1999 blazer
4dr
4x4
automatic
105,000mi

had transmission rebuilt by national chain @ 70,000mi.

the shift from 1-2 gear has been "delayed" for about a month now. (sometimes hesitates and takes a second and remains in 1st before shifting to 2nd gear, typically uphill)

today i went into a store and then came back out. put the car in drive and put my foot on the gas, nothing happened. i looked down to see if i had the parking break on and it wasnt, then the car moved forward. i stopped and put it back in park, then put it back in drive - worked fine. drove home (about 2-4mi) and when i got up to 65mph on the expressway, the whole car shoot a little bit more than normal (like it wasnt balanced anymore, left/right studder in entire chassis) but the RPM wasnt higher than normal.

is my transmission dying? would it be more beneficial to get it fixed (yea, probably rebuilt) before it shreds again or just wait till it the blazer is completely immobile?

i know that there is a design flaw (as i researched it when the transmission died last time) and that the engine isnt matched well with the transmission and can cause it to fail prematurely.
i looked under the hood - but couldnt find if there was a transmission resevoir to test the fluid level.

thanks for the advice.

 

Your truck should definitely have a tranny fluid dipstick. When facing the truck, it's located to the right of the oil dipstick, toward the rear of the engine block.

Due to the age of my truck, I've decided that if the tranny dies, I'll just scrap it and put in a manual one. LOL

I'm a little surprised that you had tranny problems after so few miles. I'd also check to see what the warranty period was (if any) from the people that rebuilt it. It definitely shouldn't be messing up this soon. I'd be ticked off.

Good luck, and please post back to let us know what happened.

 

I think you mean to the left, on hte passengers side of the engine. It should have a flip lock type of lever on top. Check your fluid level with the engine running, parked on a flat level surface after driving for 20 minutes.

Sounds like your either low on tranny fluid, OR your torque converter may be on the way out.

 

Pardon the dissleksia.

 

oh it could still b e to the right of hte dip stick. depends on which side of the engine your dipstick is located. it just seemed confusing to say to the right. My disleskia interpretted taht to mean the right side of the engine, drivers side if you were facing it.

To make things less confusing i generally refer to engine side as if you were sitting in the drivers seat. Taht is how most people relate to strange things that go bump in the night when tehy explain or think of problems.

 

thanks for the replies

grabbed the paperwork from the blazer, the transmission was rebuilt 06/05 @ 75k and had a 2yr/24k warranty (so 3 years and 30,000k ago)

i found the trany stick - it was hidden back near the firewall

i hadnt run the car for the day (worried if it was the transmission that i would get stuck and had some time sensitive stuff due @ work)
but i checked the dip-stick, it has markers for "cold" and "hot", the reddish / purple translucent (like cough medicine) fluid was up well over the "hot" which was higher on the dip stick

another observation, when i accelerate, it seems that when i press the gas down, it doesnt have as much resistance as it used it. the rpm isnt over-revving more than normal
which didnt initially worry me that much, it was the was shaking more when i got up to 65mph on the expressway.

i dont know if this has anything to do with the transmission or torque converter. but the last 5000mi or so the idle has been a little bit more rough, not that the rpm's are fluxating more than +/-1 it just feels like its having a harder time doing it smoothly. it seems to reduce for a day or two when i get my oil changed. its worse when its in gear verses neutral or park.

thanks again

 

One thing worth asking... Did you check the transmission fluid level with the engine running and the truck positioned on a flat, level surface?

 

car was level / flat
engine was off (for 12-15 hours)

do i need to drive around or can i just have the car sit in idle for 20 minutes or so?
i dont want to get stuck if it does decide to die

 

The cold line is for a cold transmission and the hot line is for a transmission at operating temperature. The engine must be running to get an accurate reading on the transmission dip stick. No need to drive it around, just check the level based on whether the engine/trans is up to operating temp or not.

 

so i would have sufficient trans fluid if the car has been off for the day and there is more than "hot" fluid?

<poor diagram>
cap stick stick stick stick stick stick stick stick | hot | | cold | end of stick
^--- fluid level
<poor diagram>

could a shop figure-out whether its the transmission or the torque converter w/out ripping everything out? (and costing an arm and a leg)