2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer: engine overheating

Filed Apr 25, 2011 · Lights · 115,000 miles · CT · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 chevrolet trailblazer. The contact stated that the brake light overheated and caused the bulb socket to melt. The contact replaced the bake light socket assembly himself but the failure was not corrected and the brake light failed. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and they advised the contact to have the vehicle diagnosed by the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 115,000 and the current mileage was 125,000.

Filed Mar 11, 2011 · Electrical · AL

Bought 2002 chevrolet trailblazer which operated fine until 2 yrs ago. First, the speedometer goes nuts, the needle registers faster speeds than car is going. Some days it would work, some days it would not. Now it points past 120 MPH, directly downwards, stuck there and does not move at all. Sitting still in my driveway the speedometer shows its going over 120 MPH. The gas gauge goes nuts next. The needle goes past full and back around to the gas pump icon and stays there. The tachometer followed suit doing the same thing and indicating rpms past the 9000 range and doesn't settle back at zero with engine off. And now the temp gauge is showing 200 - 250 degrees when the engine is started. As far as I can tell the voltage and battery gauges are still showing normal readings - so far. Am I speeding, is my engine about to blow up, or am I going to run out of gas? I have no way of knowing if I am driving the speed limit or unknowingly speeding, no idea how much gas is in the tank, unaware that my engine is revving up into a dangerous range or about to blow up; or if my engine is dangerously overheating. I depend on the instrument cluster to alert me to those dangers. There should have been a recall on these failing instrument clusters a long time ago but although hundreds have complained gm says they won't fix this issue on the trailblazer. They don't care that we trailblazer owners must drive our vehicles without working instruments. This situation is dangerous.

Filed Mar 28, 2008 · Electrical, Engine · 82,000 miles · CA

The electrical gauges on our 2002 chevy trailblazer did not function properly when the fan clutch failed, leading to engine overheating. The overheated engine blew the head gasket before the engine itself blew up. My husband was had just backed out of the driveway and had driven about 200 yards when this happened. It is important to note that warning systems malfunctioned: there were no lights, bells or any indication that complete engine failure was imminent. There wasn't even the odor of an overheated engine. If this had happened on our local freeway I could be suing gm over my husband's injury or death.

Filed Dec 28, 2007 · Engine · 82,000 miles · CA

To gm service assistance, our 2002 chevy trailblazer is at connell chevrolet in costa mesa, ca having a new engine installed at a cost to us of approximately $7,000. The vehicle has 82,000 miles. We have been without the use of the vehicle since december 19 when it became inoperable going down our street. The only sign of trouble was a massive amount of steam coming out of the exhaust pipe. The heat sensor malfunctioned ($7000 malfunction). There were no warning lights, no bells, no alarms, no indications of any trouble...and then...nothing. My husband had the car towed that night to connell chevrolet. On december 27th we visited connell to get the full story. Apparently the head gasket blew again (see attachment 1), and since the heat sensor wasn't working properly, the engine overheated and blew (again, no sign of any trouble before this incident). Now we are without a car and have a $7,000 repair bill. No one I know has ever heard of two head gaskets going on a vehicle of this age and mileage. The first gasket went at 39,000 and the second at 82,000 miles....hmmmm. To us that indicates that there is a defect in this vehicle, and we want to know how you are going to assist us.

Filed Aug 9, 2004 · Engine · 46,850 miles · GA

While driving appox 50 MPH, got hung in traffic. All of the sudden my engine coolant hot warning lamp came on. I pulled off and had to call my father to come get me. He added a small amount of water to the system. The car drove fine for the next 10 miles. After driving again for about 30 miles, it began to over heat again. Pulled off and let it set for about 30 minutes, once again added a small amount of water. Drove fine for the next couple of days. My husband and brother flushed the cooling system and added dex-cool. Drove fine for a day or so when it began overheating again. Parked the car until the following weekend when my husband flushed the cooling system again. Ran fine again for a couple of days. All of the sudden it started overheating again when I noticed that it occured during "stop & go" traffic, but when moving, the car would cool back down. My husband then replaced the clutch fan. Worked fine for one day when it bagan overheating again. Took the car last week to a dealer where they checked the code and it was wrong, so they entered the correct code. Worked fine for one day when it started overheating again. Don't know what it wrong with this thing!!!

Filed Nov 24, 2003 · Engine · 22,000 miles · TN

The fan clutch was not operating properly which caused the vehicle to overheat. Please provide further details.