The transmission fuse for the GMT800 Silverado is located under the hood right next to the battery. You may want to check and see if the transmission fuse has blown if it’s stuck in limp mode.
Limp mode is something that a transmission will do to protect itself from catastrophic failure. For the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra (which’ll have a 4L60E or 4L80E) it’s going to make the transmission run in third gear when in drive, with an option to downshift it into first gear. The good news is that fuses are super inexpensive.
First thing that you’re going to want to do is pop the hood. You’ll see a black box about a foot up from the battery on the wheel well. Go ahead and pop that lid off. This is the 99-06 Silverado’s transmission fuse location It’s going to have a diagram similar to the one above. It may vary a little bit depending on the year. This one is from a 2006 Silverado.
Once you pop the fuse box open you’re going to be looking for a fuse that says TCM. I’ve highlighted it in the illustration above. It’s just a little 10 amp job. You can either pull it and manually inspect it for damage, or you can use a test light. I prefer the test light because it’s more thorough. It’s possible for a fuse to be bad even with no visible damage. With the test light, you don’t even need the Silverado transmission fuse pulled. You just touch the top of the fuse on the part that’s designed for a test light and see if it’s hot or not. It really is about that easy.Most of these vehicles have a 4L60E transmission. You can find more info on it at the 4L60E Fuse Location page.
Symptoms of a Blown Transmission fuse on a 1999-2006 Silverado
As mentioned above, the number one symptom of a blown transmission fuse is that the transmission takes itself into limp mode. It’s not like it might go into limp mode if it’s blown. It will go into it. That’s because without power to the TCM from the fuse it automatically defaults to its fail-safe operation, which is limp mode. So, if you have overdrive or first gear, you aren’t going to have a blown transmission fuse.
If you came here looking for a blown fuse in your Silverado’s transmission, I hope you found it There aren’t to many other ways of fixing your transmission that’ll cost maybe a dollar or two (fuses are cheap).