Anyone know how well these older Blazers have held up? Found one for sale, its got 200,000 + miles on the clock. I like the looks of the 2 door Blazers. Just looking for a 4x4 to pull the boat 12 miles to the river. And in case that few Inches of snow hits every few years. LOL
I think hes asking more then its worth. But it is clean, new tires and wheels. Nice looking older Blazer.

 

As for towing a boat 12 miles, should not be a problem. I tow a sailboat (boat + trailer = 2,200 lbs) with my 1999. I did burn out the transmission because I was a fool and used overdrive on drives across Washington state from North Idaho to go sailing on Puget Sound, north of Seattle. This includes a mountain pass. There is also a local hill that climbs 1,700 feet in 6 miles.

With a rebuilt transmission, an transmission cooler and the proper technique (i.e. never use overdrive when towing), I am confident I'll get 60,000 miles out of it.

These are capable little trucks. They do have their quirks. People say you will go through front end components (ball joins and idler arms) more than most vehicles. They will leak from the remote oil cooler lines, the replacing of which seems like a right-of-passage for any serious Blazer owner. There is also some annoying things like the vacuum lines that supply the vacuum for the front axle engagement and HVAC system will rot. Those are an easy fix though. The heater cores are really hard to replace. This can be a problem if either the original Dexcool coolant was run with too much air in the system or mixed with the traditional green coolant. A brown sludge would develop. (The newer formulations of the coolants apparently can be mixed.)

All the above things are repairs doable by someone with a small garage and a regular set of tools.

The one thing from which a Blazer cannot recover is if the lower intake manifold gaskets fail and dump coolant into the lifter valley. This will ruin the bearings in an instant. As soon as I learned of this, I replaced the gaskets. It was annoying with all the parts I had to get out of the way to get to them, but was very doable.

As for 200,000, if it was maintained well, it still could be fine, especially if a rust-free example. However, people will report buying Blazers of about that vintage with more like 150,000 miles. My motor and truck (except for the transmission) have 135,000.

Hope this helps. I'm sure others will be chiming in too.

Oh, and there are two types of transfer cases: the "3-Button" and "4-Button". The 4-button ones have an "Auto-4wd" selection that allows the transfer case to go in and out of engagement as necessary which I find nice when driving on roads where the plows haven't been able to scrape away all the snow and ice.

 

I also have a 2000 ZR2 that has over 220,000 miles on it, I agree with the person above with the normal problems. All of my running gear is original, i have recently put a new water pump and dist on it, I did put a new valve body in the trans to solve harsh shifting and torque converter not locking up. Fairly easy job. Get the ZZR2 and enjoy

 

 

Thanks guy, going to look it over today. Its a Southern Blazer, so no rust is showing. Paint looks good in the picture's. I have rebuilt engine's.
Put the engine in my 99 F-150 4x4 a few years ago. Never again on one of those. It burned a month ago. So searching for something to drive around home again.
Daily Driver is a 2005 Chevy Kodiak C5500, and 1995 Kenworth T600.

 

Just had spider injectors replaced at 256K. Went ahead and replaced lower intake gasket too. Gotta fix some familiar engine codes still but engine seems to be still hanging in there! Looking for the 4x4 reset sequence right now. Anyone?

 

i have a 97 jimmy 167,000 and a 99 trailblazer with 201,000 miles on them. also had a 96 blazer 2 door wich was very good truck as well worse thing i came across with mine besides whats been stated above is spider injection on the 99 and a a bad vacuum line that was torn in half under the transfer case on my 97. however i have towed a 16 foot flat bottom boat fully loaded with all my camping gear and fishing gear and never missed a lick. also pulled a 21 foot car hauler with a small shed on it with my 96 felt some strain but not as bad as i thought it would be. all in all well rounded and strong trucks. on a side note a few small things to look for in my experiance is the steel neck that the upper radiator hose connects to will catch a small pin hole leak and like stated above intake manifold gaskets , check out the cps (CRANK POSITION SENSOR) also remember if u do a tune up IF NEEDED go back with AC DELCO spark plugs Rotor bug and distributor cap. also wouldnt hurt while u r at it to double check timing.

 

This one sold before I could get there. OOOh well no issue, will find something else.
Pete