Truck shifting out of gear

Mongo405 · October 20, 2016

Hey guys, I'm in desperate need of some guidance. I have a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado midnight edition. This is actually the second truck that I have received during this fiasco that has been my first new vehicle buying experience. The first one was terrible, and my dealer really tried to do everything to make it right. This time, I get the brand new truck, and I drove it home. The truck was shifting out of gear completely, going into neutral, as evidenced by a significant increase in rpm (up to 5k at one point) with a decrease in speed. I took it to the dealer after I got stranded in town, as the vehicle would not pull itself at all. Once it did, and they got it, they told me the programmer they applied to it to correct the speedometer for the larger tires was actually the source of the problem. I was fine with that, and I went along my merry way. After leaving it parked for about 70 hours or so, I drove it about an hour away from home for college. When I was returning home, about 100 yards from my driveway, it spontaneously shifted out of gear again, and I didn't know it. I gently applied pressure to the accelerator, and the engine revved to about 3k rpm, and I was still slowing down. I immediately released pressure from the accelerator, and when the rpm got to about 1900, it slammed into gear. It felt like I got hit by a Mack truck, but the truck was pulling itself once again. I immediately contacted my dealer, and at their behest, I returned the truck to them once again. I just got it back today. They gave me the story that you can find on almost all of these sites about the adaptive shift, but followed it with the old, we can't recreate it quote. I took the service manager for a ride. During the ride the transmission did exactly as it has done the previous times, and we tried for the next 15-20 minutes to get it to do it again with no such luck. They told me that it would take about 1000 miles for the transmission to teach itself how to work according to my driving style. Again, I was unhappy, but I took the truck home under the ruse that it would be fine. Tonight, I took my wife and kiddos out for supper after church. The transmission again decided that it didn't want to work. The problem is that I was within feet of having the passenger side of my truck smashed in by a vehicle that, when I initiated the turn, was about a half mile away in a 45 mph zone. After the near collision experience, I don't honestly know what to do. This was the big purchase I made with my VA disability claim check. I wanted to be able to pass along a Chevy truck to my son. I don't honestly know if the reports I'm getting from the service division at my dealer are correct or not. All the TSBs I've seen cover hard shifting, but nothing talks about the transmission slipping out of gear completely. Any advice at this point is welcomed. Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to give as complete a story as I could for the benefit of potential advice.

LongrangeLauber · October 20, 2016

Sounds like the transmission pump is going out. I had that happen on my 02 Silverado quite a few times where the truck would rev up and not go anywhere or would have to hold a high RPM in order to move. Sounds like it lost pressure or something. I would have them keep it for a little while and check it out honestly

Mongo405 · October 20, 2016

I have twice. In the three weeks that I have been the owner, the dealer ship has had it two and a half weeks. They just keep telling me that they can't find anything wrong with it.

GMCustomerService · October 20, 2016

Hello Mongo405,

Transitioning to a new vehicle should be an exciting time, and I know you shouldn’t expect issues this early into your vehicle ownership. Our team would like to formally document your feedback and offer an additional layer of assistance. If that is of interest to you, please send us a private message with your VIN, vehicle mileage, contact information, and dealership. Any additional details you'd like to provide would help us as well. I’m looking forward to hearing back from you!

All the best,

Anthony J.

GM Customer Care

Mongo405 · October 20, 2016

GM Customer Service, a pm has been sent. Thank you for taking time to reply.

beast 10 · October 22, 2016

Well Mongo405 your not alone on this issue , my 16 silverado while in drive just seemed to come out of gear as if I had a manual transmission with the clutch engaged so I pulled over put it in park then back into drive . I got home checked the trans fluid (warm and running on level ground) it was good so I took it around the block and it happened 2 more times so to the dealer it goes today.

Mongo405 · October 22, 2016

Beast 10, man if they give you the opportunity, take the service guy(s) for a ride. For whatever reason they could not replicate it in the three or so days they had it. I drove it, exactly as I would normally in those conditions, and it happened. I got pretty sideways when the guy told me that if it happened more than once he would have plugged a computer into it while I was driving so he could know exactly what was happening, but that there was nothing wrong. The only other suggestion I can offer is to not drive your family around in it until a fix has been made. I pray that they find an actual fix for our problem, and that it comes quickly. Mine is at the dealer again, this marks the third try that they have at fixing it, and the last try that my patience has with this truck to be quite frank. If however they do find the problem, and are able to isololate it to fix it, I will come back in here and post what the fix they applied was. Thanks for posting, I was starting to feel somewhat ostracized with it.

beast 10 · October 22, 2016

Most of the service guys think they know way way more about cars than we do and feel insulted at the hint of" let me show you" so I will just not take it back until they figure it out. But if they ask I will take them for a ride to prove it.

beast 10 · October 23, 2016

Update... Got a call from the dealership service dept. "So what is it doing exactly?" I said are you kidding me the truck came out of gear at least 8 times on the way there and I only live 3 miles away and the engine light came on in route not letting the truck out of first gear with about a half mile to go ,its not going to magically go away . They then say they will have to look into it further on Monday.

Mongo405 · October 23, 2016

That is really sad. I don't know why they insist on treating us, the faithful customer this way. I know that they want to have a good quality product, but trying to sweep the problems under the rug is only serving them to push us away! There has even been talks in my household to, as this is the third time in two weeks that the truck has been in the shop, explore the lemon law. In Arkansas if the vehicle has been repaired three times for the same problem within one year, the dealer may be obligated to take back the vehicle that they sold you, and refund the money you paid for it, minus a reasonable amount for mileage, which has an established precedent here of $120 per 100 miles. Considering that I have put less than 100 miles on it myself, I should get back almost all of the money I put down. I don't know if that is the route I will take, but I have to consider the safety of my family first and foremost. The last time this happened, and we were almost involved in a collision because they said there was no problem to fix, after of course witnessing it firsthand, I felt that, that was the stance they would take. After getting with GM Customer Service on here, and telling the service writer at the dealership, they miracously had a "plan of action" to fix it. Not sure about the outcome, but I am sure that is the last time I will be bringing it to the dealership to get it fixed, I refuse to pay for a vehicle that I don't get to drive (I'm getting ready to make the third payment, and I've had the truck for less than a week total). I understand completely what you're going through. I wish that there was an answer that I could offer, or some reassurance. I tried telling myself that Chevrolet is standup enough to do something about the problem, but they are all cold, and makes it feel like they are doing the least amount possible to get me to shut up. Just stick to it man, and hopefully they will come to an amiable solution for us both. I will post updates as I get them.

Colossus · October 23, 2016

Update... Got a call from the dealership service dept. "So what is it doing exactly?" I said are you kidding me the truck came out of gear at least 8 times on the way there and I only live 3 miles away and the engine light came on in route not letting the truck out of first gear with about a half mile to go ,its not going to magically go away . They then say they will have to look into it further on Monday.

Actually chances are it will magically go away and then not reappear until you drive it a bit more.

You think that loyalty means anything to automakers? There are over 4 billion people in the world. You're just a spec of dust to them.

That is really sad. I don't know why they insist on treating us, the faithful customer this way. I know that they want to have a good quality product, but trying to sweep the problems under the rug is only serving them to push us away! There has even been talks in my household to, as this is the third time in two weeks that the truck has been in the shop, explore the lemon law. In Arkansas if the vehicle has been repaired three times for the same problem within one year, the dealer may be obligated to take back the vehicle that they sold you, and refund the money you paid for it, minus a reasonable amount for mileage, which has an established precedent here of $120 per 100 miles. Considering that I have put less than 100 miles on it myself, I should get back almost all of the money I put down. I don't know if that is the route I will take, but I have to consider the safety of my family first and foremost. The last time this happened, and we were almost involved in a collision because they said there was no problem to fix, after of course witnessing it firsthand, I felt that, that was the stance they would take. After getting with GM Customer Service on here, and telling the service writer at the dealership, they miracously had a "plan of action" to fix it. Not sure about the outcome, but I am sure that is the last time I will be bringing it to the dealership to get it fixed, I refuse to pay for a vehicle that I don't get to drive (I'm getting ready to make the third payment, and I've had the truck for less than a week total). I understand completely what you're going through. I wish that there was an answer that I could offer, or some reassurance. I tried telling myself that Chevrolet is standup enough to do something about the problem, but they are all cold, and makes it feel like they are doing the least amount possible to get me to shut up. Just stick to it man, and hopefully they will come to an amiable solution for us both. I will post updates as I get them.