Hi y'all. I am new to the world of Blazers so I need a helping hand.
I bought this '98 blazer less than a month ago & it ran fine until the other day.
I was accelerating from a stop & it was sluggish to move & the engine was revving harder than normal (I don't have an RPM meter so I had to go on sound). Once I got it to 25mph it seemed to catch up & run fine.
I brought it to AAMCO for a check engine light read & they said that it came back with transmission codes & misfire codes. They didn't give me the codes but they said it seemed internal & wanted to charge me $750 to "crack it open" which seemed ridiculous to me so I brought it home.
The trans fluid is brown (like dark brown) & we just added some the other day. I would like to check/change the screen & the trans filter prior to "cracking it open" to see if it is an easier fix. The truck has 190k miles on it & I am wondering if I need a flush as well.
Can someone either tell me how to change these items or at least link me to another thread on this forum with instructions, and give me your opinion of a trans flush on a vehicle with this many miles?
Thank you!

 

Hi Papperkitty. Im new to this site but have quite a bit knowledge on the trans and cooler. Its real easy to change the trans filter and the fluid. Go to autozone or your fav autoshop and tell them you need a filter and fluid for your make,model,year blazer. you will need to know wether the pan is shallow or deep. Look under the car and at the trans pan if it is shallow there will be no ledge on the backside of the pan. If it is deep there will be a ledge and a circular divit on the bottom of the pan. Get yourself a pretty big drain pan plasic on with a pour spout on it. then start loosening bolts in the front side of the pan. dont loosen all of them at once because fluid will start to drip everywhere you want it to start dripping in the front towards the engine. take out the bolts in the front then on the sides 2 or 3 at a time from both sides you will start to drip fluid move your pan to catch the fluid as not to get it all over the place. witch will happen but u can minimize the mess. its a messy job to be prepared to get dirty and have trans fluid all over the place. you will then have the remaining bolts in the back of the pan loosen them each a little at a time and the pan will start to lean towards the front spilling fluid into your pan. the moore you loosen the more it will tilt the pan and more fluid will spill out. eventualy the pan will be lite enough for yuo to push the pan up and hold it firmly flat and remove the last bolts. Then pull the pan off the trany. Clean the pan very good with some slovent dont matter just as long as its clean you will notice a little square looking doodad stuck to the inside of the pan dont remove it its a magnet and it collects metal particules so they dont get into the trans. just clean it off real good and remove all the metal that has collected on it ok now you must remove the old filter just pull it straight down from the trany it will come off easy you might have to wiggle it a little then once off look where you pulled off the filter and you will notice a little round gasket up inside the hole that the filter was in that must be removed so the new gasket can be installed. once you put new gasket in insert new filter then install new gasket on your pan then place pan back on trany and put all bolts back on tighten finger loose all then go back and tighten a little more all again dont tighten them to much you will damage the new gasket tighten all of them a little at a time in a circular pattern look at the gasket as you tighten and you will see it start to get smashed and it will be squeezed out between the pan and trans you want it to be squezzed a little but not to much youl know what im talkin bout when you see it anyways then thats it your done pull the dip stick and pour 4 to six quarts of new fluid in start with four start engine and check the level fill to the mark and your done.

 

Great, well detailed post. The only thing I have to add is if you take the pan & set the edge where the holes are on a hard metal surface take a small ball pene hammer & a larger one, two all, set the smaller one over the bolt holes & tap it back out, do that with each hole. Because one of the causes of leaks is over tightening the bolts & it draws the holes inward & every hole you have a small hump if they are too drawn in the gasket leaks between the holes. Doing this you have a nice flat surface if you tap them back where they had a dip when you tighten the bolts they will draw the dip out. I learned this when I worked in a Tranny Shop back in the late 60s early 70s. & have used it with success since.
As for AAMCO stay away. Find a reputable independent shop. But if you have a CEL you do need to find out what the codes are for anyone to help you on here. Transmission codes are separate from engine codes & require a more advance code reader than the ones we use for engine codes. Also any ABS Brake issues require a different scanner. If you have a several thousand dollar scanner it will do everything.

 

Thanks y'all!
I am going to change the fluid & filter on Saturday & hopefully that does the trick. I might know someone who has all the fancy scanners because she is a mechanic (She just messaged me to offer her help). I'll message again once we are done so I can update y'all on the outcome.
Thanks again!!

 

We replaced the fluid & the filter today. The fluid was burnt to hell & there was a lot of metal shavings in it so we may need to replace the transmission in about 6 months. Husband drove it around & he said it took it a minute to "click in" but now it shifts like a dream.
So something strange that y'all might be able to explain to me .. We got a gallon of DEX transmission fluid & our friend said that we might need more than that so we grabbed the 2 quarts that were in the truck. Once of them my husband had just bought & one was left in the truck from the previous owner. Our friend noticed that the one that was in the truck from the previous owner was "Type A" which is apparently for Toyotas & really bad to put in the blazer. Could most of our problem be due to the previous owner putting the wrong fluid in it?

 

Yes, wrong fluid can do some really bad damage. You should only use what is recommended by Chevy. Whoever had that Blazer before you was obviously not very intelligent, as he put tranny fluid that was made for Toyota into a Chevy transmission.