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I have a 2002 Blazer with about 102k on it. It has the 4.3L engine, 4-door, 4X4. I am having an issue with reverse gear not engaging and it has a delayed shift coming out of 1st into second gear. I also notice that the 4-wheel drive is not fully disengaging causing the front wheels to be engaged and I’m getting a whining and clicking noise coming from the transfer case from the side that the rear drive shaft is attached. When in Park, Reverse or Natural the transfer case makings this strange noise that sounds like a shaft spinning inside the transfer case and sort of sounds like a spinning washing machine adulator. When you switch from 2-hi to 4-hi on the push button four wheel drive switch you can hear the encoder motor move but the 4-hi light dosen’t always light up. I also drained out from the “FILLER” plug on the transfer case over a quart of transmission fluid. It was way over filled! Not even sure how someone could get that much fluid in it from the top filler plug. After draining the excess fluid out, two days later these issues starting happening. To sum up.. I have no reverse, there is a strange noise coming from the transfer case, not fully disengaging from 4-wheel drive even though the dash says it’s in 2-hi and I have no transmission codes in the computer. All other gears including Overdrive to function. Just no reverse and delayed shift into second. Possibly because of the tourquing of the 4-wheel drive no disengaging causing strain on the first shift. The fluid in the transmission looks fine and is at the correct level.
Is it possible it’s just a bad transfer case or do I have a transmission problem? Thanks for any insight!!
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Well the transmission in the Blazer is fixed. Just like the link “college man” replied with, it was the Sun Gear that had failed. The one from GM is made from softer steel and has a tendency of stripping the teeth off. The revised Sun Gear is made of a harden steel to correct this very common issue. It causes the loss off reverse. The delayed shift into second from a pull out I believe was related but, the transmission shop that did the rebuild was very vague. They mentioned that the second and fourth gear was also gone but, didn’t get into details on if this was all related to the Sun Gear or drive pack or a clutch issues. All I know is it’s fixed and shifts better than it ever did. The power gain is awesome, drives like a new truck.
As for the transfer case not fully disengaging completely from 4-wheel drive and the noises it was making along with the over filled fluid, they claimed it needed the vacuum actuator and a vacuum switch on top of the transfer case. Originally they thought it needed a rebuild too because of how the transmission fluid was so over filled in the transfer case possibly caused from a bad seal inside the transfer case allowing the transmission to leak it’s fluid into the transfer case. I am assuming that wasn’t the case because the 4-wheel drive is working fine now and they never mentioned anything further about the seal nor having to rebuild the transfer case. I still need to ask them if the changed the fluid in the transfer case.
The only snag we ran into is that the reverse lights now are not working. I assume a faulty natural start switch but, I am going to request they look at it since we just paid them all this money. They had it ready in one business day. Picked it up the next day after we dropped it off. The rebuild, 4-wheel drive actuator and the vacuum switch came to $2,278. I feel Money well spent to not have to deal with it myself. Also worth it because this Blazer was a Florida truck for a long period of time and has no rust. Even the frame, fuel lines and brakes lines look new. In addition I would not recommend getting a used transmission unless you know it has already been rebuild with the revised Sun Gear made of harden steel. Thanks “College Guy” for the reply, you where dead on.
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