Have encountered a new problem....

Yesterday morning I started the Blazer to let it warm up before leaving for work, it ran for about 10 minutes, and as I was getting in, it just shut off. Radio was still on, heater still blowing but the engine was off. Got in and restarted it right up and it ran fine the rest of the day. Oddly enough, my erratic idle even seemed better after this happened.

This afternoon- started it up to warm before going out to run errands, ran fine (idle still seemed to be better) until I got about 5-6 blocks away from home (this time framewould be about the equivalent of the 10 minutes it ran yesterday) but then shut off while driving down the road at about 30 mph. Pulled over to the side, sat for a couple of minutes, started right up but then ran horribly as I went down the road (idle was messed up again, too) Felt like I was pulling a trailer or something, very sluggish response to accelerator. Ended up turning around and coming back home with it.

Only thing major I have done recently is replaced the battery a few weeks ago when we started getting sub-zero temps and old battery couldn't handle it. Have had no other issues with it during the winter.

It's still cold here, and no warm garage to work in, but what could I check on my own without having to take it somewhere? No check engine light, service light, etc....

 

With the erratic idle it could be your egr valve has some debri holding it open. also i have seen cracked distrubutor caps cause some of these issues if you have any snow or moisture in or around it.

 

EGR valve has a screen over it, and the distributor was completely replaced over the summer.

Should I be checking for an electrical problem? Just trying to figure out why it would just shut down like that, never done it before. The erratic idle has been a constant issue, nothing new. I really thinkthat problem isa vacuum leak that I just haven't been able to track down.

Gonna go out and check all of the battery connections and fluids. Will post if I find anything useful....