Hey folks!
Hoping someone here may be able to help me with my problems with the Blazer. We have had problems with the tranny shifting hard from 1st to 2nd on long trips, but never on the short trips. We were on the interstate about 25 miles from home yesterday while going with the cruise control set around
70... I noticed the tach revving to 3-4k with a loss of power. Right before this... I noticed the back window looked dirty like there was a film of oil on it. After I noticed I was losing power I pulled to the side of the road. Opened the hood and some (not much at all) steam seemed to be coming from somewhere on the passenger side which cleared up right away. Overflow tank for coolant was empty. Smelled of burning fluid. Back window seemed to have more film on it than when I first noticed it. Checked under vehicle and notice from about the 2nd or 3rd transmission pan bolt (from rear) all towards the back of the vehicle fluid was dripping. Checked transmission fluid and dipstick was dry. Oil was fine. Drove the mile or so that was left to get into town. Added 4 quarts Dexron III? ATF which made it slightly overfilled (3 quarts was still too low) and noticed no more leaking at this time. Noticed a small hose on the drivers side right behind the tranny pan that seemed kind of loose. Drove to GMC dealership which was another mile or so down the road. Talked to a guy there who said to leave it there and to buy some coolant when I get back and we can look at it after it had a chance to cool down. Thought it had overheated and vented out through the tube I was telling him about. When we got back form our shopping, one of the guys from the shop came out and I told him what happened and he brought out a gal of cool-dex and added it. Checked tranny fluid and it was still showing overfilled, but it was pretty dark. He said he thought we would be able to make it home ok but that we prob needed a new tranny. We brought it back home and took it to a shop for them to look at today. Guy from shop today checked it and doesn't think there is any problems with it. I told him we have had probs (hard shifting) in the past and there was a transmission code on the scanner (P1780 I think) which indicated transmission slippage. They drove it today and didn't see any problems of any kind but noted that it was overfull. I am thinking we need to replace the transmission now and get it over with since we will not be buying a new car anytime soon (unless I win the publishers clearing house sweepstakes). The guy at the shop thinks we should just drive it until we have problems again. I am just glad we didn't take the blazer to my folks at Christmas which is 120 miles away or so and would have been pretty cold compared to the 50 degree weather we had yesterday. Now I am rambling.... but can anyone offer some advice as to what we should do? I am planning on taking it to a tranny shop on Monday when they get back from their vacation and see what they say we should do. The other shop is telling us 1500-2000 to get it replaced which I am sure is prob about right, but I am thinking I should take it somewhere that specializes in transmissions instead of this other place that doesn't even think anything is wrong with it right now.Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me. I really value the opinions of many of you guys online here (Doc, TranSurgeon, Ian, etc..)
Dave