2004 trailblazer, friends vehicle trying to do a full overhaul on amd get it running proper. Kind of an experiment as I'm no mechanic and just recently started doing repairs myself. Anyways focusing on the problem, I dropped the trans pan drained fluid and pulled old filter. New filter came with a little shim type deal I assume goes on top of the stem of the filter. When removing the old one it appeared that this shim was still in the transmission and it did NOT want.to come out. Spent over an hour trying to be super careful in removing it until finally I took a small trim flat head and best it inwards to collapse it enough so that it finally came out. (Sure hope it was suppose to come out) The new filter did not stay snug up inside there as the old one did and semi worried it didn't seat correctly. After putting it all together and adding fluid, running car at medium rpm and then cycling through all the gears all appeared fine. Pulled it out of barn couple hours later noticed no issues.

Couple days later (yesterday) after car sitting outside rain etc.. pulled it into barn to pull fender off to paint it and the front bumper, in between coats I washed the blazer. When I went to back the car up so I could go back up the drive to the house it struggled to get into reverse. I heRd the clutch engage but apparently it didn't engage all the way or slipped back out. Cycled gears and it then felt like every gear when driven had parking brake on, but I noticed no feeling/heard no clutch change in any gears except going into reverse and into D2. D2 drives just fine. Didn't have too much time to play with it but did manage to get it to hold reverse so I could turn around (felt fine once I got it moving but would slip again when I stopped) moving slowly forward/backwards a couple times melt clutch so stopped got out and there was a small amount of white smoke and obvious clutch smell. trying to get some reading done and it seems like all kinds of things can cause this issue, that IMO, I've obviously caused. I put DEX IV & VI equivalent store brand fluid and I believe it was synthetic. Going to go buy another filter kit and exact fluid recommended and change it all again but while I've got it all open what eLee should I be checking? Any other suggestions would be nice as well

Edit: Oh and will running the car in neutral getting rpm up a bit get fluid to working temp so I can test fluid level without damaging trans?

 

Sounds like the filter that didn't seat properly fell out.

 

The new filter seal needs to be driven up in pump prior to installing filter. Make sure you have correct filter,you need the filter for the deep pan. ( left one in picture) . Also make sure fluid level is correct.

 

I definitely didn't drive that plug thing up in there.. also the filter I pulled out matches the one I put in but it definitely seems like it should have been bigger when I was installing it... also beside where the stem goes up is there suppose to be a hole there exposing whatever behind that casing?

 

Is it possible for previous owner or shop to hAve put the smaller on in there and just beat the crap out of it to get it to seat which is why that plug was so dang hard to remove? And if I remember correctly that plug didn't go up inside the cavity. It was wedged flush with the very end

 

Watch this video. .

 

Thank you sir! So though my filter looks like oneverything on right it doesn't have that flat bottom as one in pic does. Mine has little feet on the bottom so maybe it's a redesign, I dunno, but either way so I did everything correctly except the most important part obviously which was seat that gasket tapping it into place.. and he said 96 "lbs... Guess that means I need to buy another torque wrench. Really appreciate the help I do believe that's gonna be it cause my filter was definitely sitting in the pan when I dropped it. Hopefully didn't cause any damage it was driven maybe 100 feet total but I didn't forcell it to go or anything. Also one other quick question if you happen to know. Was looking at the Selenoids and noticed both were open (popped out) so I pushed both in lightly just kinda seeing what everything does and the 1 pushed in and stayed in, but can be pulled out, the other one pushed in but popped right back out. Is this correct? And does that mean the first one that stayed in is prob my 1&2 and the other my 3 & 4? Should they both have been out?

 

You really don't need a toque wrench for pan bolts. Main thing is don't over tighten an squeeze out thr gasket. If yo do use a torque wrench make sure it is in "INCH POUNDS"
The solenoids will move in the bores, normal operation. Hope this helps. Keep us posted.

 

Well it ws the correct filter I installed the first time but definitely didn't seat it correctly. That plus all that fluid got burnt went ahead and did another drain and filter replacement. Took a while for me to get trans fluid correct but I finally learned what he deal is when reading that fluid. Seems these chevys get fluid all over the dipstick which I would think ws full when it was actually quite low... ended up taking 7.5 quarts but drives good now. Now if I could just figure out these dimming lights....

Thanks for your help transman!