2001 2wd Automatic. Just hit 150,032 on the odometer.

I was on my way home yesterday & it felt like the transmission was slipping when I would try to take off at stop lights or intersections. The engine would rev up pretty good & I was just barely moving & it would take a few seconds to start rolling. Going up the hill by my house it was struggling. It felt a lot like driving a standard with a slipping clutch.
Haven't had a chance to check the transmission fluid level since it's been raining since yesterday. Plan on trying to do that today.
Any ideas on what might be going on? Common problems to look for?

 

If there was a time to check the transmission fluid, where adding some more fluid would do any good - it has long since passed (rain or no rain). Automatic transmissions that have been slipping for any length of time are toast. They are also expensive. I just paid $2400 for mine in a 4WD. My condolences to you.

 

Yeah, the fluid has never been low in the past when I checked it. It gets checked regularly & the truck has never had any leak spots from either trans fluid or oil. I look religiously under neath our vehicles for leaks & stuff like that. Just started slipping. I went about 3 miles after it started doing it, the rest of the way home & parked it.
I have a friend coming to look at it tonight or tomorrow that rebuilds transmissions for a living. My initial feeling was that it was toast. If it's a bad, he will know for sure. If it is, then it's out of here, I won't dump that kind of money into it.

 

Finally got a chance to take it out yesterday evening to get it up to temp. Thing shifts great until it gets up to peak operating temps, then it starts acting stupid. It may be done for in the long run, fluid was sort of brown, but didn't smell burnt. Plan on replacing the filter putting new fluid in it & adding a drain plug. I'm hoping to get a little more life out of it until I can decide if I want to put another transmission in it or not. I was thinking about trying to find a used one at a pick-n-pull junkyard from a low mileage vehicle. Fortunately this isn't my only transportation anymore, so I have some time to figure out if I want to invest a bit of money in it to have my friend rebuild the transmission or just put a used one in it.

The problem that I'm having is that I was looking online for a filter kit for it, but there are two options. One for a shallow pan & one for a deep pan. How do I know which type pan I have? I can't seem to find any measurements that differentiate which is which. Do they look different? How do I tell which one is correct or which size pan this one has?

2001 Blazer LT w/2wd Automatic

 

You could rebuild it yourself. I watched these videos and it was pretty straight forward. Cost about $400 with kit and tools.

 

Assuming it's the stock transmission, this should help you determine which pan you have.

 

I did figure out which pan I have. It's the deep pan. I drove it over to my friend's house that rebuilds trannys for a living. We went for a test ride & he said it may not be completely gone since it runs so strong when it's cold. Said it's slipping because the filter is clogged & I need to change that out & see how it runs & I might get a couple more years out of it. If that doesn't work & it still slips, then it will have to be rebuilt. If it comes to that, I'll drop the transmission, buy the parts & he will come help me rebuild it. He can probably get me the parts at a discount so I can probably do it for less than the $400 it would cost if I bought the parts myself.
Fortunately there isn't a rush on it now since we got my wife a 2011 Lexus so she didn't have to commute in the Yukon XL. It's now our spare vehicle, so the rebuild may happen regardless since there isn't a rush.

 

You've got quite a friend there!


I would treat him, his wife/S.O. out on the town for that. In the "real" world, that would be an easy $2k job. . .




P.J.


P.S. where are you, and what's your friends name...

 

LOL! Unfortunately we are a long way from you here in TX.