I've got a couple issues on my newly acquired 97 4.3L 4x4 Blazer. The first issue that is the real bother for me is it stalling out on me. The second issue is the fuel gauge bouncing in time with the turn signal. I feel as if there's a possibility they could be related but I'm not to sure.

The stalling out happens at low rpm when I'm either idling or stopping, its never happened over 15-20km/hr and is never consistent. More recently I've started to notice that sometimes when I start it up it will struggle to go or just stall out right after I let off the ignition. One thing that seemed to help was if I hold the rpm at around 1500 for a minute before I go and then it doesn't seem to have as big a problem. Also I should note that I've caught the fuel gauge shooting up past full right as it stalls which is why I thought it could be linked to the fuel gauge bouncing in time with the turn signals. When it stalls I can just put it into neutral and it starts right up again no problems at all and on the highway it runs like a dream (I've made two 800km trips in the past month and a bit with zero issues).

Had it in the shop after I got it as it needed a bit of work before I could take as it was a totaled off vehicle that my uncle picked up and got re-certified. I brought up both these issues when I took it into the shop and we tried to address both of these problems but never really got a solid conclusion to either. My mechanic figured he had it fixed and the bouncing gauge was just caused by the fuel sending unit going. I had it out running around that night and it did it again to me and when I took it back in the morning the only thing he could come up with the possibility of water in the tank and it was freezing at night or something so he told me to go pick up some gasoline antifreeze but since then I've been through about 6 tanks of gas and still have issues with it so I figure if it was water it would have been gone by now or something. Reason I haven't been back since is that i go to school 800km away and while I'm there i hardly drive as I live on campus so it doesn't bother me as much, but I have have it happen a couple times while I'm out there.

While troubleshooting we checked and cleaned the grounds, replaced the MAF, ended up having to rip out the aftermarket car starter/alarm (thought maybe the alarm was shutting it off or something) and we found out that it was wired in like garbage (we believed it was the cause of two melted wires in the multifunction switch and we noticed whoever installed it just cut a wire in there and left it for no reason). Also we hooked it up to the OBD sensor and it did it once while idling and showed no codes.

This is all I could remember right now and I'm sure I'm missing something ill post if I can remember. I have done some research and come up with a couple possibilities of what could be the problem. First idea was spider fuel injector and second the ignition switch. Any input could help as I'm all out of ideas at this point.

 

I am having the same exact problems in My 97 2door. In fact I got so fed up with the thing I dropped the thing off at the local Chevrolet dealer. They too found an alarm, whether its aftermarket or factory is beyond us because whats left of it isnt enough to identify the brand. As for the starting and rough idle, I noticed that recently my acceleration has been restricted and my Cat just started rattling- 99.9% sure thatll fix my Idle. As for the stalling and problems starting, mine turned out being just the battery being toast.


1997 Blazer 2dr
4.3 Automatic 4x4
2 Kenwood 10" Subs w/ 1200 Watt Amp
Soon: 2.5inch Flowmaster 40 series exhaust

 

The alarm in mine was the first thing gone, the guy I take my stuff to hates the things and says he rips out at least one to two garbage ones every week. I think i should probably say that the idle isn't always rough it just gets rough right before its about to stall or like right after I start it.

As for the battery I did forget to mention we tested the battery that was in it and it failed so he threw a battery that was sitting in a cavalier from the shop into the blazer so I wouldn't have to go get a new one. Maybe its just a placebo effect or something but it seemed to run better after the new battery was in and maybe the cavalier battery just ain't cutting it but its doing better than the other one? I really have no idea but I've got a 95 sonoma that I blew the engine on sitting out at my uncles farm and maybe ill run out there tomorrow and put it in the blazer. I was meaning to do that last time I was home anyways just never got around to it.

 

Small update, I noticed that when I switch they key to the running position from off there is a slight delay in everything coming up. I'm not sure if thats normal or not but I vaguely remember reading about someone who had a similar problem as mine and it ended up being a faulty ignition switch/module I can't really remember. Would something like that produce symptoms like I've got right now?

 

A faulty ignition switch can cause a multitude of issues with seemingly unrelated electrical components. 1997 is known to have "issues" with the ignition switch. If you haven't replaced it yet, it probably needs to be. If you have replaced it, probably needs it again AC Delco only, don't waste your time or money with aftermarket stuff. This link does a very good job explaining the switch, and its design flaws: https://blazerforum.com/forum/articl...-switch-33465/

 

Seems as if everything is leading towards that ignition switch, I noticed in that post he talked about the ABS light on and I just remembered that one of the first things I noticed was that the passlock system would trigger and the ABS light was left on once after it stalled.

 

Sounds like it's time to replace it. The IGNITION 1 circuit switches a substantial amount of amperage which creates a substantial spark when the switch is turned on and off. An easy way to increase the longevity of the switch, is decrease the load BEFORE turning the ignition switch on and off. Turning off all accessories will decrease the load, just gotta get in the habit.

 

Got my uncle to pick up the switch for me today and I'm going to head out to his shop in the morning and take my best shot at fixing it. Will post back with my results.

 

Be very careful when working around the lock cylinder. There's a little plastic clip that's quite fragile, you'll see it when you get in there.

 

Just got my Blazer back from the dealer. The guage bouncing came back as partially the multiswitch and the Guage cluster.