Hope you guys don't mind but I thought I would post this here just to see if anyone had an idea. The truck has 23,000 miles and was never used as a tow vehicle. Last night I noticed when going 15 to 20 mph I get a ticking noise, once you get it moving faster than 20 mph the sound speeds up so quick that you can't hear it anymore. It's not engine related, in park I can rev the engine and not hear a thing. What really sucks is the warranty ran out on August 30th and I'm scared it's the trans or rear only because I had a '92 Silverado a few years back and when the rear went it made the same ticking noise but I can't remember if the noise went away after a certain mph. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'd have to get back to you to be sure but a friend just went through a similar thing with an '03 2500HD. It turned out to be the rear brakes and rotors needed to be replaced. I think GM had a problem with them as he's had them replaced 3 times in 60k miles.

I'll ask him EXACTLY what was wrong and get back to you.

Jeff

Hey thanks, I'd really appreciate it! I'd much rather deal with rear brakes than a new rear or trans.

Check over at www.fullsizechevy.com I am there as 021500HD, I think you'll like that site.

Thanks LeoP, I just registered and posted over there. Man, I hope it's something simple!

Hey, I have an 02 Z71 Avalanche as well, I'll tell you what, there's another site you definately want to visit- www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com Tons of good info there.
Mine is sitting pretty right at 140K now, and doesn't skip a beat. Good rigs.

Wow, 140k! How many problems have you had? I'm thinking about getting an extended warranty.

I'm on the phone with my friend now and he says that was the problem with his. Same symptoms as you describe with the ticking noise. Take a look at your rear rotors, his were worn unevenly with a rust band inside and out. He got lucky and caught it 2 days before the warranty ran out so he got it done for nothing but the cost of rear pads(wear item)

Jeff

There is a TSB or something on the rear brakes, ie the park brake assembly. I'll see if I can find it.

The TSB # is 02-05-26-002A, it is quite a detailed procedure, too much to type here, see your dealer about repairs.

http://www.chevytalk.org/threads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=475470&page=14&fpart=1&vc=1

page 2 has a lot of info

At 140K I haven't had any problems, but in all fairness I've only had it for the last 10K. I do have all the maintenance records from the original owner however- he replaced the front wheel bearings and did the brakes. That was all, except for tires. He brought it in to a local repair shop when it started running badly at 130K with the check engine light flashing. The idiot mechanic's writeup was replace the engine to the tune of $5K+: "it needs rings". The owner decided rather than sink the money into an "old" vehicle he would just buy a new one. The Chevy dealership wouldn't touch the Avalanche for a trade-in, and he wasn't interested in fixing it, so...He called me and asked me if I wanted it-free- just go pick it up. It was a 2002 in really nice shape so... When I got it home I started it up- running badly misfiring, smoke billowing out of the oil fill cap when removed, an intake plenum full of oil, and 8 completely carbon fouled brand new plugs the idiot mechanic had installed. After I replaced the plugs and gutted the totally clogged converters, it ran like a brand new truck. Make sure you don't drive these new GM vehicles with a check engine light flashing- the misfiring cylinder is dumping raw gas directly into a red-hot converter substrate. It actually starts a small fire inside the shell and destroys the substrate. I call this thing "my $64 truck" because that's all I had into it with a new set of plugs back on the road again. I kinda like it too.