Wife potentially screwed up the transmission

[h6294443]

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.

[Allbert]

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.

[molehole]

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

[troubles789]

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.

[BlazerLT]

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.

[JoshBarber]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

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.

[h6294443]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

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.

[BlazerLT]

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.

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by h6294443

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

[h6294443]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

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.

[TonyMazz]

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

[h6294443]

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.

[Fireplug]

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!!

[h6294443]

Originally Posted by Fireplug

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.

[BlazerLT]

Take it to a mechanic.

Stop messing around.