Hi, We have a 95 4x4 that we are having problems with. Yesterday it died as I was driving... when it died, there was a "pop" from the back end. It would turn over but not fire for about 30 minutes and then it started right up and drove okay for the rest of the day. This morning, it was driving very poorly (hesitating, loss of power, etc) and the check engine light started flashing and acting like it was going to die again. I drove it home and about an hour later my husband got in it to check it out and it drove fine (check engine light wouldn't come back on).

We've recently fixed a lot on this blazer: new radiator, fuel pump, spark plugs, etc...

Any thoughts? My husband is thinking (hoping!!) it "just" the distributor cap.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Usually when the SES light flashes, it indicates a problem with one or more secondary ignition components: Spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap, distributor rotor and ignition coil.

The 4.3L engine is very fussy when it comes to spark plugs. AC Delco CR43TS is recommended, anything else, you're asking for problems.

The distributor has a 1/4" diameter vent screen in the bottom of the housing. It's there to keep the distributor ventillated. If the screen is restricted, condensation can form on the underside of the distributor cap. As a result, the spark will arc causing the engine to run poorly, and quite possibly cause a backfire, (the "Pop" sound you heard). GM adressed this issue and recommends removing the screen completely, and replacing the cap and rotor.

Another thing to check is fuel pressure and leakdown. There are threads that cover this on the forum, run a search and you'll find them. Hope this helps.

 

Check with a scanner and see what DTC shows up and go from there

 

Thank you for the posts!

I will clean the Distributor screen and inspect the cap and rotor for wear. It is not showing SES any more. I did notice an exhaust leak. I have read that this motor does not run well with an exhaust leak either.

The husband.

 

even though the SES light went off there should be a code stored in memory Most autoZones have a scanner to retrieve the code

 

Checking for codes may be somewhat problematic depending on which engine control system you have. If you have the OBD1 connector under the dash, you can use the paper clip trick. If you have the OBD2 connector under the dash and the PCM is on the passenger fender on top of the coolant overflow bottle, then any OBD2 scanner will work. If you have the OBD2 connector, but the PCM is not under the hood, rather under the dash, then you are going to have a difficult time getting it scanned. This last one is by far the most common.