1996 4dr small build
 

Hello everyone, I recently bought a 4dr blazer. As the title says, it's a 1996. I've been reading around on forums for a few weeks now, and finally decided it's time to sign up! The reason being, I need some help, and love seeing what people do to their rides.

To start, here's some background to the truck:
It's a 4dr, 4x4, absolutely no rust, the frame is immaculate, as in, nicer than my father's 2009 bmw. I traded my p.o.s. civic for it, and the previous owner was a mechanic. It has about 185k on the original 4.3 vortec. The interior is in really good condition, save for the driver seat, but I'll have a cover on that soon, lol. It's the LT model, nice dark tinted windows, power everything, I love it.

When I got it, the CEL was on, and the cat was cut out. Well, as with any Craigslist deal, there was more wrong that I've found now. As of now, my list is this:

Cylinder 1 misfire
Catalytic converter is cut out
o2 sensor is tripping CEL
trans fluid leak / needs flushed
coolant needs flushed
brake fluid needs flushed
4x4 won't engage

The cylinder misfire, I'm pretty sure is just being caused by a faulty plug. Lucky for me, it's on cylinder 1 which is the absolute easiest plug to get to on the 4.3's. Lol. The cat is causing terrible back pressure problems, and it's slow to accelerate, but I'm just putting a cheap magnaflow cat on for dirt cheap. The 02 sensor, I'm not worrying about, lol. As for the fluids, the brakes I'm doing asap, and the coolant was AWFUL. I just changed that yesterday, and it took me almost 2 hours to pull the drain plug. That thing was a pain in the a$$ to get out with the frame directly under it. The trans leak, I think I found from the trans pan, and lucky me, 4 bolts all on the front end of the pan needed tightened badly, and i'm pretty sure that stopped the leak.

lastly, there's the 4x4. It refuses to engage, and I'm not sure at all how to tell what it's coming from. I've never owned a 4x4, just little civic's and such. From what I've read, I think I've got a vacuum system that could be causing the problem? That thing that confuses me is that I can't "hear" any gears locking or anything, but then again I don't know what to look for. Before snow starts falling in Ohio, I plan to have that fixed, and have a posi lock installed on it. I just read about how I can use a cable to more or less override that vacuum system? seems pretty efficient and pretty cheap, plus I never wanted a push button 4x4. Lol I found out the 4x4 stopped working by getting it stuck in my front yard after a rain storm :icon_doh:


My intentions for this beautiful beast, is to use it as a DD For now, and slowly make it an off road savy vehicle. It still will be my dd, so I only want to lift it 2 or so inches, and put 31's on it, but I want a nice safari rack, and lights on it, brush guard, etc. It's already got all skid plates under it!

Well anywho, pics are to come asap, and if anyone has suggestions, or comments, I love to hear it all. Also, I'm huge about adding my own touch to interior and stuff, so if you have suggestions for that too, I'd love it.

Thanks all!

Update:

Between today, and yesterday, I've done about 12 hours of work on the Blazer. I changed the front pads, the back drums, and all the brake fluid this afternoon. The brakes feel amazing now. Also, changed the spark plug on cylinder 1 trying to fix the misfire, UGH. Didn't work. NOW, time to change the wire on it, which lucky me, is way out of the way and tucked under everything. Lol.

Also, was messing around with the Tcase, and got 4x4 LOW to engage. Now for my question, because 4x4 High doesn't engage. Here's what's going on. THe light turns on like it should, but when I press it, I don't feel, or here the front engage. What I'm thinking is that I think I remember seeing 1 actuator engages both High and Low, 1 fuse for all 4wd, and a seperate vacuum system for High and Low.

It could more or less only be the vacuum system right? Lol

I'll be going through that tomorrow morning, prior to getting ready for the festivities :icon_razz:

Also, my co captn's father is really concerned about me driving in balding (25%) tires, so he said he's giving me a nice loan to get the 30" wranglers, and cragar soft 8s I've been eyeballing! Lol

Oh yeah! Also put the interior back together completely, because most of it was in shambles in the hatch, Lol. And, got tow straps, a hitch (the reciever is already there), and my toolbox all assembled in the hatch.

And lastly, I drafted designs for my homemade safari rack too, and should cost me under $30!

Tty all later, and Merry Christmas! :icon_santawaving:

never buy a mechanics rig, they r the worst on the road for the most part, unless hes a good/anal mechanic. and as far as ur 4wd, its a fuse or vacuum problem. theres an accuator under the battery that controls ur front diff locking into 4wd. with the auto 4wd ur front end is engauged via vacuum and the trans case too. does ur a/c work? cause if not then ur prob lies in the "t" fitting in the vac system on the firewall. i have a gen 1 s10 blazer that had a problem engauging into 4wd, the front end would lock in but the trans case wouldnt. found a broken "t" on the firewall that ties the vac systme together which also fixed my a/c. lol the auto 4wd is **** because its ran off vacuum. my uncle runs those cables ur talking about for his 4wd on his dodge and he thinks theyre pretty slick. manual is always the way to go if u can help it.

The ac works, I think, but I can't quite tell because the only time I turn it on it's blowing cold air from outside, lol. I'll definitely check into the actuator under the battery though, thanks for the advice.

and yeah, I hate everything power. I bought the "LT" model, and hate it, If it were up to me, I'd have manual seats, manual locks, manual windows, etc. The only thing I wish I had was heated seats =) I'm definitely doing the cable rig though, when I get the money and time, but since I narrowed the problem down to something that seems cheap, I'll go with electric till later.

Lastly, every used car in the fam was mechanic owned, and we've had no probs until sorta this one (sorta, because it's still running well imo)

As promised:

Just got word, I need new upper/lower ball joints. I'll be replacing those this week (parts cost 112, NTB wants NINE HUNDRED), and pics will follow, perhaps a DIY if anyone is interested?

Id appreciate DIY pics if your gonna do it. I might need to do them in the near future

gladly, I'll be doing them Friday I believe, so you can expect them Saturday!

Good news! I finished the ball joints yesterday. They were kind of a pain, but only because the bolts were all rusty and hard to get off. Overall a pretttttty easy job. Better yet, I saved almost 800 dollars by spending only 56 dollars on parts =)

I did forget to make a DiY, bc I forgot my camera...... but I can still make a write up / answer absolutely any questions you have!

feel free to PM me. Hope everyone has a great new years!

Finally. Got money. I'll be fixing everything else on my small list I had =) as well as small clean ups such as maf sensor and egr valve etc. I also just took all the chrome off, and bedlinered the rockers, I think it looks pretty solid, also useful. I like the blacked out, and when I upgrade tires, I'm sure I'll be kicking crap on the rockers all day.

That's the small update =)