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Chevrolet TrailBlazer

Two unrelated vehicles wear this name and the codes do not transfer between them. The 2002-2009 car is a body-on-frame GMT360 SUV whose engine is the 4.2 Atlas straight-six — an unusual, generally durable design, but with a known weakness at the ignition and fuel-level end rather than the mechanical: the instrument cluster stepper motors fail and the fuel pump module reads erratically, both of which arrive looking like sensor faults. It also carries the GMT360's well-documented blower resistor and four-wheel-drive encoder-motor problems. The 2021-on TrailBlazer is a small front-drive crossover with three-cylinder turbo engines and a CVT, sharing nothing with it. Check the year before applying anything you read.

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Chevrolet TrailBlazer
HJUdall · CC0 (external)

Generations

  • First generation (GMT360) 2002–2009

    Body-on-frame SUV with the 4.2 Atlas straight-six; cluster stepper motors, fuel level sending and the four-wheel-drive encoder motor are the recurring faults.

    Body styles
    SUV
    Platform
    GM GMT360
    Engines
    • 4.2 straight-six — LL8 · petrol · 373–376 Nm (275–277 lb-ft) · LL8 Atlas
    • 5.3 V8 — LM4 · petrol · 441 Nm (325 lb-ft) · LM4 and LH6
    • 6.0 V8 — LS2 · petrol · 298 kW (400 hp) · 542 Nm (400 lb-ft) · LS2, SS only
    • 5.3 V8 — LH6 · petrol · 441 Nm (325 lb-ft)
    Transmissions
    4-speed 4L60E automatic · 4-speed 4L70E automatic
    Drivetrain
    Rear-wheel drive · Four-wheel drive
  • Second generation (VCDJ) 2021–present

    An unrelated front-drive crossover with three-cylinder turbo engines and a CVT — none of the GMT360's information applies.

    Body styles
    SUV
    Platform
    GM VSS-F
    Engines
    • 1.2 turbo three-cylinder — petrol · LIH
    • 1.3 turbo three-cylinder — petrol · L3T
    • 3.6 V6 — petrol · 177 kW (237 hp) · 329 Nm (243 lb-ft)
    Transmissions
    CVT · 9-speed automatic · 6-speed manual · 6-speed automatic
    Drivetrain
    Front-wheel drive · Four-wheel drive

Service information

Information, not instruction

CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.

Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.

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