Four problems related to noises during shifting have been reported for the 2000 Chevrolet Blazer. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Began with loud undercarriage noise when shifting into second. Now truck will no longer shift into 2nd or reverse. Only 39,000 original miles on this one owner truck. Not an electrical or fluid problem.
While shifting the vehicle into drive/neutral or reverse a two to three second delay caused a hesitation in the transmission from shifting. Consumer noticed a clanking noise. Drove vehicle to the dealer for inspection, and mechanic informed consumer that the problem could not be duplicated.
6/12/03, 2000 Blazer 4x4 transmission suddenly lost ability to obtain all gears. After parking, the vehicle lost ability to shift into reverse as well. Noise transmitted from transmission contained metallic material grinding and moving within. At the time, the vehicle was still less than 3 years old with the majority of its use coming from work transportation. The chevy dealer would not quote without disassembling the transmission, which would be the majority of the labor involved in a full repair. They stated that they generally prefer to replace the transmission, $3200. A local transmission shop diagnosed the issue within 10 minutes. The owner has seen this issue on several occasions and literally described the symptoms as soon as I told him I had a Blazer with transmission issues. The complete rebuild, due to a sun-shell gear failure, cost $2097. 78. The technician stated that the non-robust joining of two cylinders (no fillet) as well as the thickness and material used allows the part to fail quite frequently. He had completed multiple jobs for this at his shop alone. In fact, an acquaintance of mine, had the identical situation happen with his Blazer the week of 10/26/03. At the time of the incident I had called the chevy customer service line with no help coming from them. This has been the pinnacle of several failures on this vehicle including both front wheel bearing assemblies (38,000mi and 55,000mi), a power seat that quit working, a power window that quit working, and several paint issues. Reference chevy technical service bulletin 010730038.
After purchasing this vehicle new for over $26, 000, we began having problems immediately. Fortunately, these repairs (including 4 wd failure 3 x) were covered by the manufacturer's warranty. However, when the truck was diagnosed w/ transmission problems at 34,000 miles, we began to worry. I contacted gm at that time and begged them to consider extending the warranty. While being extremely pleasant, the ultimate decision was "no". This was based on the recommendation of the service manager, greg. He stated that there was no reason to extend the warranty, as the problems had all been fixed. Unfortunately, they had not! the transmission failed at 55,000 miles while doing 55 mph, on an entrance ramp to a major highway. While trying to accelerate, the truck made a horrible noise and would no longer shift into 2nd or 3rd gear. After carefully driving it to a safe place, I discovered that reverse was out as well. I contacted greg at the dealership immediately, and was informed that the transmission is no longer covered. I then contacted gm, and again, while being extremely pleasant, they have not committed to replacing or even helping to replace the transmission. This is the 1st american car I have ever owned and will never buy another. It is my feeling that gm knows that there is a problem, but is unwilling to step up and take responsibility. Shouldn't a 4 wd vehicle have a transmission that lasts past 100,000! not to mention 4 wd that actually works! dt.