i have a 92 s-10 blazer vin w(vortec). drove fine until yesterday when it started slipping after 2nd gear. i have reverseand 1st and 2nd are fine, but once it tries shifting to third it just revs. i have gotten it into third by hitting the gas pretty hard, but then it slips shifting to fourth. any ideas/suggestions. i put in some lucas tranny fix to no avail. i know a little about cars, but have never touched a transmission. what could it be?

 

I'm new here to, but have wrenched on cars and bikes since childhood. When auto trans slip, it's a indication there's excessive loss of clutch material. Also pump failure is another. Have you changed the fluid and trans filter? Doing that routine maintenance will indicate the health of the trans. If you had burnt (brown) fluid or grit (clutch material) in the bottom of the pan and filter, it may be time for an overhaul or replacement of the trans. This seems to be a common thread with these automatic transmissions. It's the reason I joined; to find if having a manual trans outweighs having an automatic.

 

The 4L60E tranny used in the Blazers is not a weak or faulty transmission by any measure. The reason theyhave so many repair histories is because there were so danged many of them made.It's just a matter of percentage. Most problems with auto trannies can be tied back to abuse/misuse and poor maintainance by the owners. I recommend a pan drop and filter change at least every 30,000 miles no matter how much longer a manufacturer says it can go. Bear in mind, these opinions are for the transmission, not the transfer case in 4x4's. I have never had one of those.

 

I mostly agree with the above post.

the 4L60E was the 4L60 which was the 700R4 before that. GM has been putting the 700R4/4L60/4L60E in all 1/2 ton and lighter trucks, vans, SUV's, and cars with rear wheel drive since the early 80's. There are literally millions of them in service. It is the only auto tranny in all light duty, 1/2 ton trucks, vans, SUV's and cars GM uses. Teh only changes to the tranny over the past 3 decades is how the tranny is controlled. 700R4 and 4L60 are controlled by a trottle valve cable. GM then switched to a electronic control and thus the 4L60E tranny. The guts of the tranny is the same, just the valve body changed in teh past 30 years. I litterally took my clutch packs with 105,000 miles on them from my '00 S10 Blazer 4.3 L V6 4L60E tranny and dropped them into my '87 S10-Blazer 700R4 that bolts up to a 60 degree 2putt8 engine. 3 years later and it still runs fine. The 700R4/4L60/4L60e also has one of the best gear ratios too. 3.06 for first gear and .70 for 4th gear. Plus the torque converter locks up and your saving a huge amount of gas. Check out the Jeep and other light truck forums, they are dropping GM V8 and GM V6 (4.3) into thier trucks and backing them with the 700R4/4L60/4L60E. They are extremely popular and functional. Not too mention every tranny shop in America can rebuild one, and there are hundreds of upgrades to make them stronger, faster, firmer, and more reliable. They can be built to handle 450 foot pounds of torque.

Like posted above, most fialures are due to owner neglect. I agree witht eh 30,000 mile fluid change. However I disagree witht eh pan drop and new filter. No need for it. the only thing the filter filters is tranny parts. If you have tranny parts plugging up your filter, a fluid/filter change wont fix the problem. the damage is done, the clutch packs are toast, and its time for a rebuild.

The number one reason auto tranny's fail is due to heat. Change the fluid in the pan once per year and top off. Install a auxilary tranny cooler with a temp gaage and keep an eye on your tranny temp. To drian the pan, install a drain plug. Kits are like $10, plus the cost of a pan gasket. It makes more economical sense to buy the filter kit for $15, it comes witht he gasket and your already there.

Now, as for the original question. Which is better auto or manual?
that is strickly up to you. Daily driving in the city, that auto sure is nice. 4 Wheeling, that auto sure is nice. Howver I feel you get better gas mileage with a manual tranny, and it has the cool factor. My next Blazer will be a stick. Don't get me wrong, my autos work great and serve thier purpose well. Its just that I have been driving the Cavalier with a stick back and forth to work recently made me realize how much I missed have a manual tranny. Plus my brakes last a lot longer with a stick over a auto.

 

Isn't that like saying don't change the oil filter when you change the oil? I'll stick by my guns and change the filter since, like it or not, tiny little pieces of the innards wear and need to be trapped so they don't just keep wearing against the other parts.

 

Nope, completely different.

Engine oil gets contaminated by by-products of combustion, particles that get through the air filter, as well as by wear metals from the engine.

A transmission is essentially a sealed system. The only opening to the outside world is the vent line which will not let enough foreign materials into the transmission to ever make any appreciable impact. The only other thing that can plug up the filter is the transmission components itself. As Tim has said, the biggest problem with transmissions is heat. By keeping the fluid fresh, you will greatly increase the life of the transmission.

 

Right, Kyle, I understand the open/sealed system differences. I change the tranny filter for the reason I stated - debris collection. I don't want to be changing the fluid every 5,000 or so miles.

 

No need to change it that frequently. Every 30-40k miles depending on conditions should be sufficient and that is just a drain of the pan which will replace around 1/2 the trans fluid (6-7 quarts).

A filter change is good peace of mind though. But again, I will agree with Tim in that it really isn't necessary. If a filter is plugged up to the point of causing drive-ability issues, your transmissions health is in serious jeopardy.

 

Now, just because I wasselected asthe poster child for both the **** Retentive Foundation and the OCB Society, don't pick on me.

 

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You can change the filter it you would like, however consider this. Every time you open up the tranny you are increasing the odds that a small piece of debris will get somewhere it isn't supposed to be. Like a human hair stuck to the valve body by brushing your arm up against it in the heat of battle, or a piece of rag lint from wipping off the gasket sealing surface, or a piece of dust blown in with a nice cooling summer breeze, if it gets inside a valve, the valve will stick and the only cure is to drop the valve body out and clean it.

Call a few tranny shops and ask for thier recommindation.
they will even tell you not to install a remote tranny filter, only increase the odds for something else to go wrong.