98 blazer, 4.3 4wd ~130k miles

I have a weird loss of power issue. I loose power on a warm engine going up a long (1 mile) hill. start out going 45 no problem. get about a third of the way up and it down shifts, revs real high, then starts to loose power and slow down. can keep going about 35. SES light comes on at this point (have not had a chance to get it checked). get about 3/4 the way up and everything goes fine. all power restored and can accelerate the rest of the way up the hill.

works fine on other hills since problem but this long hill has been problem 3 times. and has been running smoothly on normal travels.

recent fixes: new plugs, wires, rotor, cap, coil. working on figuring a P0300 code (random misfire) but think that was fixed.

any suggestions?

 

Sounds to me like the bands in your transmission are slipping.

 

Agreed; the mileage sounds just right for that, if experience with my '96 is any guide. It may be the only time in life when I purchased an extended warranty and had it pay off . . .

 

so what does that mean, how do you fix it? is it something you have to get the entire tranmission rebuilt?

 

Not necessarily; that it runs normally without the long strain of that particular hill means you may have caught it in time for some preventative maintenance. Mine went out quickly, so you have a different scenario.
Frankly, in my experience your biggest problem will be finding a shop that will attempt to repair it without rebuilding it. I understand the thinking, because transmission repair is extremely labor intensive, and were I a shop owner, I would be concerned about the possibility of an ineffective repair or other problems showing up later and the customer's quite reasonable expectation of warranty protection.
However, I have heard Aamco Transmission radio ads that specifically stated that many repairs they perform don't involve complete rebuilds.
I'd start Googling local shops looking for customer reviews, then call the most promising ones. In no other form of vehicle repair is the term "caveat emptor" more applicable than transmission repair, so do your homework thoroughly.