there's clearly any contamination/cloudiness.

Next, I'd probably get a measured container, then pop the trans drain plug and drain it off to check the fluid color and look for metal frags and confirm you get a reasonable amount out, and the trans isn't bone dry. If you get less than a quart, I'd be concerned. I'd replace with clean fluid, as much as you took out.

A couple of videos on how to deal with trans fluid replacement and level check in these trucks with sealed trans. 1st one is the easy method. 2nd is a bit more convoluted. Either one will work for you though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_6BZpK3gg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RumPXivBlk8

 

Is it freely moving under, or stuck? FREELY

Also, how many miles? 330k

Do you regularly tow anything? No, but it may have before I got it.

Is there any obvious sign you had a fluid leak, anywhere near the front 12" or so of the trans? NO, BUT I WILL CHECK AGAIN, AND THE ANTIFREEZE LOOKS NORMAL.

 

Last time this happened, guy was out of tranny fluid.

 

Exactly. May be worthwhile to get the vehicle up to temp, then follow the 1st video, putting in a 1/4 of the quart of WS fluid at a time, then test for overflow. Rinse/repeat.

I wouldn't be surprised if OP repeats 2-3 times before seeing overflow. Although at 330k, that transmission has lived a long life. 3x as long as most GM 4l60e transmissions would've lasted

 

Too low on tranny fluid the shift solenoids can’t get it out of park would be my guess.

 

Thanks guys, I will give it a try and report back

 

Good news, bad news. It appears that the problem is in the rear end.

 

Are you kidding? That's amazing news. New rear end will cost you a fraction as much and is waaaaay less hassle!

I did find it strange it just went out like POOF. I would've expected you'd have felt or heard something still, though.

 

Have you opened it up yet? Do you know what failed?