'00 Chevy Silverado making a ominous clicking noise

Woof. I love this truck and fear I goofed it up good.

Truck hadn’t been driven in a while (6+ years) until this past September. Drove it from PA to MA with no problem, trips to grocery store, Home Depot, and the like for the past 6 months no problem. Enter New England weather. Got 8" of snow with a quick thaw followed by a freeze and got stuck in a rut. Put it in 4LO, got out easy, though lost power steering and noticed the selector switch on the left hand flickering. Neutral light on selector switch went red, vehicle remained in 4LO. Some googling and a call to my Dad and I came up with shifting between D-N-R-N-R-D a few times and it finally came out of 4LO (or so I thought) and into 4HI. Still no power steering; legit like what I would imagine turning a pirate ship would be like. Went home and parked it. A few days later drove it ~10 miles at speeds less than 40 mph (to Autozone of all places) to pick up some power steering fluid thinking that was it. Last mile of the trip and I hear this ‘CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK’, and not a pleasant click at that. When I stopped in my driveway, I noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the hood (I could have cried).

Now before you jump on me, I am aware of the 20V fuse for the transfer case module, and potentially replace the transfer case module entirely.

My question is, did I blow the transfer motor - or worse?!

Thanks for sticking with me on this one.

Looking forward to hear what you all think!

Best,

Sean F.

You have a couple of problems.

The 4WD issue may simply be a matter of a frozen actuator.

The power steering issue sounds like a fried or thrown serpentine belt. Best case scenario is a new belt will fix it. However, you may have a seized alternator, water pump, power steering pump, or idler pulley. With the belt off, try turning each accessory.

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