1997 Tahoe Transmission problem. Any help apprecia

[Chris B.]

Hi,
I have a 1997 2 door Chevy Tahoe with the 4L60E transmission. It has 135,000 miles on it and has always ran great. Today I notice while I was pulling my pop up camper trailer(2,000 lbs) up a very steep dirt hill the transmission did something odd. I dropped the automatic transmission down from 3 to 2 and it seemed to lose power and did not want to go up the hill.
At 1st I thought I had no traction and my wheels were sliping but if I really got on the gas it started to go. If I shifted back to 3 it started to go up the hill much stronger and if I shifted to 1 it also worked well and went up the hill no problem. Only 2 did not seem to have any power.
On the flat roads 2 seemed to work as good as the other gears for the most part but sometimes still acted like it was lacking a bunch of power.

What is going on and it this the 1st sign my transmission is starting to fail?

Thanks for any and all help!!!

 

[WishIhadatruck]

At another forum I attend they have a list of symptoms and possible reasons for them for the 4L60E. Check it out and see if any of them fit your symptoms.

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=95721

 

[MrCritical]

Last time it had a fluid/filter change?

Fuel filter?

2WD? 4WD?

 

[Frank]

Try cleaning your transmission including the Torque Converter.

 

[Jim Spahr]

Any codes? What are they?

 

[meep]

did the engine rev up with increased throttle (transmission slipping?)

was the engine rough, sputter, missing?

or did the rpms just drop and not come off the floor?

wondering if it's an engine issue or trans issue.

M

 

[Chris B.]

Hi guys,
Ok the truck has 136,000 total miles. The Transmission had a fluid and filter change by the original owner around 80,000 miles and then I had a full 100% flush at 99,000 miles and then another filter change and partial flush at 117,000 miles. The old filter looked clean and there were no metal shavings or anything at all in there. The fluid now is full and very red in color/clean.

When I was going up the hill It was in 4x4 and in 3 but as soon as shifted to 2 it lost 80% of it's power. The engine was reving fine and at 1st I thought my tires were spinning. When I saw they were not I hit the gas more and it started to go up the hill but very weakly even though the engine was reving strong.

When I shifted back to 3 it started to work normal as it did in 1 also.....just not 2.

 

[Chris B.]

No codes or idiot lights.

 

[Chris B.]

Originally Posted By: Frank
Try cleaning your transmission including the Torque Converter.


Hi Frank,
I did use Arto RX on the engine 2 times and it helped stop a rear main leak! Maybe I'll try it in the transmission!

 

[pickled]

Might be the servo...read up on the corvette servo replacements available for the 4L60E to hold gear.

 

[MrCritical]

I can't be sure of the year model but seems we repaire a few around that time with similar symptoms with an ignition switch or cylinder.

The ones that had that problem stored a code for lost electrical signal or something.