OK, now that the fuel pump problem has been resolved successfully, I move on to the NEXT item of business...sighhhhhh! Looks like my rear wiper motor has STB. When I press the button for rear wipe, all I get is a loud stuttering sound with no movement of the wiper arm. Happened in the winter so I attributed it to the wiper being frozen to the glass but now it's not and the motor still stutters. Anybody have words of wisdom about this little beast and changing it out?

Also, if anybody was following my saga with the rubber connectors for the fuel tank (which I had cut to get them off and could not find replacements), believe it or not but Krazy Glue worked great to glue the cut back together again. I carefully placed the glue on one side of the cut then pressed and held the sides together for a minute. I then wrapped each rubber sleeve with a special self sticking stretchy roofing membrane (sort of like an ACE bandage for the rubber sleeves), then wrapped all that with a layer of EPDM rubber roofing. Greased the inside of the sleeves heavily and slid then back onto the tank and fill pipes (and vent pipe too) and secured them with new clamps. Worked out better than I had hoped for. Filled the tank, checked for leaks and gas odor...all is well. Time will tell if this is a permananet solution but I'm back in business for the time being. Hooyaa!

 

You might want to check and see if the wiper arm is slipping where it connects to the wiper motor. Might just be loose on the wiper splines.

Keep an eye on that fuel line repair, I don't wanna read about your Blazer in the news!

 

to get at the wiper motor, you have to open ur tail gate, the interior panel is held on with 3 screws one on each side, and one at the rear hatch latch. then it just pops off (its just those little plastic clippies and some metal ones too). once its off ther is a metal panel that is held on by like 500 fin screws around its parimiter take all those out and remove the panel, you might have to disconnect the rear hatch open/close sensor(i cant remeber) but it will be obveous if you have to. that will give you acces to the motor.

as for the gase lines, i hope they work i would keep a really close eye on it cuz i dont know if any of that stuff can hold gas or not, like i said in ur original post about it they have "fuel rated" rubber hose and most auto parts stores, its only like $6 maybe you should see if you can find some.

 

What year is it?

 

Just so it's clear to everybody, the rubber sleeve repair was done in a way that the the only thing that would come into contact with raw fuel is the original (now repaired) rubber sleeve. I marked the sleeve so that the cut side was away from the fuel when it is introduced into the tank (the cut side on the top so to speak), the "ACE" bandage (self stick stretch rubber roofing material) goes around the outside of the original rubber sleeve as an "insurance policy" against the sleeve separating (although the Krazy Glue really made an excellent repair. I really tried to open that seam up after if had set for an hour and there was no way it was letting go short of destroying the sleeve itself). The self stick stretch rubber material is impervious to gasoline as we use gasoline to clean rubber roofs areas before we use the stuff, works great. I'm not overly concerned about the "patch", but I'll check it every couple of weeks to make sure things are OK.

Last night I took the rear hatch apart (screws, spring clips, inner panel screws (12), etc) and got to the wiper motor. Upon close investigation, the gear box attached to the motor can be opened up. The motor obviously works since it chatters so something else is not working, makes sense. I opened up the gear box, the motor shaft drives a worm drive gear (plastic) that meshes with a gear wheel (plastic) that has an eccentric cam (metal) on the gear wheel that attaches to a metal arm that meshes with another metal gear arm that is attached to a long shaft that passes through the hatch door and terminates with the finely splined end of the shaft (where the wiper attaches to). As the eccentric cam turns around the gear wheel, the metal arm moves back and forth thus creating the wiper effect. Lot of action in a small space, pretty cool actually). My basic philosophy is that if something can be assembled, it should be able to be DIS-ASSEMBLED (in theory anyway). So fiddling with the thing eventually led me to the conclusion that if I put the wiper nut on the end of the wiper shaft and gently tapped the nut I could drive the wiper shaft (and its metal gears and arms back out through the metal housing (Oh, forgot to say that the wiper shaft was "rusted" in its sleeve and would not oscillate back and forth). At the end of the shaft (on the outside of the vehicle) there is a metal "washer" that was an incredibly tight fit (this washer holds the shaft from falling into the gear box) so you have to keep tapping on the end of the shaft to eventually drive the shaft past this holding washer. Once I got past the washer the shaft would not pass through its guide sleeve in the metal housing (remember, "rusted" in place, seized). I tapped it out with a phillips screwdriver acting as a long punch. I then cleaned the interior sleeve by reaming it with a long circular steel brush (3/8" diameter brush that is designed to clean out push rod holes) and I polished the wiper shaft with fine sandpaper, then lubed and reassembled the whole smash making sure the wiper shaft now moves freely in its sleeve. Tonight I put it all back togther in the vehicle and we'll see if it works. Fingers crossed.

 

Oh, sorry, I didn't answer the asked question. It's a '96 Blazer LS, 102K miles, bought used couple of years ago. It's a good vehicle, just needs the over 100K TLC treatment every now and then. It's being handed over to my son soon.

In response to Zygoat, I checked all available auto parts stores for fuel rated hose and NOBODY, not even the Chevy dealers had anything big enough. The ID of the rubber sleeve is 2 1/8". Closest I got was a 2' piece of 2" hose. I only need 3 5/8" piece. Not even a gas tank store had the rubber sleeves and the junk yards laughed cause they "always just cut the sleeves to get the tanks out".

 

alright well it sounds like it might be ok, just keep an eye on it over a long period of time to make sure it doesnt erode the glue or anything, but short of that sounds like you saved it. also good deal on the wiper, i am assuming that none of the plastic gears were stripped. i am supprized that they were ok but it sounds like that rust was your culprt, hope it works out for you post once you got it done and let us know.

good luck

 

I did a similar repair to my rear wiper motor. I worked well after I cleaned and greased it all up.
Unfortunately, it seized up again after a few months and fried the board. It worked fine all throughout winter probably becuse I was using it at least once a week. I guess after some time the seal goes bad and debris get stuck and solidifies seizing it all up. I was able to get a used one from a 2001 off ebay for $35 - cheaper than getting a replacement board!

 

The rear hatch wiper motor assembly has been FIXED successfully. I re-assembled everything yesterday after work and she's working as expected, nice and smooth, no chatter. SO, what have I learned (with advise to pass on to you fellow Blazer drivers), keep the wiper shaft lubricated to prevent a failure. Open up the rear hatch door, open up the gear box and squirt some WD-40 down around the shaft every year or so and you should be alright for the life of the vehicle. That's my 2 cents worth. Now on to the next item of business...the spare tire carrier, but that's a whole new thread. Thanks for your support and advice and tips. This forum is invaluable when it comes to constructive ideas and tips about taking care of our Blazers.

 

Don't use WD-40 as a permanent lube... It tends to dry out, get some silicone lube spray or some such...