Okay! And Happy New Year, everyone.. 6 hours 7 minutes to go. Nice.

So. My baby of a 96 (only 147k!) will soon be seeing "regular use." So, some simple questions.. How can I keep it happy? (My truck is genderless. "It" is fine.)

1. Best motor oil? In the 90s, my parents used to use 10W-40. This is no longer the 90s, and the 4.3 engine is basically unchanged for a long time, minor differences, sure. I have an L35 right? Vin W?Anyways.. 5W-30 conventional? 0W-30 synthetic? Either one of those?

2. Best ATF to use? Is any old Dexron III fine? Start exchanging it now, for nice long trans life? 4L60-E? Siphon through trans dipstick method.

3. Proper power steering fluid? I want to exchange that, too. Turkey baster method.

4. Longest oil filter for the one under there?

5. No way to change the side post battery terminals? Are they a part of the cable?

6. Sanding the ground to bare metal.. Simple fix for the ABS light?

7. How do you keep your Gen2 purring? Any tips? Tricks? How often do you go full throttle etc?

This truck looks loved. Gotta get the license plate light mount figured out, I have a tow hitch now, great.. but I want to continue the love.

 

Regular.oil.changes and chassis lubrication is a big part of it.

If salt is used on your roads at least get the undercarriage washed or undercoated.

For the fuel pump I try never to let the gas get below 1/4 of a tank.

For the power steering, a turkey baster won't be enough. I disconnected the pump input and started the truck. You have to be quick to not let the pump go dry. I think the capacity was a couple quarts.

When my transmission was rebuilt synthetic fluid was used.

 

1) This is like arguing religion, lol. Personally, I use 5W-30 synthetic, but I've seen engines last over 400,000 miles on conventional oil, too. The most important thing, IMO, is to change it regularly.

2) I would probably use Dexron VI. It's the official replacement for Dexron III and it's backwards-compatible. Change it the right way the first time so you can replace the filter and install a drain plug. Then drain the pan and refill every 30k miles or so.

3) What Christine said. Use a good synthetic fluid and consider adding a return line filter.

4) I think it's a WIX 51036.

5) Replacement terminals exist, but they're junk. Replace the cables.

6) I don't have an answer for this one.

7) Just drive it normally. That's what it's made for. If you need full throttle, use full throttle. It's not going to hurt anything. In fact, it helps to prevent carbon buildup if you flog it pretty good now and then.

 

Quick followup on my part:

I would concur on the Wix filter recommendation.

As for the transmission, a simple draining of the fluid from the pan will only get a fraction of the fluid. I believe a proper flush while running is the only way to replace it all. A shop will have to do this for you.

 

I have heard stories of transmission flushing causing problems with older transmissions, though I have no firsthand knowledge of this ever happening. My suggestion of just draining the pan on a shorter interval (30k miles) is to "freshen up" the fluid in between "real" fluid and filter changes. My Blazer has a manual transmission, but I do this on my Ford Super-Duty (that gets flogged pretty hard) and the transmission still works like new with 120k miles on it. YMMV.

 

Yes, guys. Yourself and christine_h I thank you very much. Sorry, I am a little late to reply.

I was just able to take it for a nice little spin yesterday. It was cold out. On New Year's Day, I went and started it and let it run for about a half hour and all was good. Yesterday, I had to start it a little longer, a little more mist/smoke from tailpipe on first start and I had to run it a little bit "cold" but then it ran for like an hour or two. Nice highway and it feels good. I can't figure out why the engine appears to accelerate for like a second when I press the brake to disengage the cruise, but, other than that, it runs fine.

I exchanged out ONE quart of fluid; almost nothing. Is Dex6 really smart to use in place of DexIII? I thought it was "thinner fluid." ?

Let me see.. christine_h, the search for the lens for a 1996 still continues. You have some excellent suggestions. I may have found ONE at a yard.. I really hope it is the right one. I will soon see.

Let me see, some more questions...

8) What tire pressures do you keep yours at? (Front/rear) I believe I have the correct tire size. I have had 31" 31x1.5R15LT on my old truck before. The OEM tires (235??) seem to be only slightly smaller. They roll well.

9) I put some PEA-based fuel injector cleaner in there.. This tank has a large capacity? Does anyone know how large it is? I went to top it off the gas gauge I THOUGHT read 3/4 full.. it took $24 worth of gas. (10 gallons) so Not exactly sure.. Could be an inaccurate gauge, something about that seems a little off, had me wondering the capacity. (The truck runs fine, and if it s a "stuck float" I am betting it will clean itself up. My 94 had the digital dash, and it once ran out of fuel with three bars left on the gas gauge.)

10) Hmm.. How long do you let your truck "warm up?" Do you just start it up and drive it gently, or do you let it sit and idle to warm up?

11) How hot does your heat get? How cold does your AC get? R-134A on a 96, right?

 

8) If you're running the recommended tires (as listed on the door jamb), then you should run the recommended pressure listed there as well. I run 25psi on the road and 5-10psi off-road, but my tires are slightly larger than stock.

9) I want to say the tank is 19 gallons, but maybe somebody else knows for sure. I never let mine get anywhere near empty. Sounds like your gauge may be "off", which would most likely require a new fuel pump module to fix.

10) I pretty much start it and go. I don't live in a super cold climate, though. In any case, it warms up much faster if you just drive gently for the first few miles.

11) I have a slightly colder than stock thermostat (180 degrees), but my heat still gets uncomfortably warm. A/C gets nice and cold. Yes, R-134a.

 

I see you have a 2000. Your license plate lights would be easy to change out. Not easy, but, attainable lol.

I thought I would shed some insight on the auto trans and auto trans fluid. I have always had the experience, of.. When you exchange out, say, a quart or two each month (you can do more than that but) when you take a siphon pump, and suck it out through the dipstick/fill tube. You aren't getting all the fluid, of course not. But that is the idea.. Eventually, all of the fluid will be exchanged out. You would have to do so more than 5 times, of course, more like 10 if only doing two quarts each time, very easy to get once the car is at all warmed up, since warm/hot fluid flows easier than cold, that is just physics.. but when you put in the new, it is gradually mixing in. Yes, flushes CAN cause problems. Everyone says it can't but they do. By doing it gradually, you are gently exchanging fluid, and not flushing anything. My trans fluid did not look black like coffee, as I have seen on Buick cars and other GM transes, but it did smell somewhat and seems to have been oxidized. I'm thinking just old fluid. Most people would just "leave it in" .. with the time to mileage ratio on mine, (low miles on an earlier year, 23 years 147,000 miles) I think changing it slow and starting now is smart. Your thoughts?

I will look to see if the gauge "frees up" (stuck float? Remember, I had a Blazer run out of gas on me once with the gauge showing three bars.. which, on the digital, was about a quarter tank) and yeah I am trying to remember if it said a half tank of gas (which would make sense) or if it was indicating 3/4 (which I think it was) so.. Only about "four" trips in.. and sitting for months.. Really looking forward to regular use, to run all that months old gas out and really get it to regular use. Nice and peppy truck, not trying to beat it up but when it is warmed up, it is powerful. Everybody loves the 3/4 350.

Also looking forward to getting that light, as per other thread, but so far so good.

My truck has a tow hitch, too.

12) What's the most intense/vehicle had to work the hardest thing you've ever done with your truck, which it handled well, or just barely handled, or ?

13) What's the fastest you've ever went in your truck?

 

The dipstick pumps will somewhat remove fluid however any sludge/disk wear is still left in bottom of the pan. Drop the pan and do it right. Wipe the pan out and change the filter.
Inless the transmission has had the recomended service flushes thu out it's life the best thing I will advise is NOT to do total flush as the worn and glazed clutches need a little of the grit in the fluid so they don't slip. Drop the pan, change filter and replace only that amount of fluid. Esp if its a high mileage trans 100k and up miles.

 

8) Tire Pressure: I think the decal on the inside of the driver door lists 28 psi for front and back with stock tires.
9) The 4dr Blazers have 18 gallon tanks but the fuel gauges will register E when they still have a 3-4 gallons in them. It not a bad idea to never let the fuel level get too low so that the fuel pump is always submerged; cooled and less likely to pick up crud.
10) With fuel injected vehicles, you can turn it on and go although you should drive gently at first until the engine is at operating temperature so that everything is lubricated well.
11) From my 1999 Service Manual. I don't recall the numbers for the AC