A tough one....

[Racer-X]

Driving home from a great wheeling trip (I'll post pics later) last night my rig started to hesitate. The best way I can describe it is - it felt almost like it was running out of gas or I was losing spark momentarily. It got worse under load (climbing a hill) but also did it on one section of downhill.

I got no check engine light. I'm pretty sure onstar can't diagnose unless there is a check engine light but I tried anyway - onstar said no codes.

All guages in normal range.

Normally I would have pulled off the road and had it towed just incase whatever was going on would do any damage but I was depsarate to get home because I had found while I was gone my wife became very ill and was at the hospital, so I pushed it.

The last 5 miles or so it just stopped doing it. Ran fine. :confused:

It did this same thing for a shorter period of time about a month ago in death valley. I dismissed it as fluke because I was running a really rough rd at about 60mph - it stopped after about 3 minutes and I drove it home (500 miles) without any problem.

This is going to be one of those issues the dealership will tell me they "can't reproduce" and there is no failure code.

Any ideas?

[tomp]

Fuel pump/filter?

[RIC-H0]

Fuel pump/filter?
Was your fuel level less than 1/3?
It sounds like your fuel pump may have started to overheat, and run rough. So you were basically running out of gas to the engine.
I'd try running it low on gas for a while, and see if it happens again.

IMO...

Ric

[Racer-X]

3/4 of a tank.

I got under the truck this morning. Tranny fluid everywhere. Radiator full of tranny fluid AGAIN! This has happened before and the symptoms were very different.

Last time the tranny slipped and overheated. Neither one of those this time.

Pretty discouraging. I won't be able to afford to keep my H2 when it's out of warranty. :(

[RIC-H0]

3/4 of a tank.

I got under the truck this morning. Tranny fluid everywhere. Radiator full of tranny fluid AGAIN! This has happened before and the symptoms were very different.

Last time the tranny slipped and overheated. Neither one of those this time.

Pretty discouraging. I won't be able to afford to keep my H2 when it's out of warranty. :(
So does it seem as if a line was broken to the tranny cooler in the radiator. Does your tranny have liquid in it(Foamy& milky)?
I'd start looking into a possible lemon law issue.

[Racer-X]

Both tranny and radiator have fluid and water in them. Looks like pepto-bismol.

Last time it happened, tranny, radiator, overflow bottle and all hoses were changed.

I'm thinking of installing a separate tranny cooler. Ideally completely eliminating the radiator cooling the tranny fluid. Don't know if thats possible though.

I thought lemon laws only applied for the first year?

[RIC-H0]

I thought lemon laws only applied for the first year?

Not real sure on the lemon law specs, but you would think as long as it's still under warranty, it should be considered.
Well worth looking into.:confused:

[h2co-pilot]

I am pretty sure Timgco had a similar problem. I'll search it and post if I find the threads.

Is your wife okay?

[H2 Ranger]

Both tranny and radiator have fluid and water in them. Looks like pepto-bismol.

Last time it happened, tranny, radiator, overflow bottle and all hoses were changed.

I'm thinking of installing a separate tranny cooler. Ideally completely eliminating the radiator cooling the tranny fluid. Don't know if thats possible though.

I thought lemon laws only applied for the first year?

Racer,
The pink color of the fluids is the mixing of both oil and the coolant within the radiator, and they only meet in the radiator. The mixed oil and coolant reduces the lubrication effects of the transmission oil and can lead to failure of the transmission. Yes, you can install a separate oil cooler for the Transmission and for the most part the transmission will run cooler. The Trans oil is normally routed through the radiator for cooling but often the engine runs at a higer tempature thus the transmission tempature goes up. In your situation it appears from what your saying is the Transmission oil line internal to the radiator has ruptured thus causing the mixing of the transmission fluid and the engine coolant. What can you do now? Well you can either mount an external Transmission cooler (some people mount them in front of the radiator). You can also remove the radiator to have it pressure tested and repaired or replace the radiator completely. If it were me I would go the external Cooler route and cap the radiator fittings where the oil lines used to go and if there are no external leaks on the radiator leave it as such. You will need to change the Transmission oil and filter, cleanout the radiator, and replace the engine coolant as well. Hope this helps you.;)

[31_bandits]

this may or may not have some relevance: http://www.elcovaforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17015

i'm getting an oil change this mornign & having the coolant changed if that applies to my truck, just in case.

[MarineHawk]

Normally I would have pulled off the road and had it towed just incase whatever was going on would do any damage but I was depsarate to get home because I had found while I was gone my wife became very ill and was at the hospital, so I pushed it.


Hope your wife is okay.

[f5fstop]

Both tranny and radiator have fluid and water in them. Looks like pepto-bismol.

Last time it happened, tranny, radiator, overflow bottle and all hoses were changed.

I'm thinking of installing a separate tranny cooler. Ideally completely eliminating the radiator cooling the tranny fluid. Don't know if thats possible though.

I thought lemon laws only applied for the first year?

Lemon laws are state controlled. Some are 12/12000, some are 18/18000, etc.

[Racer-X]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll look into the lemon laws in my state but I'm not real hopeful.

Right now I'm waiting for it to be towed from my driveway. Did you guys know an onstar subscription extends your GM roadside assistance? Cool because it's about a $200 tow for me.

The dealership sounded very open to eliminating the radiator tranny cooling and installing a separate cooler. They are looking into it for me and I should know more in a day or two.

CP and MarineHawk (and Bebe for the phone call), Thanks for asking about the wife, Very nice of you. :) She's not doing well at all. :( She had a fever for 4 days now. Sat it went to 103.4. They are running all kinds of tests to try and figure it out but right now they are baffled. She's literally been sleeping almost constantly since fri afternoon.

I'm home taking care of her and the kids. Cooking, cleaning packing lunches. I don't know how you Mom's do it. Some on top of work. I have a new respect. :cool:

[KenP]

Hope things with the wife get better. Much better.

BTW, no one has mentioned a head gasket. You could get mixing of the fluids there and underload the truck would certainly run poorly.

[ROX]

Hope your wife gets well soon, Racer.

Why would your truck do this twice? What causes this to happen?

[H2Finally]

Oh boy, definitely hope your wife feels better soon!

[Racer-X]

Hope things with the wife get better. Much better.

BTW, no one has mentioned a head gasket. You could get mixing of the fluids there and underload the truck would certainly run poorly.

A mixing of tranny fluid and coolant from a head gasket? Oil maybe.

I am curious why it was running badly though. It sure didn't feel like a tranny issue unless something was binding maybe.

Thanks Ken (and everyone) for the well wishes with wife. Still no real change. Tests that take longer to process should be done tomorrow at noon. Hope to know more then. She did have an otter pop awhile ago though. Thats a good thing right? :)

[Racer-X]

Hope your wife gets well soon, Racer.

Why would your truck do this twice? What causes this to happen?


Well I don't know what causes it but there is a wall in the radiator that separates the coolant from the tranny fluid. They are both cooled in the same unit (when stock). That wall can rupture and apparently does more so with the H2.

I've had it happen twice now and I've seen it a couple times here. As Phil says GM has 1800 reported cases.

I talked to the dealer again after they got my truck. They are looking into plugging off the radiator section of the tranny cooler and running a separate one so this can't happen again. They did say it CAN be done.

As a side note - I watch my gauges when I wheel. Nothing ever got overly hot and the rig gave me no warning until it started acting up.

[H2 Ranger]

The internal cooler of the radiator serves a dual purpose. It heats up the transmission oil for cold areas such as Alaska and it also keeps the oil from overheating as well. Often the Engine runs hotter than a desirable transmission temp. So routing the transmission cooler thru the radiator in the current setup makes the trans temp go up more than desirable in a arid enviroment. I believe that you will get more life from a Cooler Transmission say about 175 degrees, and the transmission oil will not break down so fast. While I am not an expert on thermo dynamics, I still think a lot of transmissions are destroyed from improper operating temps. While in your case I would think it was a poorly mfrg radiator, but it has given you the opprotunity to try a remote cooler. If you decide to get it done that way make sure you get enough surface area for the cooling and have an end result of what you are looking for. Also hope you wife condition has improved. ;)

[H2 Ranger]

Water in the tranny is bad, it will not run real well and the engine will surge and all sorts of things as the tranny gets worse, and allows for less/more resistance due to the contaminated fluid.
Good point Phil, I would add that the mixing of both oil and water changes the surface tension of the liquids allowing air in the oil. Air is compressable and will haper smooth servo and spool valve operations. Mabee this condition was part of the issue as well.