(deleted.)

 

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I still have the Bravada.

I went to the parts yard and picked up a few parts: silver emblems to replace the ugly, gaudy gold ones, an HVAC control (mine is smoking, so I assume it needs to be replaced) and a wheel in really great shape...now I just need four more to replace my pitted gold ones.

Does anyone know why the HVAC unit is smoking, or how to replace it? Every post I’ve read about other people having the same problem has people commenting that it’s a bad heater core...it is not. It is electrical smoke, and it’s coming directly from the HVAC unit when I have it on VENT or HTR.

 

Yeah, I remember that Bravada. Pretty much the same as my 94 Blazer.

HVAC smoke...

...First thought - Fan.
That's actually the only electrical component and the fan will be on anytime any other than "OFF" is selected.
The fan always runs in the lowest setting, and most probably it would also pull smoke from it into the HVAC.

I would check on that first.

 

It's actually coming from the right side of the HVAC control, not through the vents. I'm thinking the HVAC controls just need to be replaced. I got a "new" set at the parts yard yesterday, but haven't been able to figure out how to install them.

 

Glad to see you're still rockin the Bravada. The smoke is a weird one. . . I just stumbled across this: https://easyautodiagnostics.com/gm/2...ntrol-switch-1

Maybe that will help you. Seems like there's a short in there somewhere. Electrical smoke is no fun. . . almost caught my Audi on fire when the seat wiring harness got a short.

 

I decided to replace the HVAC unit today. I was going to replace the entire unit, but then I realized that the switch for the direction of the air (Defrost, Htr, Vent, A/C, Off) was able to be removed from the module, so I just replaced that.


The old one (on the left) has a black spot on the copper behind the plastic, and a burned spot on the plastic. Not sure what happened, but it looks like I replaced the right part. It seemed to be working when I started it up after replacing the part, but I haven’t taken it for a drive yet.

I also waxed the car yesterday. It’s parked on the street, facing north most of the time, so the driver’s side gets hit with the afternoon sun, so the paint was looking pretty flat again. I put three coats of wax on the hood and portions above the body line. I put two coats on the parts below the body line.



Still to come:
Replace tie rod ends (again)
Replace wheels and tires
Replace steering box
Replace rag joint with u-joint
Replace rear leaf springs
Re-paint roof

 

Ahh, good it was an easy fix.

The color is going dull on mine as well. My 94 Blazer had no clearcoat on it. All the sides with repairs are shiny , except of the right rear door, right aft side and the roof.
Never done repairs there. Waxing helps.

 

I used Meguiars Ultimate Compound on the whole car almost two years ago, and it brought the shine back to the whole car. If I would have waxed it every couple of months, it probably would have been fine. I may have to use the compound again on the driver’s side, but I don’t want to do it too often, because I don’t know how much paint I have left to work with. Every time I wax it, I have a bit of paint coming off also.

 

I replaced the rear brakes on Saturday. The brake shoes looked brand new, but the wheel cylinders that were on there looked different than the new ones I bought. They didn’t look like they came out far enough. Even though everything still looked good, and was only a few years old, I went ahead and replaced it all (except the drums.) It took me a few attempts to get them all adjusted correctly, but it stops much better than it has since I bought it. I also replaced the front bleeder screws. It’s snowing today, so I’d like to drive it around in the snow this evening or tomorrow to get the ABS to activate a few times, and then bleed it again to see if I can improve the stopping ability.

Now, for the steering:
I’ve read enough about the vast majority of rebuilt steering gears to know that they’re not worth considering. Borgeson has a brand-new unit that says it’s supposed to replace all 800-series Saginaw gearboxes. Has anyone used one of their units before?

 

Nice. Maybe they were the wrong cylinders, or were sticking. . makes sense if there was little wear on the shoes. Either way it sounds like that alone should have improved your brakes. No need to replace the drums unless they were really worn. I need do the same thing to mine. . fluid is getting nasty and I've not touched the rear brakes since I bought it.

I can't speak to the new Steering boxes from Borgeson, but I can tell you the rebuilt box I got from Lares, off rockauto has been totally fine. It's been like a year and half and I've had no problems, other than my PS pump starting to whine, but the pump is the one thing I haven't replaced.

Also, I'm right with you on the paint as well. Had it all mirror shiny, and it's looking very chalky and flat again too. I even keep mine in the garage and it's still gotten bad again. . . Can't imagine sitting outside full time. You're inspiring me. . .might try to work on that this week.