Allison tansmission

[Bonzai]

Was out plowing on the 29 and about 5hrs into it an the engine light came on and the transmission decided to go into "limp mode" all I could do was get back to the yard and park it. Was not pushing any big snow as all we got was 1-2 inches. Any ideas what could have happened. hope there will be no warranty problems with this. Oh by the way the new 810 on the truck is absolutely awesome to work with. the other guys could not believe how fast this thing can clear a lot.:burnout

[Plow Dak]

Hey bonzai
not knowing an allison trans if it's anything like a Chrysler a check engine light will come on even though it's a trans problem. It's a "UNCLE SAM" Deal. (emissions) It could be as simple as a sensor droping out and the trans will go into limp. Did you try to do a engine shut down and restart? They usually do a reset and retest on startup. If it doesn't see that problem again it shifts ok.
If you didn't shut it off and restart try going out now and trying it.
Make sure your fluid is full and have the codes checked. With any luck it mught be a simple fix.
just my 2 cents.

[Earthscapes]

Sorry to hear about your problem Bonzai. That is the whole reason I traded my 02' 8100/allison in for my 03' 6.0L truck.

I had that problem more than 6 times last winter and they (GM)replaced my tranny twice and every module,switch etc. etc. the other 4 times.
Just wait till you come out one morning,,start your truck ,lift the blade, throw it into reverse and it don't go anywhere.

My whole story is on the other site (under chevy trucks) we used to visit.

[Bonzai]

Hi Earthscapes,
I did read about your truck problems and I am crossing my fingers that this will be an easy fix. They are coming to tow the truck to the dealer in the morning. I will update when I get some answers. Warantee should not be a problem as we have bought 12 GMC trucks from this dealer:canada

[Earthscapes]

Goodluck........ keep us informed

[ratlover]

Did it say shift range inhibited or what? The NSBU switch(especially the black one) has a habbit of crapping out. Sometimes shifting through the gears a few times will get it back to normal, or turning the truck off and cycling the key is sometimes needed. The allison NSBU switch is tan and is better but I have a spare one just in case. They are 50$ or so. There is a TSB out about it. Its an easy fix.......

If you limped your trany it should go away but I cant see how you actually limped it......I've done some launches in 4x4 with boost and havent pissed off the trany yet. And thats with a box on my truck making 780lbft

[Bonzai]

I had the truck towed this morning and picked it up this afternoon, got to love that service:D It seems that it was a neutral control switch in the steering column. Service guy said this was common in plow trucks that he has seen, as these trucks cycle from drive to reverse alot. When the switch goes it sends conflicting messages to the transmission and it shuts down into "limp mode". At least thats what he told me, in the end it`s all crap to me as long as the thing works and there are no more problems Hope this is it and there are no more problems:canada

[Plow Dak]

Good for you Bonzai.
glad it worked out ok...

[Earthscapes]

Well that sounds good....I hope it does the trick for you.

[ratlover]

I would poke my head under my truck and make sure you got the tan switch on the driver side of your allison.....its on the side of the trany with some wires going into it. The GM one is black and is more failure prone. It fails becuase of moisture not really becuase of use. If they stuck a black one back in there i would try to get the tan allison switch. There is a TSB on it and if they jacked up its thier problem. I would not be a happy camper to have it crap out again on me in the middle of a blizzard at 2am. Pushing snow in 3rd gear can get the trany temps up there pretty good.

[Bonzai]

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO PLOW AGAIN.

The shifter on the column became so stiff I could barely move it. Luckily it was at the end of the snow. So back to the dealership again tomorrow. I am starting to loose any trust I had in this truck. And to think that I was worried about how my new 810 Blizzard would work this year. The plow is great, the truck is another story. :confused:

[Earthscapes]

OH BOY and the saga continues

Is it still intact ???? mine came off in my hand:D

Once again I do feel bad for you. It really suxs having a new toy to plow with when it's always in the dealership

[snonut12]

Bonzai - just curious, what model and year is your truck?

[Bonzai]

Hi Earthscapes, did the same thing happen to your shifter? what did they end up doing to fix it. Also did the shifter break right off the column. Mine became very stiff to move at the end of 7 hrs of plowing and got to the point were I could hardly shift the damn thing. Service guy said it had nothing to do with the original problem and should be an easy fix but I guess time will tell.

WXMN6, the truck is a 2002, 2500HD Ext cab duramax engine. It`s been great up until now, not a single problem plowing last year and we were out alot. I really hope this truck doesn`t end up being a huge problem this winter:headwall

[CNY Joe]

Bonzai , just curious as to what they said the problem was with the shifter. Anyway glad to hear the 810 is working good for you.

[Bonzai]

CNY Joe
I pulled into a site to clean-up some parking spots and when I put it in reverse the shifter was all of a sudden very hard to move to drive. The more I shifted it the stiffer it got till the point that I had to leave and drive back to the shop.:mad: Just got off the phone with the dealer, they did not have a chance to look at it. Will be done tomorrow and then I will post the news.:drinkup

[Bonzai]

UPDATE ON TRUCK
I was told that the problem was the shift cable needed to be replaced. Not such a big deal, but then they tell me that the part will not be in for 5 working days:mad: I proceeded to tell them that this is the 21st century and there are companies such as UPS and FED EX who can ship overnight, so pull your fingers out :eek: and get the part sooner. He called me back and said maybe Friday but definately by Monday it would be in:rolleyes: Hopefully this will happen, luckily there is no snow in the forecast or I would be screwed:fuming Any more problems and I just may have to look at a new Ford:nope

[Bonzai]

Thank you FED EX
The part came in today and the truck has been fixed, again.They replaced the shifter cable from front to back. This had better take care of the problems I`ve had. I must admit that the dealership has been great:canada Sometimes it pays to get a little pissed off. ;)