99 Blazer Automatic: Can't find 1st Gear!

Hey everyone,

I changed my transmission fluid yesterday. First time doing it on the blazer. The procedure went smoothly, no problems, no leaks, fluid level is good, no smells, etc...

But when I put the transmission in Drive, the tranny is in 3rd gear. I can still manually select 1st and 2nd and then slip it into D when I've gotten going, but why won't the tranny do it automatically?

Two Questions: 1)What did I do wrong? and 2) Am I damaging the tranny right now by driving it this way?

Thanks everyone! I hope y'all can help.

Okay, scratch that. After more experimenting....I don't have first gear at all. I can manually select 2nd. I can manually select 3rd. When I'm in Drive, the Blazer will shift between 3rd and 4th but not 2nd.

WTF is going on? :(

double check ur fluid level

I'm having trouble reading the dip stick. It looks like it's 3" above the hashmarks. When I changed the fluid, I added 11 pts...which is the capacity according to the Chilton's Manual.

Did I add too much? Was there fluid left in the system somewhere? How would this affect the truck's ability to find 1st gear?

Thanks for the help...Please keep it coming.

I have a 97 and had a similair problem. Under the transmission pan there are 2 shift silenoids. If you are not careful when remounting the pan you can knock off the protective cover (which of course I did). I went ahead and replaced them both and it runs great. If you send me an email ( [email protected] ) I can send you a diagram that shows where these are located on the tranny.

Ok. Here is why your tranny Isnt seeing first gear, and starts in 2nd. I had the same problem in my blazer as well. Inside the tranny pan, are solenoids. The 2 front ones are plastic, and I guarentee those are what you broke. Reason for this is that the cross member is right under the tranny, and very hard to put back on. If you even slightly bump the solenoids, they're done. They go for about $10-20/ea. Hope this helps out, and sorry I Just now seen your thread.