My wife was heading to work this morning in her 2001 Chevy Blazer LT with a 4.3 and auto trans. No problems with engine or trans that I have been aware of.

Leaving a stop light and accelerating to the highway, the engine started to rev with no forward motion. A scraping, clanking, metallic noise is coming from the trans area underneath, but I only had a moment to listen before I had to get to work. The engine runs just fine, but the noise is there any time it is running, and there are no gears.

I've only had this vehicle for a few months, originally purchasing it so my wife would have a "newer" reliable vehicle for her hour long commute. So far it's been more trouble than my 80s pickup. I love the Blazer, please help me get it back on the road! We need it badly!

If I missed a similar post, please forgive. I tried to look, but don't really know how to seach for engine runs, transmission makes noise and doesn't work. Sorry for the duplication! Please help!

 

Can you take a video and post it to Photobucket or Youtube to share? That way we could hear the noise it is making.

It is possible that the flex plate has broken. Happened in my old '85 S10, but that made quite a racket.

 

Thank you for the quick response! That is definitely a good suggestion. I am leaving work early to find a way to get it home, then I'll try to post a video. I sure like the idea of the flex plate breaking over the transmission! Did you do anything to the Blazer to maybe cause that to happen? My wife drives about 100 miles a day, it's only a 2WD so there has been no abuse. Just drove it to California recently. There has been not a single indication anything is wrong until this suddenly happened. I thought MAYBE torque converter, but I can't explain the noise. Either way, I know I'm pulling the trans, but it would be sure great not to spend 1200 on a rebuild!

 

I would go with the torque converter being toast!!!!! or the sun shell being exploded!!!!

 

I haven't had a torque converter make a bunch of noise. Am I just lucky? In addition, if it were the torque converter, wouldn't it slowly go out?

Incidentally, the engine still starts just fine, so that probably rules out the flexplate, doesn't it?

 

SUBJECT: TOW HOOKS, SUN SHELL, BLAZER PSA?

Thank you, Chevy, for not putting tow hooks on the front of my LT. With the plastic fascia, there was nowhere to hook up a tow strap, so I had to get it towed. I see them on other models, maybe only 4x4s; I think I'll be looking into that later. For now, though, $107.00 and 1 1/2 miles later, it's home.


I checked the driveshaft and it's intact. I didn't expect it since the noise occurs when the vehicle is stationary, but figured I'd avoid accepting the expensive reality for a little longer. Once again it started, so no flexplate.

After the sun shell comment above, I started looking it up. Turns out my neighbor had a Chevy SUV and his did the same thing. Sounds like the symptoms were similar, too. In fact, when he told the tranny shop what was going on with his transmission, they said, you have a GM SUV, don't you? So, while the heavy duty replacement sun shells are less than $100, it's a rebuild to fix it.

I will keep you all updated with this. I'm a new Blazer owner, so the quirks weren't known to me, but now I'm experiencing them. The drivers side window motor works sporadically, the hinge pins have failed, and other annoying features I read about are occuring. But this sun shell deal is catastrophic.

Is there a way to check, to prepare, or at least to warn Blazer owners, sort of a Blazer PSA that could help new members to this forum? A sticky that goes beyond a soberly humorous list of quirks, but a READ THIS list of important things to look at NOW. Maybe there is nothing one can do, but honestly: if I knew the 2001 Blazer I just bought could have a tranny that will drop without a moment's notice, I might have thought twice. I love it, but what does that mean now that it's sitting my back yard waiting for me to have an extra $1300.00 to put into it?

 

It turns out it WAS the sun shell. My total bill was 2158.00 (with tax.) I was quoted 1800-2000, so even though it came in a little higher, they dropped the price to hit their quote, then charged tax. This is what it cost:

1154.54 labor to remove rebuild and reinstall the transmission and valve body

201.00 Converter
296.00 Master overhaul kit
56.00 Transgo shift kit
35.00 Bushing kit
94.50 Beast sun shell
68.00 Front sprag
94.00 Front sprag race
69.56 Hot flushing line
42.50 ATF oil
101.00 EPC Solenoid

With tax and the discount, it was 2158.00

The shop gave me a 3 year unlimited mile warranty, so that's good. I thought anyone searching might appreciate the run-down. I certainly would have. Incidentally, while I suspected the sun shell because of this very thread, the shop said it didn't sound like it. The Blazer was making a terrible racket just rolling with no engine on. He said he'd never heard a Blazer make that noise before. Nevertheless, GMs built-in grenade, the sun shell, did it's job of blowing up out of nowhere and taking plenty of tranny with it.

 

That's what happened to my mom's 01 Bravada.
Glad to know it fixed your issue.

 

The busted sun shells seem to be a huge problem with the 4L60E, is there any to prevent this from happening?

 

The sun shells were designed wrong, so without replacing it, unfortunately no. The spot welds give out and it explodes. Heavy duty sunshells are less than $100.00, but it's a bit of work to replace them. I suppose the fact is this: eventually, it will go. I spoke with one guy when looking into it who had it replaced with a stock unit that then blew within two years. It's a weak spot, there's no maintenance you can do to prevent it, you just have to replace it or deal with it when it explodes. Sadly, there is zero warning. My Blazer has less than 150k (which is a long time for the tranny, evidently) and 95% of it is highway miles. It has had a super easy life, and every single switch, light bulb etc works on it. Then, accelerating up the on ramp to the highway, and BAM.