2001 Blazer 4.3 4 door 2 wheel drive. Bought it new and only has 160,000 actual miles. Began to have an issue about a year ago. In the mornings, would start and die a time or two, then start and run fine, start fine all day long. Then started taking more starts and dies before running, then start fine all day long. Here's the mystery, thought battery might be weak, changed with my 1999 Silverado battery and truck still cranks fine, but Blazer still start and die, but if you put jumper cables on it, starts right up first time and runs ok. I have went out in the morning and put cables on it, starts right up and runs fine. Without them, might start and die several times before running. What gives?

 

Sounds like the early stages of fuel pump failure. Start diagnosing here:
https://blazerforum.com/forum/2nd-ge...eakdown-88305/

 

Would a fuel pump take a year or two to finally go out? Also, would a faulty purge solenoid valve have anything to do with it? Don't know what symtoms the purge solenoid would be.

 

Something took "a year or two to finally go out", why not the fuel pump? Follow the steps in the link, and post all 4 readings. It's a free test, and it only takes a few minutes.


If the purge solenoid is stuck closed, you wouldn't notice anything. If it's stuck open, or doesn't seal completely, you might notice a drop in fuel mileage, but that's about it. Either way, if the EVAP system has a problem, it will set a DTC in memory, and turn the SES light on, guaranteed.