1999 Chevy Blazer slipping transmission

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Does he still have the Buick?


No, he sold it to a friend for $700. We added the Lucas and drove it tonight, my mind is baffled at how quickly the trans is dying. Just 4 days ago it was having a slower than normal 3rd to 4th shift, which quickly turned into heavy slipping from 3rd to 4th, which then turned into slipping from 2nd to 3rd, and now it is so bad it wont even go into anything past 2nd gear. It will have a slow 1 to 2 shift and then just flare after that. All in 4 days! It drove great not even a week ago. Lucas did nothing (kind of expected that). He does also own a 1981 Chevy C10 that he can use until he can afford something newer and more reliable.

At least he didn't pay anything for this Blazer, just registration fees and the cost of a transmission fluid / filter change.

 

[nascarnation]

When the 3-4 clutch wears out, it sort of "falls off the cliff" and you go from OK to a slipping shift to no ability to hold at all, pretty quickly. It may be that the apply piston is then able to overstroke due to wear of the clutch pack and the seals pop out of the bore, and you can't maintain any line pressure.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: nascarnation
When the 3-4 clutch wears out, it sort of "falls off the cliff" and you go from OK to a slipping shift to no ability to hold at all, pretty quickly. It may be that the apply piston is then able to overstroke due to wear of the clutch pack and the seals pop out of the bore, and you can't maintain any line pressure.


It was a quick degradation for sure. He is looking at having a used transmission installed. We shall see.

 

[nascarnation]

Based on my experience with the 4.3 engine, it could well go another 100,000 miles if it's had any decent maintenance at all. Of course I don't know what shape the rest of the truck is in. Seeing you're in FL, probably not a rust bucket like the ones up north here. If he can get a trans swap at a decent price, may well be worth fixing. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't (like another replacement beater). I've got a 99 S-10 with 150,000 miles that runs great, but it had a rebuilt trans installed by the first owner. My challenge is keeping the body decent, luckily there are dirt cheap rust repair panel available everywhere.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
But generally it will just strip the 4 middle frictions & the 2 outside ones can't hold & they burn up. 4.3L trucks are the worst about this because the harmonics they produce vs a V8.


I thought the V6 models sometimes had less friction plates? Lower torque etc. Been a while but I thought the V8 and V6 4L60's had some differences.

Might be thinking of the TH350's. I know they had some TH200, TH250 but I thought there was a TH350 built with less stuff for low torque applications.

 

[lexus114]

every time i`ve ever had another (used) trans put in a car. it was somehow just never the same as it was before the sawp. now this is not re; a rebuild, but a swap with another used trans.

 

[nascarnation]

Unless you know the history of the used unit, it's a bit of a [censored].
Of course best bet is a lower mileage unit from a vehicle that was crashed.
Probably the trans was working fine at the time of the wreck.

And of course there can be subtle mechanical changes in the control body, etc between various years and models using the same basic trans.

 

[gregk24]

He decided to have a used trans put in. The donor transmission was off a Bravada with 80K miles. The old transmission is out, and new one is awaiting install.

 

[nascarnation]

Hopefully it works well for him.
FWIW the Bravada had full time all wheel drive so the transfer case may be a different model than what the Blazer had (assuming the Blazer was shiftable 4wd).

 

[SatinSilver]

Is there anyway to check the atf in the donor trans to see what color the fluid is?

 

[hpb]

Your brothers sure are having bad luck with their cars lately!

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: hpb
Your brothers sure are having bad luck with their cars lately!


Yes, indeed they are!

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: gregk24


At least he didn't pay anything for this Blazer, just registration fees and the cost of a transmission fluid / filter change.


Just out of curiosity, was the tranny fluid and filter changed before or after it started slipping?

 

[SatinSilver]

I'm guessing original fluid in there most likely. Black as midnight for the color. Again just a guess and prob why the vehicle was free.

 

[rshaw125]

The trans did well. Time for a rebuild.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: gregk24


At least he didn't pay anything for this Blazer, just registration fees and the cost of a transmission fluid / filter change.


Just out of curiosity, was the tranny fluid and filter changed before or after it started slipping?


It was changed after as a hail mary attempt. We figured it couldn't hurt.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
I'm guessing original fluid in there most likely. Black as midnight for the color. Again just a guess and prob why the vehicle was free.


I was surprised to see it wasn't, it was indeed dark but not black. I am of the mindset that it should always be bright red / pink and smell nice and sweet, in other words it should always be fresh! So it was due for a change for sure.

 

[gregk24]

Well all is well! It is back up and running again and running well. He is a happy camper.