Stuck in 4L
January 26th, 2016, 9:48 PM
#1
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Stuck in 4L
2009 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ
This past weekend we had a 30+ inches of snow and my truck went through quite a rough ride. Traveled approximately 30 miles in 4H and had to rock it out three times within 3 hours. I also helped pull out a neighbor that was stuck and the reason I dropped it in 4L (electronic shift). After pulling my friends JEEP (had to put that in there) I parked it in the garage and it remained in 4L. 1.5 days later (1/26 @ 5pm) I started the truck and attempted to put in 4H while in neutral and nothing happened, remained in 4L. I back out of my driveway and attempted to shift to 4H again while moving forward at 5 MPH and got the same result, remained in 4L. Attempted to shift into 2W and got the same result. I drove it to the local Firestone tonight in 4L (at 20 MPH) just before they closed and that is where it sits. Before I put any money into it I was wondering if anyone knew of this problem and, if so, is it something I may be able to correct myself? Would a reflash correct this problem? Any advice anyone can give would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered.
Respectfully,
Kris
This past weekend we had a 30+ inches of snow and my truck went through quite a rough ride. Traveled approximately 30 miles in 4H and had to rock it out three times within 3 hours. I also helped pull out a neighbor that was stuck and the reason I dropped it in 4L (electronic shift). After pulling my friends JEEP (had to put that in there) I parked it in the garage and it remained in 4L. 1.5 days later (1/26 @ 5pm) I started the truck and attempted to put in 4H while in neutral and nothing happened, remained in 4L. I back out of my driveway and attempted to shift to 4H again while moving forward at 5 MPH and got the same result, remained in 4L. Attempted to shift into 2W and got the same result. I drove it to the local Firestone tonight in 4L (at 20 MPH) just before they closed and that is where it sits. Before I put any money into it I was wondering if anyone knew of this problem and, if so, is it something I may be able to correct myself? Would a reflash correct this problem? Any advice anyone can give would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered.
Respectfully,
Kris
Last edited by ChevymanLTZ; January 26th, 2016 at 11:59 PM.
January 27th, 2016, 11:25 AM
#2
Super Moderator
Kris,
You probably are having quite a common problem, and it's exacerbated by the cold weather.
Many times, the reluctance to change lo/hi is due to "goopy" fluid in the Transfer Case. I'd get that changed to new Fluid, drive it a couple miles to get it warmed up a little, then use a "coasting" method to attempt to get it operating smoothly again.
ie...
Get it going about 5 mph, shift into Neutral, then press the 4hi button.
It may take several attempts to make it shift, but, it usually will.
Don't quit there, drive it a short way and change to lo again. The idea being to wipe the slides and work the new Fluid around. Do that several times.
When you get it working again, make sure that you change into 4lo about once a month thru the year, drive it about a mile or so in lo, just to make sure things are working.
PS...
4WD is great to have, but, not the "fix all" unless you have the proper (condition specific) Tires to back it up.
You probably are having quite a common problem, and it's exacerbated by the cold weather.
Many times, the reluctance to change lo/hi is due to "goopy" fluid in the Transfer Case. I'd get that changed to new Fluid, drive it a couple miles to get it warmed up a little, then use a "coasting" method to attempt to get it operating smoothly again.
ie...
Get it going about 5 mph, shift into Neutral, then press the 4hi button.
It may take several attempts to make it shift, but, it usually will.
Don't quit there, drive it a short way and change to lo again. The idea being to wipe the slides and work the new Fluid around. Do that several times.
When you get it working again, make sure that you change into 4lo about once a month thru the year, drive it about a mile or so in lo, just to make sure things are working.
PS...
4WD is great to have, but, not the "fix all" unless you have the proper (condition specific) Tires to back it up.
Last edited by SWHouston; January 27th, 2016 at 11:31 AM.