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4 Posts
A little background on the vehicle I purchased may help, then into the issue. I bought my 2009 Envoy SLT form my daughter as her husband was looking for a new vehicle and needed to sell the Envoy to purchase one, and I need a good vehicle to park at my home up north. I was aware that the power steering cooler was leaking and had purchased a new one and all the lines prior to getting the Envoy from her. On the day I bought it, her husband called and said it had overheated and where did I want it towed - had it taken to a friends house where he has a working garage to replace the water pump. Once he had it up and running he informed me it was stuck in 4WD! From reading post here as an outsider I knew the encoder motor was malfunctioning. When I asked my daughter and SIL how long it had been stuck in 4WD they had no idea, they thought it was steering hard due to the power steering issue!
Since the Envoy had about 160,000 miles I decided to get a core transfer case had have it rebuilt so I now have a fresh t-case on the vehicle. Put in a new Dorman encoder motor and nothing lit up at all, put in the old encoder motor and it would flash like it was trying to shift the t-case, but always went back to 4WD, so I returned the new encoder motor for a replacement and it would have a light come on at the selector switch, but would do nothing - no flashing if you change the selector position, no attempt to shift the t-case and the light position would not change. Where should I be looking from here? Do I have a bad (new) encoder motor or is there something else wrong with the system?
Another issue I may have to address is the front axle, there was some metal in the gear lube when it was changed, I have changed all the fluids since it will sit in a garage 7 hours away for 3/4 of the time. I head north once a month for a week and will be using the Envoy as my main vehicle when there - I drive a K2500 BBC Suburban between the two places and wanted something with a little better fuel economy when there.
Any direction I can be pointed will be helpful, I do need to get it back on the road so I can get it up north, but also need it to be completely reliable. I have previously owned a 2003 Envoy SLE (sold at 240,000 miles) and a 2008 TrailBlazer LT (sold at 185,000 miles), all have the 4.2 I-6. This is the first time I had an issue with any of them! Sure I change the oil every 5,000 miles, brakes and wheel bearings as needed and tune up as needed, but never had to do anything else to the first two.
Tom
Since the Envoy had about 160,000 miles I decided to get a core transfer case had have it rebuilt so I now have a fresh t-case on the vehicle. Put in a new Dorman encoder motor and nothing lit up at all, put in the old encoder motor and it would flash like it was trying to shift the t-case, but always went back to 4WD, so I returned the new encoder motor for a replacement and it would have a light come on at the selector switch, but would do nothing - no flashing if you change the selector position, no attempt to shift the t-case and the light position would not change. Where should I be looking from here? Do I have a bad (new) encoder motor or is there something else wrong with the system?
Another issue I may have to address is the front axle, there was some metal in the gear lube when it was changed, I have changed all the fluids since it will sit in a garage 7 hours away for 3/4 of the time. I head north once a month for a week and will be using the Envoy as my main vehicle when there - I drive a K2500 BBC Suburban between the two places and wanted something with a little better fuel economy when there.
Any direction I can be pointed will be helpful, I do need to get it back on the road so I can get it up north, but also need it to be completely reliable. I have previously owned a 2003 Envoy SLE (sold at 240,000 miles) and a 2008 TrailBlazer LT (sold at 185,000 miles), all have the 4.2 I-6. This is the first time I had an issue with any of them! Sure I change the oil every 5,000 miles, brakes and wheel bearings as needed and tune up as needed, but never had to do anything else to the first two.
Tom
