Here I sit, all broken hearted...

[willn513]

As I sit in my stranded TB I have had much time to reflect on owning this vehicle. Most of my miles have been happy and trouble free. But man does this thing know when to pick the worst possible time to quit on me...

This morning on my way to work, I noticed tons of steam shooting out the back of my vehicle on the highway (think SPY HUNTER smoke screen). I pulled off to the shoulder to see what was up. As I tried to move over 3 lanes to get to the shoulder I realized that it felt like I was in neutral- uh oh no power. I coasted to a stop on the shoulder and found this:
View attachment 28049

Yep that's tranny fluid. I had this same problem some time ago, but this time it seems like the line blew way up in the middle of the vehicle somewhere. Not really a fix I can do on the side of the highway with no real tools besides a socket set and a multi-screwdriver.

So here I sit.
And wait.
For AAA.

This things only left me stranded a couple of times, but somehow it always knows to do it at the worst possible time.

View attachment 28050

 

[nopaybob]

That sucks! Hopefully its a cheap fix.

 

[AtlWrk]

That sucks! Hopefully its a cheap fix.

Fortunately, new coolant lines are pretty cheap (~$60 IIRC for all 4 pieces) and blowing them probably didn't damage the trans.
Unfortunately, they're a PITA to route in an assembled vehicle and they don't do you a whole lotta good on the side of the road. Real bummer

 

[STLtrailbSS]

that made my heart sink i feel you what sucks is the Fluid lines are no big deal

 

[Ryda55555]

I hope everything goes well and the fix isnt too costly
Good luck

 

[SEMIJim]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, willn513

My wife's 2003 TrailBlazer LS developed a much smaller leak in about the same place. Luckily, I noticed it when I went to reposition the vehicle slightly to take advangage of some shade when it was parked at a restaurant near home. It wasn't so bad she wasn't able to drive it to the repair shop the following Monday.

What happened to her TB was why, when a post-purchase inspection of my new-to-me 2007 TrailBlazer revealed "badly rusted transmission cooler lines," I had the dealer replace them as a preventative maintenance issue.

I suspect anybody in salty north who owns a TrailBlazer that's approaching the 100k mark should do the same. (Mine had 88k. IIRC, my wife's TB was in the 80-100k range when hers developed the leak.)

This is apparently a Known Problem with TrailBlazers (and some other vehicles). It would be nice if GM would've had enough consideration for their customers to spend the extra necessary to replace those with something less inclined to rust away like that.

I hope everything goes well and the fix isnt too costly

According to my wife's TB's mechanic: About $130 in parts and two hours labour on her 2003 TB. Dealer said 3-4 hours labour for my 2007 TB.

Jim