Grinding noise

Looking for some troubleshooting help so I have a 2001 Z71 Suburban everything works very Rusty I just bought a 2001 Tahoe LS. I called a cheap with what was supposed to be a blown motor with a spun bearing per seller I got at home today put a battery in it fire it up has plenty of oil pressure doesn't sound like a spun bearing to me I'm not real familiar with ls motors I know they have lifter issues sometimes not sure if it's that but the more I listen to it I don't think it's a bearing. I decided to try the four-wheel drive when I go from 2-wheel drive to 4 wheel high it feels like it does what it should and I switch to 4lo the light blinks then goes solid but it acts like it's in neutral when I put the transmission back in neutral return the four wheel drive buttons back to either for high or two wheel drive it grinds and kind of crashes in and then feels fine if it won't go into four-wheel low does it seem like something internal? I'm not sure how the mechanisms work to shift these transfer casesI got the Tahoe at a really good price I only paid for the body is all I was worried about my plan is to put the motor out of my Suburban in the Tahoe sofa need to transfer case or any other parts I'm assuming I can swap anything over that's broke I'm just curious if it's something simple in the transfer case I tried the four-wheel out on my Suburban everything works fine I just never used it thanks for any input

Rick, when I had this issue I first started with the 4WD selector switch replacement. that helped, but didn't fix the issue you describe. I next had to replace the Transfer case motor, like this one ( https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=8439796&cc=1371620&jsn=525&jsn=525 ) Copy/paste into a new window. cannot seem to get it to go in as a link.

Once I did that, it worked fine. if you do this, remove the negative battery cable first, install it, THEN connect the wiring. I decided to electrically check it first and it wound way out of alignment and took me about 90 minutes to figure out how to get it back to it's proper operating location. Don't repeat my error!
Others may have other items to offer up for investigation. Based on your description, it's identical to mine and this worked for me. your mileage may vary.

Good news is that it's not a nightmare doing the swap. watch a couple of YouTube videos on the topic and go after it. Good Luck!

Awesome. thanks a bunch. good thing is I have a whole truck of extra parts. and not having to pull T-case would be a huge accomplishment. thank you. hopefully my motor issue on the new truck is a bad lifter and not bottom end, will be a win win lol

YukonXLMan said:

Rick, when I had this issue I first started with the 4WD selector switch replacement. that helped, but didn't fix the issue you describe. I next had to replace the Transfer case motor, like this one ( https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=8439796&cc=1371620&jsn=525&jsn=525 ) Copy/paste into a new window. cannot seem to get it to go in as a link.

Once I did that, it worked fine. if you do this, remove the negative battery cable first, install it, THEN connect the wiring. I decided to electrically check it first and it wound way out of alignment and took me about 90 minutes to figure out how to get it back to it's proper operating location. Don't repeat my error!
Others may have other items to offer up for investigation. Based on your description, it's identical to mine and this worked for me. your mileage may vary.

Good news is that it's not a nightmare doing the swap. watch a couple of YouTube videos on the topic and go after it. Good Luck!

Click to expand...

The link worked, it did say for 2003-2008 but when I looked up for my 01 on Rock looks similar so same issue I would assume applies. mine is push button, looks like same process regardless.

There are several different transfer case encoder motors (for Borg Warner or New Venture Gear). Get your TC RPO code (NPx) from the glovebox and use that at Rock Auto to see what fits your year.