The company I work for pays for our parking in a downtown garage which has valet parking only. The other day, I dropped the '07 Tahoe off. As I normally do, I pick it up in the evening and drive it home (approx. 11 miles). Nothing out of the ordinary until I get close to home and make a right turn at a city intersection. That's when I hear a whirring sound as if gears are spinning and not engaging, but the vehicle still accelerates as usual. I reproduced it at least once before I stopped and checked things out. As it turned out, the valet must have been playing with the ***** on the dash, possibly trying to figure out how to turn off the headlights (that turn themselves off). He left the **** that engages 4wd in between Auto and 4hi. I'm surprised it got me most of the way home before I noticed anything unusual.

Can anyone tell me if there's any possibly that the trans or anything else is f'ed up? It seems to drive normal after I switched it back to Auto.

 

If the 2WD/4WD mode selector **** is somehow placed between possitions the system will select one or the other, it will not attempt to be in two possitions at the same time so you are proably safe and there is likely no damage.

If you don;t already do this: I would recommend that you use AUTO only if the roads are a bit slippery or worse, otherwise 99% of the time you should be in 2WD.

 

Thanks! Makes me feel better knowing nothing's screwed up. I live in the Seattle area where it's ALWAYS wet, so no problem running in AUTO all the time here.

 

Actually the Auto feature is not really intended for rainy conditions.
On a rain soaked road being in Auto or 4X4 will offer no benefit if hydroplaning were to occur.
It can reduce rear wheel-spin on launch but so will a smooth and even throttle application.

You can save yourself some fuel and also a fair amount of wear and tear on the vehicle by utilizing 2WD in the rain.

 

With that said, do the same rules apply on just normal day to day driving. (ie: better on fuel and wear and tear in 2WD vs AWD?)

 

'auto' was designed for people who dont know under what conditions to use 4WD... ie 'women'...

or rather; people who don't read the manual or understand how it works..

 

UT_OH.........

 

Really?
Just out of curiosity; where did you hear this little tid-bit of information?

 

it was a failed joke... most people men and women couldn't tell you how it works anyway...