I have a 1994 Chevy S10 Blazer 4x4 andI need to change the tranny fluid and filter. I have know idea on how to go about it. Is there someone who can help me with this. I have a book ,but it doesn't completely explain the steps.

 

It is actually quite easy, but can be messy! Things to have on hand and ready to use at the beginning... I would go get as short of a rubber-maid container as you can find. You will want it to be at least as large as the transmission pan, but preferably about 4" larger in both directions. Also, you will want to get the new filter and new gasket out and ready to use. The gasket should be placed on a flat surface and a large, flat object placed over top of it to flatten it back out.

On your truck, you will likely have to remove the transmission cross member to remove the pan. If it is very tight between the pan and the cross member, start by slightly jacking up the back of the transmission and removing the cross member. It always sucks to get all the way to the rear bolts with transmission fluid dripping all over, and realizing at that point that the cross member has to be removed.

After that, remove most of the bolts. Remove all of the front bolts. Leave a bolt in the middle of each side, then remove all but the bolts closest to the sides in the back. Position the rubber-maid drain pan under the transmission, slightly offset to the front to catch the "waterfall" of fluid that will flow out of the pan when the seal breaks. Loosen the side bolts until there are only a few threads holding them in the transmission. Then loosen the rear most bolts only a few turns. If the pan has not broken its seal yet, you will need to help it along with a screw driver. Get ready, cause when it goes, it will be a flood of transmission fluid. The side bolts will allow the pan to tilt, but not cause any damage. Once most of the fluid had drained out that can, remove the two side bolts, supporting the pan with your hands. Tilt it down even further to allow more to flow out. Once you have enough fluid out of the pan that you can control it yourself, push it back up into place and remove the last two bolts. Carefully lower the pan down into the drain pan and slide it out from under the truck.

Hard part over.

The filter will just pull out of the transmission. Expect a bit more fluid to come out when you remove the filter so you may want to put the drain pan back in for this. There is a lip seal in the transmission case that can be replaced if the current one is damaged. Typically, you can assess the "health" of the seal by sticking your finger up into it and feeling for rough edges on the seal. If it feels smooth, you should be good to just push the new filter up into place without replacing this seal. If you either have to or want to replace it, then you will have to drive it out without damaging the transmission case and drive the new one in. It is not the easiest thing to do. I will say this, I have never had to replace one in all of the transmission services that I have performed.

Cleaning! Before you put the new filter up in, wipe off anything inside the pan with a shop rag. Specifically paying attention to anything that may be stuck to the gasket surface that the pan seals on. This surface must be clean and free of any fluid. Once that is done, you need to clean the pan. I find that a can of brake parts cleaner works very well for this job. You also need to clean the gasket surface with a scraper and or wire brush first to remove the gasket. This must be down to a clean surface for a leak free seal.

The new filter should get a light coating of fresh transmission fluid on the neck before you push it into the transmission. Then it is just a push up in and it is done. The new gasket will get partially attached to the pan with the pan bolts. Slightly thread each bolt through the pan into the new gasket. The gaskets holes should be a touch smaller than the bolts which will hold the bolts in place as you tighten down the pan. Once you have all of the bolts in, put the pan back up to the bottom of the transmission and start each bolt before you start tightening them down. Go around the pan and snug each bolt up, then torque them down to 10-13 ftlbs. Excessive torque can cause the pan to leak.

With the pan on and properly tightened down, put the truck on a level surface and dump 5 qts down through the transmission dipstick tube. Start the truck and run it through all of the gears. With the truck idling in park, check the fluid level and add as necessary. Repeat until you are in the proper range. Once you get to the bottom of the range, check for leaks.

Now go get cleaned up! Then take it for a spin to warm up the transmission and recheck the fluid level with the transmission warm.

 

I have a 1994 S10 Blazer Tahoe LT. It is a 4x4 with the 4.3L (W-Engine code/CPI).

I removed the cross member and loosened the transmission pan. I still can't get the transmission pan out from the vehicle. It is stuck in the front against the exhaust manifold (I think that's what it is called). It won't go down far enough to slide out backwards to where the cross-member was.

I really want to change the transmission filter. The vehicle is at 300,000 km. There is no transmission gasket, which leads me to believe that no one has been able to get this thing off properly.

I tried to remove the flywheel cover to see if that would help, but it's kinda jammed up against the starter. I'm not sure if I can get the flywheel cover off, or if it will even help.

The exhaust manifold is even more difficult to get off. You can't get in there with a socket or a wrench. This design is really dumb.

Anyone have suggestions?

Thanks - Benjamin!

 

Okay, I tried prying a bit to get it out. Then I heard a crack. I am assuming I only cracked the transmission filter. I don't know, because I can't see anything, because they have this pan mounted so tight against the exhaust. I'm getting really frustrated. This is absolutely retarded. Why would they make it inaccessible, but recommend that you service it every 25-50,000 km? I'm getting really frustrated and it's going to be dark soon. Why can't anything just be straight forward? Damn! And now I have grit inside the pan from trying to grab it and pull it out, cuz I was assuming I'd be able to clean it properly once I got it out!

 

I got a trouble light down under there and closely looked at the situation. I am pretty sure that I only cracked something minor. I still can't figure out how to get the pan out.

Removing the flywheel cover probably won't do much. It may allow me to rotate the pan and get it out. If the flywheel cover actually does come out.

The only thing that seems it might work, is loosening bolts from the exhaust manifold to the catalytic converter. I literally need a fraction of an inch to get this transmission pan out. This so sucks and now it's getting dark out and supposed to rain! Grrrrrrrr!

 

I found my answer. Although the owner's manual suggests frequent transmission filter/fluid changes, the vehicle is not designed to be easily serviceable.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you...5_Chevy_Blazer

"changing the filter on a 1995 chevy blazer is the hardest thing to do...if you do not have a lift and/or the right tools, it is very difficult...first, there is a transmission bar/brace that runs right across the pan...that bar has to be removed, the catch is that you have to support the transmission....next, even if you remove the bolts from the transmission pan....you need to remove the exhaust pipe that runs across the front side of the pan....it is very difficult an almost impossible to remove the pan without damaging anything inside that pan...."

Basically I got as far as most people would get. I hope that I didn't damage anything. I'm really upset with this design flaw. It almost seems as though it were designed to be flawed.

They could have done a few things to remedy this issue. The first would be to redesign the exhaust manifold to make the fraction of an inch clearance. Second would be to redesign the transmission pan cover (which may not work). Third would be to move the transmission back a fraction of an inch.

I find it really stupid that they would design something so poorly. This is completely unacceptable in my opinion.

 

GM always designs there vehicles very poorly... thats why everyone buys Japanese now... another way to rememdy these flaws for GM vehicles is the just shut down GM altogether. this way they cant build anymore junk...

 

I am new to fixing and repairing vehicles. Without turning this into a GM bashing thread, I must say there have been a few bad designs on this vehicle that I have come across.

I have a mechanical engineering background. These design flaws were easily avoidable and should have never been allowed into production. Are the Japanese and German cars generally better in design for serviceability?

Since I did make a popping/cracking noise, I would definitely be interested in seeing what I did. Is there any easy way to get the transmission lifted? I assume that this involves unbolting from the torque converter?

I don't know a lot and I'm learning everything as I go. It almost seems like a better idea to drive this vehicle until the transmission fails and replace it with a better designed vehicle. Regular fluid and filter changes should not require a hoist and 8 hours of labour. Unbelievable...

 

i havent changed my tranny fliud and filter as of yet, but wait until you have to do a heater core! i would really love to hear what you would have to say about that job!

 

The heater core wasn't too bad. It still was a pain, but I found a wicked step by step guide.

http://www.sytyarchives.com/howto/vi...imate_controls

After some research, I found this thread:

http://forum.doityourself.com/automo...-question.html

I believe that my transmission filter does not get mounted with screws (especially looking at the replacement filter). It simply slides in, using a friction fit. Then you have to play with sliding the filter in and out with the transmission fluid pan underneath of it.

The part that eludes me is the whole lifting the transmission part. Is this absolutely necessary? If it is necessary, how do I go about doing this? I have the cross member out, do I simply push up on the transmission with a bottle jack? Do I need to unbolt the transmission? I need more information on this technique please. Thank you, if anyone can please help me!