Undiagnosable/unrepeatable transmission issue

[Dewi2005]

Hello, I have my 03 H2 in the shop for an issue that I had while on a long x-country road-trip. While driving into a headwind at approx 75 mph for about 3-4 hours, it seemed that my trans lost 4th gear, and 2nd gear.

This would only happen after the 3-4 hours I mentioned, and has not happened again since I returned home.

One thing that now seems to be worse is the crazy annoying downshift on small inclines. I can understand the trans leaving overdrive, but going down to 2nd???

The dealer says they cannot find a code, and obviously cannot duplicate, therfore willnot/canot do anything.

My worries are that the odometer is now at 30k and quickly approaching the 36k warranty limit and 'Murphy's Law' says my transmission will die shortly after the warranty expires and Ill be stuck with the bill!

Any ideas on what I should do, or where I should direct the dealer to research to resolve?

Thanks everyone for any and all assistance on this one.

[Dewi2005]

Hello, I have my 03 H2 in the shop for an issue that I had while on a long x-country road-trip. While driving into a headwind at approx 75 mph for about 3-4 hours, it seemed that my trans lost 4th gear, and 2nd gear.

This would only happen after the 3-4 hours I mentioned, and has not happened again since I returned home.

One thing that now seems to be worse is the crazy annoying downshift on small inclines. I can understand the trans leaving overdrive, but going down to 2nd???

The dealer says they cannot find a code, and obviously cannot duplicate, therfore willnot/canot do anything.

My worries are that the odometer is now at 30k and quickly approaching the 36k warranty limit and 'Murphy's Law' says my transmission will die shortly after the warranty expires and Ill be stuck with the bill!

Any ideas on what I should do, or where I should direct the dealer to research to resolve?

Thanks everyone for any and all assistance on this one.

[NoMoGMPG]

First off, the dealership should hook up the tech2 and record all the parameters while the vehicle is doing the downshifting event. It could be nothing more than a reprogramming need and that will tell them if a shift solenoid is marginal.
Second, when you bring your vehicle in with a complaint under warranty and it comes back as a NTF(No Trouble Found) or "Could not Duplicate", that is entered into the GM database and can be accessed by any servicing dealer and will be considered if you go out of your warranty period if/when it fails.
Just keep your documents in the vehicle.

Dave

[KenP]

Hey techs, isn't there a TSB out there on the 2/4 bands?

[Fastest H-Town Realtor]

Did they pull the pan? Any shavings? That's the prerequisit for tranny surgery.

[Hummertech]

I agree with all of the above. You are probably in the first stages of transmission failure. You could probably bring it back to the dealer again, and due to you complaining about it multiple times, they may (if they are a good dealer and have any clue) go ahead and tear your trans out and rebuild it since it is not an unusual problem. If you go out of warranty and it fails, you are covered. Don't worry at all about that.

[Dewi2005]

Thanks everyone,

I picked my H2 up last night and expressed my concern about this failing down the road after warranty. The tech did not drop the pan or do anything other than test drive it an look for an error code, but none were stored.

I stated that when I was wrenching we did not rely on computers or codes and if a Customer stated they were having an issue we would use our experience to diagnose if the issue was not very evident. Guess that is not the case with this H2 service center. They did however note in my log that they would provide assistance up to 50k miles.

Today I have searched this forum for other transmission related issues and it appears that there are a host of others who have experienced issues with their transmissions.

Did GM not equip this truck with the appropriate transmission to handle the weight?? Im really hesitant to boost the power of this rig for fear that the trans and other components may fail to handle the extra grunt. Any ideas here?? Should I take my H2 to a trans shop and have it rebuilt with more robust components?? or just hope it fails before the 59k is past.

Thanks again everyone.

[NoMoGMPG]

The 4L65E is a decent trans most of the time but as you said the weight seems to become an issue. IMHO they should have used the 4L80E which is what GM used in their K2500 with the 6.0L. Ah well.

Dave

[Testtube]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by GMPartsGuy:
First off, the dealership should hook up the tech2 and record all the parameters while the vehicle is doing the downshifting event. It could be nothing more than a reprogramming need and that will tell them if a shift solenoid is marginal.
Second, when you bring your vehicle in with a complaint under warranty and it comes back as a NTF(No Trouble Found) or "Could not Duplicate", that is entered into the GM database and can be accessed by any servicing dealer and will be considered if you go out of your warranty period if/when it fails.
Just keep your documents in the vehicle.

Dave </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I dont really agree with the statement made by Dave in regards to the Could not Duplicate issue. Yes it does "usually" get put into your claim history database under GMVIS however it means exactly that. Could not duplicate. Such a entry does not make it clear cut as to a issue under warrenty. Granted Its usually up to the dealer however cost assistance or coverage is not guranteed unless its been diag. Also if you ever have another dealer do work on the transmission getting them to cover it under the issues you had with it under warrenty will be a even greater stretch Please trust me its best to either have them check it out again or go to another dealer for a diag. I mean those issues could be any number of things. And to be honest its unlikly they will cover ALL the items that it could be under the liklyhood that it could of been causing issues under the NCW.

You could always make a case for Cost assistance down the road But the fact that it was not DIAG as a problem under the NCW it still makes building a bussiness case that much harder


So my advise would to keep on it have it diag and repaired while its still under warrenty. That way if it does happen to fail again outside of warrenty You can still get help

Thats just my two cents

[X-cessive Wizard]

I had the same problem after a long trip. I took it to the dealer and after 10 days of putting a band aide on the problem, they finally put a brand new transmission in ny truck. Now im reluctant to go on another long trip. Stay on those guys at the dealership they have to help you. Another person to call is a GM representative. I simply touched the onstar buttonand they connected me to a guy who washelping through this whole ordeal and they called the dealership to ensure everything was going o.k. Overall I was satisfied. oh,yeah if the dealership places a new transmission in your truck it is covererd one year under a warranty.