2015 Silverado Crew 5.3L Z71 issues, Need Help?

kevin2311 · July 4, 2015

I have a 2015 Silverado Crew that I started having issues with around 2200 miles and haven't been able to get any results from the dealership on and was wondering how common the issues were in this truck. My biggest worry is the transmission. Every couple hundred miles I will have about 2-3 hard shifts. It only seems to occur when you are slowing down from a higher speed (45-70mph) to around 20 mph then give it gas to take off again. It will down shift so hard that the front end shake and just sounds terrible as well. The other issue is from 2nd gear on when you accelerate then let off the gas I get a loud popping sound that sounds like its around the transfer case. The truck does it the majority of time and keeps getting louder with more miles I put on the truck. The dealer said he could not do anything about the transmission because of their 5 minute test drive they couldn't get it to duplicate and he heard the clunking/popping sound from letting go off the accelerator but after a few hours of working on it they decided that there was a GM issued bulletin for it and claims that the clunk sound is normal. So is this a normal clunk, and if not how can I get a dealer to take the time and fix it. I know my loaner truck did not make the same sound and shifted much better then mine did. I feel that if I put my truck up for sale which I've own for 2 month now I would not be able to sell it because nobody would believe the transmission is suppose to shift that poorly and there should be a clunking sound everytime you accelerate. I was also told that it takes 5000 miles for the transmission to learn my driving habits and start shifting better so if that is the case how did it know my habits and shift great for the first couple of thousand miles? Any advice will help,

Kevin

Smoothbassman · July 4, 2015

I too had a clunking sound on my truck. It went away after about 8K. Has not happened again since.

As for the hard downshifts, are you sure that's not the engine braking kicking in? Check your info center when it does it next time to see if it says "active engine breaking" You can disable that by pressing in and holding the tow haul button if you don't like it.

My final suggestion is to video your issues to shortcut the process of resolution. I just got a GoPro clamp mount for the center console. I put the GoPro in loop mode so it would just continuously record and as soon as something happened I stopped the video recording as it would be the last 10 seconds of the video is all that I needed. They couldn't deny my issues and got them resolved. I.E. vibration, and infotainment system locking up. No more issues after showing them. The problems got fixed.

Complex solution but it worked for me.

kevin2311 · July 4, 2015

Did the clunking sound resolve itself or did the dealer have to do something. I will try to pay attention the next time it downshifts hard and see if the active engine breaking is on. I have a go pro so I might have to use it if doesn't resolve itself around the 5k mile mark. Thanks for the advice.

Kevin

20L8TSierra24 · July 5, 2015

All Chevy's trucks clunk. The hard shifting will go away

Smoothbassman · July 6, 2015

Did the clunking sound resolve itself or did the dealer have to do something. I will try to pay attention the next time it downshifts hard and see if the active engine breaking is on. I have a go pro so I might have to use it if doesn't resolve itself around the 5k mile mark. Thanks for the advice.

Kevin

It all went away over time. No hard shifts or clunking in the past 6 months for me.

kevin2311 · July 6, 2015

Is there anyway to turn off the "active engine braking" where it stays off every time you start the truck. I notice when I hold in the tow button and turn it off, it comes back on automatically. Thanks

GMCustomerService · July 7, 2015

I have a 2015 Silverado Crew that I started having issues with around 2200 miles and haven't been able to get any results from the dealership on and was wondering how common the issues were in this truck. My biggest worry is the transmission. Every couple hundred miles I will have about 2-3 hard shifts. It only seems to occur when you are slowing down from a higher speed (45-70mph) to around 20 mph then give it gas to take off again. It will down shift so hard that the front end shake and just sounds terrible as well. The other issue is from 2nd gear on when you accelerate then let off the gas I get a loud popping sound that sounds like its around the transfer case. The truck does it the majority of time and keeps getting louder with more miles I put on the truck. The dealer said he could not do anything about the transmission because of their 5 minute test drive they couldn't get it to duplicate and he heard the clunking/popping sound from letting go off the accelerator but after a few hours of working on it they decided that there was a GM issued bulletin for it and claims that the clunk sound is normal. So is this a normal clunk, and if not how can I get a dealer to take the time and fix it. I know my loaner truck did not make the same sound and shifted much better then mine did. I feel that if I put my truck up for sale which I've own for 2 month now I would not be able to sell it because nobody would believe the transmission is suppose to shift that poorly and there should be a clunking sound everytime you accelerate. I was also told that it takes 5000 miles for the transmission to learn my driving habits and start shifting better so if that is the case how did it know my habits and shift great for the first couple of thousand miles? Any advice will help,

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

We see you're seeking input from others on the forum regarding your shifting and transmission concerns. We referenced the owner's manual but was unable to find any information on turning off "active engine braking." While we can't provide technical advice since we aren't trained as technicians, we can reach out to the dealer on your behalf for additional clarification. Please feel free to send us a private message if you'd like to discus things further.

Kind Regards,

Eddie A.

GM Customer Care

Smoothbassman · July 7, 2015

Is there anyway to turn off the "active engine braking" where it stays off every time you start the truck. I notice when I hold in the tow button and turn it off, it comes back on automatically. Thanks

Nope, have to do it manually every time.