Hello!

We recently purchased a 1998 Blazer 4WD with the 4.3L and 126k on the clock. It seems to run decent, although fuel economy seems to be very low, tranny shifts good, and most of everything works. The problem we are having is that once in a while it will start, idle fine for about a second, then turn off. You can try and start it ten times after this and it will do the same thing. I found a TSB that seems to descriibe it (TSB #010856001A) along with the security light that comes on every once in a while when driving. Does anyone have the details on this TSB? Also I keep hearing about intake manifold leaks. Does this apply to my engine and is there a way to prevent it? Another question is how long do the timing chains last on these units? I remember with horror the blue oval cars that I had in my youth and the nylon gears on their timing chains. Also where does one get a shop manual? This will eventually be my oldest son's car and we are fixing it up.

Thanks for the help

 

I'm betting that you are seeing the start of an ignition switch failure. Possibly run a search and see if you get the answers you require. If not, post up here and we'll try to point you in the right direction!

 

Thanks for the response. After doing some searching it looks like it is a problem with the Passlock system, but I'm not sure where to start without the manual or a code reader.