Hi Folks: I just took a 300 mile trip to help a buddy with his truck. He's at
2700' in the hills of Virginia. He has an 87 Blazer that has shifting problems. He called me and told me it also hangs in 1st gear very long (after a filter and fluid change at a shop). The shop reportedly found, what they called, 'starter shims' in the tranny pan, and inches of sludge. For about 2 weeks after the change, the tranny seemed fine. Then it started doing this thing where it also wouldn't go in reverse "when it warmed up". It turned out that temperature wasn't the issue and this happened after a few minutes of running. Shut off the engine, just for a second, restart, and it goes in reverse. When I was up there, I drove it and found it wasn't going in second securely at all. It was slipping horribly (as if still in first). I pulled the pan and filter, again. I found lots of rather large shavings of metal in the pan. The fluid was grey and glistened with metal flakes. There was some sludge, again, also. The filter appeared to be hanging flat to the floor of the pan, and I suspect, with the sludge, was suction- cupped to the pan, restricting oil flow, which would explain why shutting if off fixed it for a moment. I put a new filter on, which hung higher, and new fluid. The reverse works reliably now, but second still doesn't. I figure the tranny is done. He wants to change the tranny now. My question, being in these steep hills, is there anything that can be done to make this thing shift hard and securely, and at a higher RPM, and leaving the lossy pansy-soft and comfy shifting to those flat- landers? Shift kits or anything? This is a 2.8l Thanks Harry- posted
13 years ago