Other powertrain problem on the 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 report other powertrain problem at a median of 115,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 140,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 85,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 165,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 83,500 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 83,500 miles | 100,000 miles | 116,000 miles | 137,750 miles | 167,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $400–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 30 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2024, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 183; the 1999 has 13. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I purchased my 1999 gm truck and I have had problems with the transmission since I purchased it. I had the transmission serviced twice and I was told that it was fine. Now my transmission is skipping first gear and going straight into second gear. The vehicle warranty, of course, has now expired. My sister-in-law also has a 1999 gm van, and her transmission has to be replaced. She was experiencing the same conditions I have and she had her vehicle into service for the same issues I have. My son's girlfriend's mother has a 1999 gm suburban and she has just had her transmission replaced. She had experienced the same problems my sister-in-law and myself have experienced and she too has had her vehicle in for service for the same issues. I cannot believe gm has not had a recall on their transmissions that were placed in 1999 gm truck-type vehicles. This is outrageous. I am researching to see how many other people who bought 1999 gm truck-type vehicles have had the same problems. *ak
The vehicle is driven 1 hour at freeway speeds then when accelerating from a stop the 1-2 up shift slams into 2nd. The resulting hard upshift causes a forward uncontrolled lurch forward. This is particularly hazardous in rush hour stop and go traffic. Correction is a known gm issue tsb 01-07-30-023a. But not available at manufacturers financial participation if out of basic warranty. The issue is a design defect in material selection and needs to be replaced across the board. The lurching upshift is not an if it will occur on a vehicle but a when will it occur symptom. Research on the commonality of this defect can be researched through any search engine using the dtc p1870. *nm
Tl*the contact owns a 1999 chevrolet silverado 1500. The contact experienced difficulty shifting the first and second gears of the vehicle. She took the vehicle to the dealer and they rebuilt the transmission. Approximately fifty thousand miles later, the failure recurred intermittently. The contact is in the process of taking the vehicle back to the dealer. The failure mileage was 45,000 and current mileage was 110,000.
Also reported on the 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
ABS module or sensor failure
Loss of braking
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other body or interior problem
Other brake problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other powertrain problem happen on the 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 115,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 140,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 1999 Chevrolet Silverado 1500?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 15 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed