My brother in laws 2001 tahoe 5.3 2wd. He was driving in town at speeds of 30-40 mph and the abs lights started to flash then the transmission was making a clicking noise. He pulled over turned it off and checked it out. He said everything visual was ok so he started it back up and put it into drive and the truck didn't engage into gear?? It has never had any trans shifting or engaging problems before. So he got it towed home and I went to check it out cause I thought he was full of **** cause a trans going out will usaully start to slip and show some signs of it going out. But this sucker just will not go into any gear at all. I started it up and put it into reverse and nothing. Drive gears and nothing. Any Ideas?? There is a slight ticking noise that seems to be coming from the trans pan area. It does not tick all the time but when it does it will be for a couple minutes then it stops. The steering wheel nolonger locks when the key is removed. All these things happened at the same time???? Abs light, trans, ticking,and steering lock, Anyone have any ideas?????

Thanks in advance

 

Have you manually ran it through the gears, at the trans were the shifter linkage hooks up to the trans. If so how does it feel is there a click for every gear? i dunno bout the steering wheel not locking? thats wierd? Id check that and then get back to us, hopefull someone will chime in too!!

 

Sounds like something electrical to me. I can't think of what. but i'd see if it's flashing any codes.
If it was JUST not going into gear i'd check the shifter linkage itself cuz it could have broke. but the other things don't add up to that.

 

It sounds to me like you have a broken pump or a filter that is seriously full of debris. I would try to pull a cooler line to see if it is pumping any fluid. The bottom line on the trans is the pressure line for the cooler. Take that line loose somewhere at the radiator or an an external cooler and put the end in a clear jug. Have a buddy start the truck while the end of the line is in a jug and see if it pumps. If not you have a broken pump. Good luck. Vince

 

Seen that before... oh wait, sounds exactly like something that happened to me recently. Turned out that the pump's rotor cracked and broke. The noise you might have heard is the broken rotor. Start the engine, let it run for about 30 seconds, pull the dipstick, and see if the fluid level shows more fluid than normal. Vince's suggestion is the sure way to check though.

See this post... Busted Pump Pics

 

I had him try this method and it seems to be a broken pump. No fluid came out at all. Does anyone know how much this will cost to fix or should he get a new tranny?

Thanks

 

Depends on who's doing the work. Honestly, it's not very difficult to repair yourself. But, if he (or you) isn't mechanically inclined, don't be surprised at a bill that's at least $500 (inlucding trans removal & reinstall).