Park Where you want...

Elias wrote:
I put it in 4 wheel low and reverse worked and I was able to back it in.

Yes. Many people forget they have this option -- including my wife. The transmission went out on her Tahoe and she left it on the Side of the road in a precarious position. I got into it, put it in 4WD and drove it one mile home. She was amazed to see me coming up the driveway.

Bruce

Its heat that kills the trans.
Most people dont realize that their Tow Vehicle has a lock up torque converter. This means that under a certain load, the TC will unlock to give you more power, but at the same time it creates way more heat while unlocked.....think one fan blowing trans fluid on another fan (basic torque converter).

If you dont have a trans fluid temp gauge, then you really have no idea what is going on. Going up a big hill unlocked you may see temps as high as 230+ which is bad, some higher im sure. This will then cook the seals and make them hard. Then the seals get blow by and the clutches in the trans have no holding power, hence slip.

Thanks for throwing some humor into a bad situation. Hope all is well, now, otherwise-you're only going to be able to go to a pull-thru site!

I had the exact same thing happen to me with my Ford F-150, butI was luckier then you.
I had just returned from a 1200 mile trip from the Florida Keys, and tried to back into my drive way, only to find out I had no reverse. Luckily my neighbor didn't mind me pulling into her pasture, unhitching, and then I drove it to my local garage.
I think what killed mine was the steep mountains that I have to go over to get home, ( I am not sure why that caused the reverse to go out, but it sure puts a strain on the transmission)

Jack L

Although I didn't have the tranny go out. I ended up in that position with a flat tire on the tow vehicle. Couldn't get the camper out of the road. Then because the spare is under the vehicle I had to unhook to be able to lower the spare. Swapped the tire rehooked to the rv and then backed into the site. I lot of folks weren't happy because I was blocking the road but I didn't have a lot of choices.:R

Early 4L80Es had an issue with reverse and pressure build up causing it to blow out some of the seals. TransGo put out a kit to fix the problem and of course Chevy re-designed the valve body on newer 4L80Es to eliminate the pressure build-up. If the trans shop you take it to wants to re-use the old valve body, have them put in the TransGo kit.

Elias wrote:
The same thing happened to me with a Ford Expedition.
I blocked traffic with the trailer half in the road.
I don't know why I thought to try it, but I put it in 4 wheel low and reverse worked and I was able to back it in.

Ummmm:h NO. 2 complete and separate individual components. You didn't lose reverse if it went in reverse.

The same thing happened to me with a Ford Expedition.
I blocked traffic with the trailer half in the road.
I don't know why I thought to try it, but I put it in 4 wheel low and reverse worked and I was able to back it in.

Eek.. Any idea why you lost reverse? Glad you can still go forward.