2003 Yukon Xl Transmission Issue

[davensusan]

This afternoon, my wife called me at work to inform me our 2003 Denali wouldn't drive up our road or move forward. She was in (D)rive. It would move in reverse just fine. When I got home I checked the fluid level and it was low. I added some fluid I checked the level before testing it. Same issue. The only difference is, the vehicle struggles but moves if I drop it in to 2nd and it's fine in 1st. It will not move what so ever in D or 3rd.

At first I thought it could be the transmission sensor not reading D or 3rd. I have a 2001 GMC 3500 and was doing something simuliar. But I have a bad feeling this is much worse. Apparently the Denali has been "clucking" from a dead stop. Not all the time, but enough to be noticable. It was also making a winding noise at engine speed sometimes.

[jro909]

its probably dead, either from being driven with such low trans fluid or it was on its way out and the loss of fluid was the sign... i hate it to say it, but this is why i don't let women drive my truck lol

[KMGZ400]

trannys probably done.. how many miles are on it..

[michigansilver03]

I'm thinking the sun gear is bad, but either way time for a rebuild.

[davensusan]

140k I believe. We're the 3rd owners and we got it when gas was over $4 a gallon for pretty cheap and it only had 62k miles on it. According to the old lady whom we bought it from, the original owner used to tow a large boat from the bay area to Tahoe all the time. But then, over the course of my many years I've also learned not to trust sweet old ladys. But my wife wanted it so it was her truck.

We live in the Sierra foothills in California. Driving up and down and in to the back country may have done it in.

I tried to drain the fluid and the plug is so damn tight, it's as if the heat welded the plug to the pan. You'd think if the tranny was overheating, the gauge would have registered something or thrown a warning.

 

I already checked autozone and they sell the rebuild kit for $300 bucks. I figure I'd do it on my spare time and my wife can drive the wrangler.

 

There goes my tax return... Thanks guys.

 

Dave