Hi, I'm new here but I joined to soak up as much info from you blazer-heads as I can. I've got a 97' 4x4 rotting in my driveway. My father bought it for me 5 years ago for too much money and when I went away to college, the calipers started to go (according to him) and they started 'sticking'. Long story short, because of this he stopped driving it. I did my best in the summers to try and keep it running by running the motor for a few minutes every week and riding it up and down the street.

Eventually it gave out and stopped starting. I've long since left it for dead until I started talking to people with some mechanical knowledge who told me the fix is easy and it's definitely worth the investment. I'm now encouraged that, with a little help, I could get this thing running again. BUT (and no I'm not going to ask YOU guys to tell me what to do) I need your opinions because there's a lingering issue with the truck that alarms me and is the primary reason my dad left it for dead in the first place.

It used to be an old county fleet truck; they took it out into the wilderness to do surveying (my best bet). The steel frame of the truck (undercarriage, whatever you call it) is coated in mud and what isn't coated is rusty as hell. It looks like a truck from up north that drove through salt for 10 years. Do you guys think the Blazer is worth the investment to get her road worthy again? Any input would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

Blazers are great trucks, but if it has a ton of rust( mare than seems worth fixing) Part it out

 

If I take some photos do you think you can make an assertion? Honestly I have no idea how to make that judgement call.

 

get us a few pics. Also,take off the throttle body hat (black round plastic piece in the center) and pour a little bit of gas in the throttle body. See if it starts then dies. if it does,i bet the pump went out.

 

Alright, here's some photos. What do you guys think?

 

eh. its not pretty. But,i think there might be some life left in it. If you can fix it for 500.00 and drive it for a year,theres not much to loose.

 

As far as I can tell from the pics its mostly surface rust just a wire brush and some fresh undercoating and it might look as good as new under there. Some spots might need a lil more attention then others.

 

As for the body mounts, looks like both behind the front tires. Common issue. I had one bad side on my truck and remove the rusted out section stacked 2 2 inch body lift blocks on top of each other then put a bolt from the inside of the truck down through the blocks then the frame mount. Been holding up well. The rest of the rust looks to be surface. Wire brush and rust o leum. Fix er up and sell her or drive it in to the ground

 

Thanks so much for your input guys. Really. I'd like to get it running and drive it into the ground for a year or however much life I can squeeze out of it. First thing is first, getting the bitch started. I was told to siphon out the old fuel and put fresh gas in and clean the spark plugs then give it a try. I don't know my *** from my elbow about motors but this will be a good learning experience for better or for worse.

Is it fair for me to ask questions on this forum about 'how to do this' and 'how to do that'? Because if anybody has a better idea on how to get her started I'm all ears.

Thanks again, guys. I really appreciate it. I'll try to turn the motor over tomorrow morning and see what happens. I'll report back, if that's okay.

 

Buy a con of starting fluid and spray it in the intake