My buddy has a 96 Blazer 4x4 with auto trans and about two years ago he quit driving it because 3rd gear stopped working. Suddenly and out of the blue with no warning. I am thinking about buying this rig off of him if it is a simple fix. I have driven it and R,1, and 2 work and shift smoothly, but no shift into 3rd, RPM's just rev and vehicle goes into a gear-less neutral like state. I have spent the last 3 days looking at these forums and I have a few questions. I have read that transmission issues might be caused by the starter switch cable on the steering column, so I ordered one. Is this a likely culprit? I also read that if you unplug the cable from the trans it should shift into 3rd in a "limp" mode, If the 2-3 solenoid is out will this still occur? I read the computer with a code scanner and the only thing that poped is P0131 which is the sensor before the Cat converter. Could the play into the trans problems? On the large list of symptoms and likely problems the only listing for a no 3rd or 4th gear is a worn out 3-4 clutch pack. But I have also read on here of people putting new tranys and rebuilds into their vehicles and the no 3rd or 4th problem persists which would indicate to me there is something else besides the clutch pack that could cause this. Any help is much appreciated.

 

It likely isn't a quick fix. Third & fourth gear went in the 4L60E in my Tahoe and it was the 3-4 clutch pack. A complete tear down was required to repair.