Wife potentially screwed up the transmission

Vehicle: 1997 Blazer w/ 4.3l V6 AT.
I just got off the phone with my wife. She was out driving our son to pre-school. She said she needed to stop, hit the brakes. The Anti-Lock rattle came on, the engine died, and she couldn't slow down. (Too weak?!?). She did what came to her mind first: She put the transmission in park, going about 15 mph.
What's my outlook here, guys? Am I looking at serious transmission damage, or should it be "alright"?


BTW, the engine dying like that is another issue. It keeps doing this occasionally, started a couple of months ago. It'll die, but start right back up. Or it dies, and comes right back on automatically (If you are driving)
The rest of the car has electricity while that happens, just the engine goes out. No "Check engine" light.

Ideas?

Thanks.

One semi-educated guess... the transmission and rear end probably have a pretty good chance of surviving such an incident, especially if the road surface wasn't particularly grippy (maybe not if the ABS came on). If it was my truck, I'd probably drop the pan and look around to make sure there weren't any metal chunks lying around, but I'm kind of anal about that sort of thing.

May not hurt it once but I wouldn't do that again. Sounds to me like the 97 Blazer Ignition switch problem to me. Do a search in this forum and you will find plenty of information. Good Luck

I would check out the stalling issue first. I would guess all is well with the tranny and rearend. I had a crazy blond reach over and slap my 65 chevelle into park at 60 mph. One heck of a sudden skidding stop, but luckly no damage. Still driving that car today 24 years after that happened.

Engine dying will cut the vacuum assist from the brakes.

I would take this to a mechanic instead of gambling in your driveway.

This is your kids and wife we are talking about here.

Engine dying will cut the vacuum assist from the brakes.

I would take this to a mechanic instead of gambling in your driveway.

This is your kids and wife we are talking about here.

are you looking to replace the wife? or tranny? :) j/k
I once dated a girl that did the same thing. There was damage to the transmission. Best way to check is either dropping the pan, or like BlazerLT said, bring it and have it looked at.

Engine dying will cut the vacuum assist from the brakes.

I would take this to a mechanic instead of gambling in your driveway.

This is your kids and wife we are talking about here.


I realize that.
I have worked on this vehicle a'plenty since I bought it. Brake booster, fuel pump, column switch, electric issues, wiper module, transmission, leaky heater core, etcetera etcetera etcetera ad nauseum.
Worst car I have ever owed money on.
(I am not saying Blazer's are bad per say...just mine)

I am fairly confident I can fix whatever the problem might be. I just hate having to troubleshoot such extremely intermittent problems.

Bury your ego and take it to a shop to look at it.

You are NOT a mechanic and all you are going to lose if some bad happens is your WHOLE FAMILY.

Honestly, stop the bullshit and take it to a shop.

I realize that.
I have worked on this vehicle a'plenty since I bought it. Brake booster, fuel pump, column switch, electric issues, wiper module, transmission, leaky heater core, etcetera etcetera etcetera ad nauseum.
Worst car I have ever owed money on.
(I am not saying Blazer's are bad per say...just mine)

I am fairly confident I can fix whatever the problem might be. I just hate having to troubleshoot such extremely intermittent problems.

Sounds to me like you have a bad Ignition switch module/harness. Mine did the same exact thing before completely failing, engine would quit at any given moment - no lights on the dash - no power to the gauges.

The only way to find out if you have transmission problems is try driving it. I don't know about these particular trannies, but previous experiences from the late 60s to mid 80 GM auto trans have shown them to be quite hardy and capable of these types of abuses.

Good luck
Mike

Bury your ego and take it to a shop to look at it.

You are NOT a mechanic and all you are going to lose if some bad happens is your WHOLE FAMILY.

Honestly, stop the bullshit and take it to a shop.


I appreciate your advice - I really do - but I come here because I fix cars myself, not because I bring em to the shop.

I took my car in to a shop when I had the fuel pump problem, and those guys didn't have a clue as to what was going on.
I have had very similar experiences with a couple of Boat repair shops.

In each and every case, I myself diagnosed & fixed the problems myself, and in a more timely manner than a shop.
This resulted in a large lack of confidence in "shops". Hence I have absolutely no interest in employing one to fix my problem.

That being said, if I cannot fix the problem, I will reconsider. (I doubt that, though)

As for the wife....she is grounded from the car until it is fixed.

But realistically, what is the worst that could happen jamming into park...you'd break the park pawl and it would not grip a gear right...so you'd probably have a few chunks of metal in the pan / filter as the pawl grabbed ahold of the gear...but I'd say if you can still park it and it grips you may be lucky....on the tranny ....

Far as the truck dyin,, who knows.....inertial moving a wire that shorts to motor...to an ignition switch ...to 100 other things....but if it routinely happens I'd take it in....

Better safe than sorry

Mmhhh...after searching the board for a little bit, I find my symptoms are very much pointing to a faulty ignition switch. Random shutdowns/stalls, often the ignition needs to sit for 2 or 3 seconds before it starts...

Great. I got a starting point. Thanks Guys.

As far as the trany if the park pin is not busted it should be ok. And as per the wife its a good thing she was thinking and put it in park instead of running over or hurting someone. My hats off to her!!

As far as the trany if the park pin is not busted it should be ok. And as per the wife its a good thing she was thinking and put it in park instead of running over or hurting someone. My hats off to her!!


Well, I do agree there. Personally, I'd have used the parking brake, or just stomped on the regular brakes. They do work without the vacuum, just a bit harder.

Anyways, she said when she put it in park, the wheels locked up solid and stayed that way until she put it back in drive. Good thing I guess.

Take it to a mechanic.

Stop messing around.

Take it to a mechanic.

Stop messing around.

Dude he is not going to do that...remember mechanics are evil! :evillol:
Thats why I am a Technician :iceslolan

The intermittant stalling concern could be caused by a switch, but I would recommend doing some diagnostics first before I replaced any part.
I would be looking at power circuits from the switch to vital componants such as the PCM,ICM or fuel pump. A metewr with a glitch or min/max function works great for these type of concerns.
I would also be checking for broken wires (inside the insulation) that can cause an intermittant open in a circuit.
I would check to see if the parking pawl locks in a couple times..if so, there is probally nothing to worry about inside the trans..just explain to her that the service brakes will work or use the parking brake next time.

No codes. I thought I'd made that clear.

Blazer LT, through searching the board I found that in hardly any other case of the Ignition Switch going bad (And associated problems, like stalling) you gave the advice of taking it to a shop.

What gives?


To make myself clear one more time: I will NOT take it to a shop unless I absolutely cannot fix it myself.

No codes. I thought I'd made that clear.

Blazer LT, through searching the board I found that in hardly any other case of the Ignition Switch going bad (And associated problems, like stalling) you gave the advice of taking it to a shop.

What gives?


To make myself clear one more time: I will NOT take it to a shop unless I absolutely cannot fix it myself.


No need to get all pissy, Blazer gave some good sound advice, if you don't like it fine..no reason do start a fight.
Blazer is a wealth of good solid info here, that is one of the reasons he was made a mod.

Now I hope your first comment wasn't directed at me.
I gave you some good solid diagnostic advice..now your stalling problem has been going on for months..is that how long you have been trying to fix it?

No codes. I thought I'd made that clear.

Blazer LT, through searching the board I found that in hardly any other case of the Ignition Switch going bad (And associated problems, like stalling) you gave the advice of taking it to a shop.

What gives?


To make myself clear one more time: I will NOT take it to a shop unless I absolutely cannot fix it myself.

The engine stalling is not the major concern I am talking about.

I am talking about the brakes failing. If the engine stalls, the brakes will get hard, but they will still be operational even without the vacuum assist.

Seeing the brakes failed completely in your situation, I am directing you to go to a mechanic to have your ABS system checked out seeing back yard mechanics should not mess with this system in any way without the proper training and experience.

If and when I have a braking system problem, you bet I will be taking it to a shop to have it checked instead of gambling on whether I fixed it right or not.

You family is something you should NEVER gamble with. Not taking the proper precautions is esentially rolling the dice everytime your wife and kids are on the road in that truck.

I am only looking out for your families well being. Not taking the advice is because of ego.

Fair enough...thanks for your concern. Maybe I wasn't all that clear to begin with...the brakes did not fail completely.
My wife doesn't have the strength, it seems, to use the brakes without vacuum assist, or she didn't think about that quick enough.

Regardless, it is a concern, I admit.

I took apart & cleaned the ignition switch, and so far I have not had the stalling problem occur. I'll drive it to work all next week and see what happens.

congrats on the ignition switch. Hopefully it solves your problem. Just a suggestion, if the switch seemed to be the problem then I would replace it. I cleaned mine in 2003 when i had the same problem you did. In less then a year it went bad again, this time causing what seemed to be tranny problems. I replaced the switch this time and so far no problems
Best of luck

If the problem comes back, you know what to fix.

yeah thats what i did, but luckily i was home when it went. It acted up for a few weeks so if you start experiencing the signs fix it before your stranded

I would have replaced it had I been able to find one locally on short notice. I thought I did (per store's website) but they didn't end up having it in stock after all.

So, I resorted to cleaning it. But dangit, what a pain to put it back together.

No stalls, and it starts right up, every time. Thanks folks.

Take it to a mechanic.

Stop messing around.

First off, I don't see why the man can't just diagnose his own problem. There are many of us out there who either don't trust shops or can't afford one and doing the repair ourself is the best option. Second of all, have you noticed the fuel level when it stalls? When my fuel gauge gets a little low and i press on the brakes nice and hard, the engine will stall.

First off, I don't see why the man can't just diagnose his own problem. There are many of us out there who either don't trust shops or can't afford one and doing the repair ourself is the best option. Second of all, have you noticed the fuel level when it stalls? When my fuel gauge gets a little low and i press on the brakes nice and hard, the engine will stall.

First off, when is everyone an ABS system certified technician.

First off, I don't see why the man can't just diagnose his own problem. There are many of us out there who either don't trust shops or can't afford one and doing the repair ourself is the best option. Second of all, have you noticed the fuel level when it stalls? When my fuel gauge gets a little low and i press on the brakes nice and hard, the engine will stall.

I had a Geo Metro in college that would do that... turns out there was about a quart of water in the fuel tank.

For what it's worth:

Congradulations to you h6294443 for doing your homework before just jumping in to fixing your problem (the stalling one). I'm like you when it comes to repairing my vehicle; the experience I have had taking it to a shop, I ended up fixing again later myself AND finding the actual reason for why the problem even occured anyway. However, I hope you know there are GOOD shops with GOOD TECHNICIANS rather than your typical mechanic in about 85% of shops. There are 2 GOOD TECHNICIANS (BlazerLT and GMMerlin) on this site that were only trying to TRUELY HELP you. I just think BlazerLT misunderstood what your wife said about the brakes during this incident. You and your family are blessed that the vehicle came to a stop without harm. You guys are also blessed to have guys like BlazerLT and GMMerlin who care enough about what is most important....your familys safety.

I think that BlazerLT and GMMerlin would be happy if you can understand that there are trustworthy shops out there (not enough) that employ only quality TECHNICIANS (not mechanics- world of a difference). And that if there were even the slightest brake issue during this incident, that the ONLY person who should even attempt to service an ABS system is an ABS certified tech. Might be hard to find one of these trustworthy shops (depending on where you live especially) but you and your family are well worth it. Hopefully there won't be another repeat incident for ya'll

Good to see you caught my point.

My family's life is worth more than any repair bill.