Fixing Up A '98 Blazer

Puffie40 · November 7, 2008

Hey guys! First post!

I little bit of a introduction. I'm Chris. I'm 21 and I am sort of the "Mechanic" at my parent's farm in southeastern British Columbia.

Because me and my brother drive 75km to and from school, we need a winter vehicle for when the roads are really crappy. My parents recently filled those needs with a 1998 Chevy Blazer. It's a nice clean vehicle (175,000km), but it's not without it's problems, and that is why I am here.

This blazer is "Fully loaded" with a automatic tranny, a/c, power windows, mirrors and locks, and a 4.8L V6.

I have not yet begun any work on it yet, but here are the problems.

-The motor seems unresponsive. Maybe it's because I'm used to Toyotas (My main runabout is a '95 Corolla) and smaller engines, but dad's (Worn out) work truck and even our GM one ton with the 454 lets you know when you move the gas pedal a little bit. With this blazer, it feels like you need to move the gas a half inch or more to get any kind of acceleration.

-The interior lights will not turn off (Thank goodness for the dome override!)

-the power mirrors will move up and down, but not left-right.

-The rear hatch will not lock (WTF?) the power lock soloniod sounds like it works, but no dice.

-The rear wiper will not work. I can't get the arm to budge.

-One of the buttons on the stereo doesn't work, as well as the Right Rear speaker.

-There seems to be a howling noise from the rear when going downhill at highway speed. I'm going to check the diff. oil.

That's about it. I'm going to start some work on this sucker this weekend (Standard maintenence -new filters, change the engine oil...), but I would like your guy's help in giving me some leads on the above problems.

oh, and a little bit of customization: Is there a rear hatch spare tire rack availible for this generation of blazers? Having the spare jammed under the back is okay in the city, but this guy is going to do a little bit of bush-cruising.

95Sierra2500 · November 7, 2008

I wasn't aware of GM having a 4.8 V6. I think you're thinking of the 4.3, which is a stout engine. It's not the fastest, but it'll move with some breathing mods and will do whatever you ask it to do, along with pulling down 20 mpg highway.

As for your other issues:

1. Sounds like one of the door switches is bad. You'll have to check each one to figure out which one though.

2. Probably a bad switch. Usually caused by it getting wet. Check your hinge pins on the driver's door, they may also be bad, allowing water to leak in.

3 & 4. These may be related. Check the wiring in the rear tailgate - something may be severed and keeping it from working. This is easier with the tailgate open, but it sounds like you may not be able to do that right now.

5. This happens from time to time, GM wiring isn't always the best. Check the speaker and replace if necessary, but I'm banking on the problem being in the radio.

6. Definately something going on in the rear diff, but it could just be normal wear. I would suggest changing the fluid in it before tearing it down too much.

You could probably hit up a junkyard and look around for a 2-door Blazer that still has the rear tire carrier assembly on it. You'll have to do some drilling and maybe some reinforcing around the tail light to support the weight, but I'm sure it'll fit. I don't know if there's something made by a vendor though.

Oh, and welcome to the site.

Puffie40 · November 7, 2008

Thanks for the welcome!

The displacement was recalled from memory, so I'm probably wrong.

One other thing I just remembered: The blazer likes to "Drift" to the right if you let go of the steering wheel. This could be a alignment issue, but the previous ower told us he suspected a tie rod was going out (I really think though this is just a general diagnosis). what would be a sign of a worn out tie rod? Sluggish steering?

Puffie40 · November 9, 2008

My findings so far...

The interior lights: The rear hatch swtich appears to be the culprit. I gave it a tug (to disconnect and test it) and somthing must have popped back in place: The interior lights now turn off when it is pressed.

The locking problem: The latch seems to have moved out of place. the upper hatch was not actually overcentering the lock. I moved it as close as possible to the rear and that seemed to have fixed it.

The rear wiper: This still has me scratching my head. I have not done any continuity tests (I can't find a ohmmeter right now) But the motor looks clean and everything was connected, and there is no wiring faults I can see...

I have yet to see what's wrong with the power mirrors.

I do notice the driver's side front wheel is visibly tilting inward. There is definately somthing wrong there...

dietz4ibanez · November 9, 2008

Welcome to the site!!! Its good to see someone is willing to tackle mechanical needs like that for you family!!! You will find a lot of answers to your questions on this site!

2000DV4.8 · November 10, 2008

The wheel tilting sounds like you've got a ball joint that's toast. To check for that, jack up the front of the truck, and grab the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock. Wiggle back and forth, and if there's any play between the knuckle and either control arm, you've got a bad BJ (hah).

As far as checking tie rods, jack up the front of the truck and put it on stands like before, and grab the tire at 9 and 3 o'clock. Wiggle back and forth, and if the tie rod doesn't move and the wheel does, either your inner or outer tie rod ends are shot.

By the way, welcome to the site.

offroadkarter · November 10, 2008

welcome to the forum

Make sure you keep an eye on the front wheel bearings, the one on my mom's old 98 jimmy went out every 30k miles.

Good luck!

Puffie40 · November 12, 2008

Update:

I think the rear wiper would not work because it was unplugged (Whuh?) but I think the reason it was unplugged was it acts really weird. when the switch is on, it wiggles on it's little brace, then when the switch is off, it breaks free and does it's job. Some reflexes and timing with the switch (In other words: Rapidly turning it on and off) inturrupts the cycle enough to turn off the wiper. I wonder if the little control box that is with the motor is fried?

I ordered a new power mirror switch. I have a feeling that should do it.

the front: Me and Dad took a look at the front end today. both upper ball joints have play in them; the wheel that is leaning having the most. Still, the play on that wheel does not fully explain the lean, but maybe a wheel alignment will fix that. What we did notice was there seemed to be a bit of in/out flexing in the steering linkage, though there seemed to be no unusual movment in those ball joints.

Puffie40 · January 7, 2009

Ooooohkay! I'm gonna get my hands real dirty this weekend. The front end is worn out and I intend to fix it!

I replaced the balljoints and the upper control arm bushings. but now I noticed a few more things that need replacing

Brakes pads are gone (Simple enough. after doing the ones on the 3500, I LOVE front mount bake discs!)

I need to replace one of the front driveshafts after finding out one of the boot bands was gone and it ran who-knows-how-long wide open to the world.

I'll replace the idler arm in the steering system, and I'll see if that takes some slack out of the steering system.

Can I have some input about that rear wiper? I think the pulse board has somthing to do with it, but what I thought was the pulse board mounted on the rear motor is really a relay (And I doubt that would cause my problems). Is the rear pulse board integrated with the front wipers or somthing?