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Comments
Been 2 weeks since the failure...still waiting on parts. This transmission FAILED AT ONLY 12,665 miles.
I bought this Avalanche NEW on MARCH 6, 2010. Days later, the O2 sensor failed. One week after I got it, the engine started blowing blue smoke at start up. Turns out the GM engine plant put in the wrong lifters causing oil overflow into the intake. Dealer had to order new lifters and replace.
To date, these problems add up to about 4 weeks without the truck, and we'll be well into next week before transmission parts arrive. (I've also had to have a new windshield, but that was a road hazard problem, not GM).
This thing's MSRP sticker was more than my first house. If I ever get it back, it may go up for sale. I've owned GM vehicles since '69. This one might be the last.
The dealer has replaced control modules and trans settings, the gas mileage has increased from 13.5 to 14.5 mpg on average. I almost never get above 16.
On a second item, has anyone noticed alot of wind noise around there windsheild above 70 mph and even "buffeting" of the weatherstripping.
I got my Avalanche back from the shop exactly 3 weeks after the failure of the torque converter. Seems to be okay now, but with these 6-speed units, I do notice what seems to be frequent 5-6 upshift and 6-5 downshift at cruising speeds. I'm guessing this is a result of the software trying to maintain optimum economy versus need to go slightly uphill, etc. (I live on a coastal plain, mostly FLAT land).
Do you notice this effect too? Wondering if this adversely affects longevity of the transmission...seems like it could, but that's only speculation. Have thought about just setting it for Manual with 5 as the top gear and let the mileage suffer a bit.
My mileage in fully automatic mode is 19-20. Again, mostly flat terrain, almost all highway driving.
So is this an intermittent problem? How many times have your taken your vehicle in to the dealer? Can you please e-mail me with your username, complete contact information including a phone number to reach you, your situation, VIN, and involved dealer? I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
My truck has a bunch of noise at 70 mph through the windshield. You aren't the only one.
My garage guy says he sees this a lot on 04 and 05 Chevy's. This has to be a design flaw right?
Stabilitrac, parking assist, and pretty much every alarm associated with the transmission was ringing and flashing when mine quit back in October. The tach was going nuts and the engine seemed to be coupling and decoupling. Like I noted in an earlier post, the diagnosis on mine was torque converter failure and it was repaired in about 3 weeks under warranty. But similar to you, I had maybe 7 months on a new truck with 12,600 miles. This just shouldn't be happening. And I'm thankful it didn't happen in heavier traffic!!
I got a loaner (HHR) from the dealer's Enterprise rental desk, but I had to wait all day at the shop until the technician had a diagnosis (many many failure codes!).
I'm an electrical engineer in my boomer years and maybe I'm becoming a Luddite, but I'm starting to think the overall problem is that these vehicles have more microprocessors than cylinders.
Im happy to hear that your vehicle is in to the dealer and being taken care of. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me.
Christina
GM Customer Service
I apologize for your frustration. Did the dealer check out you stabilitrac? If so what was their conclusion. Please feel free to email me; I would like to discuss your situation further.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Thanks. Vehicle went in shop on Oct 1 2010 and was ready on or about Oct. 21. All seems to be working okay now. Not only was vehicle repaired, but also cleaned and detailed for like-new presentation. That was a nice touch.
The frustrating part...this is the third round of warranty work since purchasing new in March '10. And the transmission failure ruined a weekend that had been in planning for several months. No way to compensate for that.
Then there's the amusing part...OnStar sent me an email alert about tire pressures while my truck was sitting with a disabled transmission at the shop. Apparently the On Start alarm system has some issues with priorities. :surprise:
Original Owner of my Hugger Orange 69Z28 (delivered May 10, 1969).
From your comments it looks like you somehow were able to get GM to pay for half of the transmission repair/replacement. Could you tell me how you did that.
I am small business owner and I have not even paid this truck off yet so dropping another $3,000 to replace a transmission that is poorly built and not my fault is hard to swallow at this point. I am wondering if you would not mind helping me out with any info.
Thank you.
Anyways as far as tranny's go I mentioned it would bang when accel/deccel, he knew exactly what I meant and said its an engineering flaw. Truly the Ava should have had a 6-spd not a 4, GM was being cheap. They said the only thing they can do is pull the rear shaft, clean the splines, and grease it up and slide it back in. Said it will cure it for 10-20k then do it again. They did it at no cost, but as he said its just a band-aid. I see now the 2011 come with 6-spd, GM finally stop being cheap I guess. I never switched to synthetic, makes no sense to now, just semi blend 5w30 every 3k (notice major drop in performance and milage when oil life reads 50% or less) My engine looks mint, just like factory. I get compliments from anyone under my hood, no oil sludge gunk. Keeping her clean has made her last and if there is a problem I am bound to find it quicker. Overall she's pretty much stock aside from some extra lights, a leveling kit, HID, mud-flaps, window visors. So I haven't done any mechanical mods. Word to wise don;t put HID in fog lamps, housing too small and melts lens, if you want the light stay with halogen, if you want the look go with LED, but Cake and eating doesn't work out. Also if your tail light reverse bulb dies (2007+) its dealer ($8) only aside from one site online ($3+$8 ship,) there are two other bulbs that work but light output far below.
I was told that the new 6-spd trans will fit any year avalanche, and it is made by Allison and can handle far more load than the Ava was designed for, but in retrospect that means you cant kill it as is the case many experience with daily driving with the 4-spd because it is an undermine for the Ava weight ration and all (just a GM 400 3-spd with overdrive really)
I would recommend speaking to your dealer about extended warranties. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Christina
GM Customer Service
This is a personal opinion on which you would prefer. I have Major Guard on my personal vehicle. The staff at the dealer will go through the different coverage available. Here is a link to the GM Protection Plan web site. http://www.gmprotectionplan.com/
This has more information on the different coverage options. I hope this information helps!
Christina
GM Customer Service
You mention water in the transmission. One of the things discovered when my transmission failed (2010 Av @12,000 miles) was that the junction where the transmission dipstick tube joins the transmission housing was really loose. It's located at a hard-to-reach area that I think would be susceptible to water entry, possibly due to convection & condensation cycles.
I also suspect the filler tube had been inadvertently loosened by the dealership where I bought the truck. They had to go into the engine to replace lifters only one week after I bought it new due to a screwup at engine plant assembly. The transmission failed 7 months later.
To date, three warranty repairs and at present, the XM radio is starting to act flaky and the security system has inexplicably locked my wife out twice. Don't know yet what's going on there. Shouldn't I expect better in a $50,000 truck??
So, I fully understand what you're saying about purchasing a future brand after so many years and money spent with GM.
I have made up my mind that I will never buy another GM vehicle unless:
1) it is used,
2) I do extensive Internet research beforehand, and
3) I purchase an extended power train warranty.
May 31, 2011
Mr. Daniel F. Akerson
Chairman and CEO
General Motors Corporation
300 Renaissance Center
P.O. Box 300
Detroit, Michigan 48265-3000
Dear Mr. Akerson:
I come from a very long line of Chevy, Buick, GMC and Cadillac car owners. When I bought my 2002 Chevy Avalanche (my 8th GM car since I started to drive in 1975), I was very excited to own my first pick-up truck! I love driving it and I love everything about my truck, especially the sporty look, the handling, and the spaciousness.
There’s one thing I was not expecting with my Avalanche – a transmission with known engineering flaws. That’s what I’ve been seeing all over the Internet – comments, complaints and reviews not just for the 2002 year – but for many years from 2000 through 2011. That’s what my mechanic confirmed as he installed the new transmission that came with upgrades for known defects in the Avalanche’s transmission. Now I am out of pocket $3,271.32 and much wiser.
But I have been left with such a feeling of disappointment. I have always made it my priority to deal only with companies that take pride in designing a good and safe product. Imagine my shock when I heard a bang and I couldn’t drive my truck out of the middle of a busy intersection! This experience has left me wondering: Should I perform an extensive search on the Internet before I ever think of buying another GM car? Should I never consider buying any GM car without an extended warranty? I am hoping that GM won’t continue to send out more Avalanches with flawed transmissions. I am hoping that you can do something to help my family and me to continue to believe in the quality of GM products. Will GM help me with my expenditure to make my truck drivable again? I can only hope that you will consider doing the right thing for a loyal customer.
Sincerely,
In regards to tranny I have had zero problems, looking to have it fully flushed by dealer ($160) I was told if it does go that the 2011 Ava tranny would work a lil more pricy but its now a 6spd auto from what the tech says so smoother shifts. For those that have the 2007 and you get the clunk its the yoke. which has 2 fixes the quick is to pull it, clean it and grease it up. the other is the dealer made a new (2008+) nickel plated yoke to cure the problem.
Other than that, I just had the upper ball joints replaced by dealer ($$$) since they are a one piece with the control arm as well the drivers side lower ball joint w/ control arm and another alignment (total was only $664 so not too bad and I got a huge discount) One of these pieces from local parts runs around $180, dealer $246.
Funny thing I just had Vianor do new tires ($950) 2,400 miles ago and they didn't notice the balls being worn (Vianor is a major tire shop) I went back in per warranty to have the tires checked for even wear and they said they were wearing on the insides which they didn't before on my winter set so just weird is all I will say, but they did off to fix it for $742.
All in all the Avalanche is a durable truck, versatile, and I love it. Yes the fuel milage on hwy maybe only 15-17 best but you cant have it all unless you go Hybrid and that isn't much better for the Tahoe in fuel economy and you loose what you save in price tag.
the dealer says they are looking into it but its been two months now and I'm getting frustrated
any help please thanks Dean
I noticed the rpms are steady but the speedometer will fluctuate up and down about 3 mph
untill it completes the shift. Doesn't happen if I accelerate hard. Is my 4th gear going out ??
I apologize for your frustrations. Has your dealer involved Technical Assistance? Have you spoke with GM Customer Assistance. Please feel free to email me directly. Please include your VIN, current mileage, involved dealer, and complete contact information. I look forward to hearing from you.
Christina
GM Customer Service
How could GM let this happen to a transmission which is used by so many vehicles. :lemon: And their response is to increase the warranty? I love the GM vehicles and already swore many, many years ago to never buy a Ford again. After reading all these posts I cannot believe that this is even happening to newer vehicles, especially at lower mileage.
What response has everyone been getting from the dealer? Overhaul? Replace? Is there an upgrade to the six-speed as part of the warranty?
This is nonsense. $50,000 and it won't even make it to 100k???
Everone here with premature transmission failures should file complaints with the National Transportation Safety Board. Since GM doesn't want to admit there's a problem, maybe NTSB can give it a look!
I brought it to the dealer and they said it should be under the Powertrain warranty. I thought that if the vehicle is repaired under warranty, and if it takes more than 24 hours, GM will provide a loaner. Service guy says no loaner for you since it is not a repair under the regular warranty. Really???
My vehicle is in for repairs because of a GM problem and I have to get and pay for a rental? I'm going to give corporate a call on Monday.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/index.xhtml
Only if enough of us file reports, will we catch the attention of the regulators and perhaps compel GM to 'care' about this problem.
I am happy with the service I received from the dealer, but I am not happy that this happened in the first place.
Plus, I do believe that this tranny should not be placed into trucks. It is the same model they use on many of the GM sedans. The 'Lanche is double the weight of those cars, and made to carry and tow even more weight. I do not believe a solution is: Not to tow or haul anything. That is what a truck is for, and that is what I bought a truck for.
I don't think that a recall will be activated. It seems the problems are too widespread. Plus it is difficult to narrow the problems down to a specific part. I would like to see a separate tranny designed for trucks (didn't Toyota do this?)