LINK: https://blazerforum.com/forum/engine...79/#post227298
Two years to the Month.
Friday night my Daughter is coming home and Instant Knocking again.
I'm sure it's the same issue as my Post above. So in less than 40K miles another Lifter and Cam dies. The first time I opened it up the engine was clean, no buildup of any type. So no clogged passages. I thought it was a fluke, a soft Cam lobe.. But not this time. All new lifters, and Cam . There is no reason this should have happened again. I think I have heard of others having thios issue. GM is not supporting thes engines with this issue?? Does anyone know if the engines that fail this way were made ina different country then the one that hold up??
Anyone want a very clean '99 Blazer that needs a motor?
In the last 12 months I did Front Hubs, Multi Function Switch, and a new Valve Body in the trani. The rear axle Seals and bearing were replaced too.

Soooo Disgusted

 

Are you sure it is the cam & not the balance shaft? That balance shaft sits in the valley pan. Chevy has had TBS on both the gear & bearings. I had a 97 Blazer 4x4 that knocked for almost 100,000 miles before I sold it & it is still being driven & still runs great.
Either way I would fix it. Cheaper to fix than to start all over with something else that might be worse.
I can feel your frustration. I sold our 97 then bought a real clean low mileage 98 Blazer 4x4 & I have had to replace a ton of crap I never had any issues with on my 97. I wonder if before it ends I will have a brand new 98 Blazer 4x4.
But I'm keeping it because I like it & a new vehicle is way too expensive for me. I'm one that could pay cash for a new vehicle but not for the money they think they are worth.
I hear people talk about buying a new truck for $50K, like money grows on trees. ONLY $50,000.

 

No it's not teh Balance shaft.. That would be a consistant noise of a bad bearing..It's that same issue... VERY VERY Hard knock that sometimes quiets down as the flat spot on the Roller rotates around and lets the original High surface hit the Cam.
The Oil that was changed two weeks ago has metal shavings in it.
The engines is lacking power because it's not really running on all 6.

I know it's just an exercise but back when this happened at only 100K miles I wrote to GM and bitched. I saved that e-mail and their response with their 'service number'. I sent them another e-mail stating that at only 50K miles it happened again. Mentioning that I feel it is an oil circulation issue with this specific engine OR maybe they had a bad Lot of engines manufactured in a certain time period. I'm sure I'm wasting my time but they needed to hear my frustartion. I mentioned my sons quote " Go Japanese". As much as I hate it...he's not wrong. My cars get pampered.. no excuse for this. Hell ,I have 100K miles on my motorcycle without opening up the engine..

 

This is FAR from a typical failure with these motors. I have only heard of a few in the hundreds of thousands of 4.3s out there. The reliability of the 'long block' (heads on down) of these things ranks right up there with the small block in the opinion of many.

Maybe something is up with the oil port that services one of the lifters or one of the cam bearings in the block itself? Only a complete tear-down and thorough inspection will identify the problem, but it sounds like you have given up on the brand as a whole over this problem on a 13 year old vehicle with now over 150k miles...

 

You have to understand that I'm in my 50's and, as a kid, my folks were Chevy people. The cars were simple and robust. Not any more. In 50K miles, The trani has been rebuilt, the rear axle had issues that could not be resolved so I threw in a Junkyard Axle,The Multi function switch failed and I replaced that, the 4WD diaphragm failed , the rear wiper motor, Rear Calipers froze, Seat backrest handles Broke, front axle seal , the Pair of oil lines to the filter and Front Hub assemblies. I'm sure there's more that escapes me.If you look on this site, these ARE all typical failures. No excuse for this. I have an '85 Chevy pickup I have replace the timing chain at 120K miles. It did not fail but as a precaution I did it, I replaced the clutch once and I did rear axle seals. THAT"S IT! in over 300K miles and 27 years. NO sensors or selonoids to fail. I have an '89 Volvo 316K miles I have replaced the Timing belts at regular intervals ( $8 a belt) Brakes and Tires THAT'S IT! My '75 Jeep , I bought it in '79, Yes I have done some work after I got Hit and it rolled but prior to that. Axles, T Case, and engine were trouble free for over 200K miles. The axles and T-case have not been touched, ever. to this day.
These Blazers not only have their many issues But the parts to fix are not cheap. The Multifunction switch...Too much crap going on in one Plastic switch. The 4WD disaster, Electric switch to vacuum switch to rotating T-case motor to vacuum diaphragm to Cable. Are you kidding me? How about , Like my '75 Jeep, and Chevy Truck, I go out and lock the Hubs and I get in and Manually pull a lever, nothing to break, no electronics or vacuum to depend on.
I have other friends with S10's they say to anticipatye $1000 a year to mainain. I thought they were kidding. I find out they are getting off easy at $1000 a year and that's with me doing the wrenching. Not to mention the Half axles turn al teh time creating drag and bad gas mileage not to mention Wear on CV joints that aren't doing anything at the time. These "Trucks" cannot handle the duty of grocery shopping let alone hitting any hard trails.
I say it ONLY has 100K miles on it. My motorcycle is almost there with no expenses or signs of quitting. This is the newest car we own it has teh least amount of mileage of any of them and it is a money pit with all the 'Typical Blazer issues'. My sons '70 valiant that he bought as a none running car sitting on the side of a barn for 10 years cost about $300 to get roadworthy and he has put 30K trouble free miles on it.
So sorry if you think I'm condemming the S10 Blazer but in 3 years that we owned this one and the phone calls to help friends with theirs... I think I have a case.

 

my 93, 4.3 vortec, 180k miles, still runs as good as day one, original motor and tranny.
When I took the intake plenum off to do the spider assembly, it was very clean in there, very little carbon build up.

previous 94, 4.3 vortec as well, had 202k miles before someone crashed into me. OG Tranny and Engine in that one, put 60k miles on that one from the time I got it, and the most major thing I had to do on that one was the radiator, the rest was normal things, oil changes, brakes. and one ball joint.
Even the digi dash worked on the one with 202k miles without a previous rebuild.

 

One thing you have to take with a grain of salt is that what you read here is all of the problems and rarely any of the good things. I see a lot of stuff here and with what I deal with routinely helping friends and family. I still consider the S-series vehicles to be very reliable if kept well maintained. Perhaps yours wasn't so well maintained before you purchased it. That is a chance you take when you buy a used vehicle. I had the exact opposite experience with my 2000 Bravada which treated me very well and continues to do so with it's new owner who I see bombing around town from time to time.

I'll just end this by saying that I hope you find the grass greener where ever you end up.