I have a 2002 Chevy Blazer ZR2 4x4 with 145,000 miles on it. And I'm pretty sure my transmission is shot :'(

I'll be driving along on a highway with cruise control on going about 65 mph and go down a small hill and when I get to the bottom of the it and am going back up my car gets gradually slower and slower. When i mash on the gas my car won't go any faster and the engine "whines" more and the RPM might shoot up to 3000. When i am back on level road my car sometimes still behaves like this.

Today I was driving home from school and I was speeding up and my car got up to 40 mph then it did the same thing. I stepped on the gas to try to go faster (speed limit 55) and my car wasn't going any faster. The engine noise got higher pitched i mashed on the gas a little more and my rpm shot dramatically from about 2500 RPM to 3000 RPM. I then let of the gas then stepped on it again and it started to change gears like normal and i was able to speed up more.

I checked my transmission fluid last week and again today when i got home, its still within the HOT area on my dip stick. Any have an idea what is wrong? Is it my Transmission? I'm in college and have NO money for something like this to happen :/

 

If the trans fluid smells like an old burnt up electric mixer, the trans is probably toast. If not.....
Check the fuel filter for restriction and also check fuel pressure and leakdown. Most auto parts stores rent/loan them for free and sell them for around $40. When you have a tester, let us know and we can walk you through the tests. Simple, and it only takes about 15 minutes.

 

I smelled the fluid of the dip stick eariler today and it smelled bad but I thought that just how transmission fluid smelled anyways, I wouldn't say it smelled like a burned up electric mixer. I do have an OBD scanner but not with me, I did run a scan a couple weeks ago and got some code (P0452) which is "Evaporative Emission Control System Pressure Sensor Low Input" what does that mean? I googled it but was still confused. Sorry I'm ignorant about cars really....

 

EVAP system DTC's, (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) will not cause what you're experiencing. We can deal with that after it's running properly. If there are problems in the trans, it will usually set a DTC. If P0452 was the only DTC in memory, the problem is something that OBDII does not monitor....like fuel pressure

 

Okay well thanks for the information I appreciate it. I'll be dropping it off tomorrow at a shop that I trust to see if they can figure out whats wrong. I'll make sure to post back what it turns out to be.

 

Gotta be a qualified place somewhere around Columbia. Might suggest having them check fuel pressure. Some shops don't take too kindly to suggestions from customers, so be gentle

 

Oh yes I'll be modest lol

 

Turns out My catalytic converter was all clogged up so not near as bad as I thought.

 

If the substrate broke apart and clogged the converter, that's one thing. But if the substrate had a melt down, something else caused it to overheat. Only one way to know for sure, look at the substrate. If it had a melt down, and you don't fix the root cause, the replacement converter will melt down too.

 

While I was reading your initial post, I was thinking about my 2001 that had the same symptoms as yours around July 4th , 2012. We were on holiday about 100 miles from home, pulling a travel trailer up a mountain. Had to pull over several times and barely made it to the campsite. However, my code reader gave me the code (don't remember what it was) that indicated a clogged exhaust. The only store nearby was a dollar store. I purchased a cheap adjustable wrench that went out to 7/8". I removed both pre-cat O2 sensors so the exhaust could better escape, and, although it was annoyingly loud, the Blazer ran much better and we made the trip back home with the travel trailer fine. Money was tight, and I put one O2 sensor back in and left one out for awhile until the cat was replaced.

Glad you found the problem. Are/did you get the whole ypipe/precat/cat system for around $300? or just get a $100 cat and cut/weld/clamp in?
I did the $100 route and passed Atlanta emissions as well it still works fine now.