So sorry this is a little rambling, there are a lot of minor things wrong with this fantastic vehicle. My GF says i love it more than her. I have my own 97 chevy Silverado but man this s-10 blazer is way cooler. I am not a mechanic i mostly work on older jap bikes. I know enough about trucks and cars to be dangerous and have a collection of friends that know a lot more than me, mostly I am doing it on my own to learn as much as I can I also have the manual handy but it does not seem to want to just give up the answers. I have already replaced the starter myself and a few other minor things.

It has three main issues: First off no codes?!

Overheating( But this has been mostly taken care of)

Fuel lapsing.

Interior Electric.



Overheating:

It was overheating, i have several things to do to fix it completely but for now it is working beautifully, or as well as a 15 year old truck will. Any-hoo I fixed the overheating for now by burping the system. I still need to replace a mostly broken and missing fan shroud, flush the system, and add actual coolant instead of just water( how long can i let that go I know it creates rust and water does not displace heat as well as coolant but can it wait another month or two). It's possible there is a freeze plug blown out in the rear would that be a slow or quick leak, the previous owner said this was the coolant leak issue but it turned out to be a thermostat and hose issue.

Fuel:

when i accelerate in the lower gear range it kindoff chugalugs. . . like its getting momentary lapses in fuel. I have not replaced the fuel filter that will be my first step,(is there anything else that i should do while i have it up on jack stands, an oil change might be good and the coolants flush while I am at it.) What would transmission slip-age feel like? Shouldn't tranny issues code( it did not bounce back any codes). When i am at highway speeds 50 and above the fuel issue is most prevalent it is not surging but rather the opposite for lack of a better explanation. Like it is gasping for breath the engine is running but it is momentarily losing engine speed.

Can i adjust idle RPMs it seems a little heavy as i accelerate from zero.

Electric:

MY last big issue is electrical in the cab, the interior lights do not work, nor the horn, nor the digital display the fuses are not shot is there another possible reason they do not work.

Overall the vehicle is in good shape interior exterior ect. The undercarriage is a little crusty but it spent ten years of its life doing medium labor in the coldest parts of the U.S. now it will spend the rest of it's life in sunny but salty florida gulf coast.

 

Overheating - This should be the first focus of your repairs. You do not want to risk permanent engine damage with a severe over heat.

So long as there is no air in the system and you have a good cap on, you should be ok with straight water for a bit. I would get the proper mix of antifreeze and distilled water in there as soon as you can though.

For the fuel - replace the fuel filter and see what that does for your condition. If you still have the problem, the next step would be a fuel pressure test.

When was the last time a tune up was completed (plugs, wires, cap, & rotor)?

As far as the electrical is concerned... Sounds like you have more than one issue. The digital display is likely cold solders on the back of the cluster. Horn could be a bad horn relay (you can swap it with another relay like it to diagnose) and the interior lights could be a number of things from faulty door switches to a bad headlight switch in the dash (make sure that if you have a dome override button that it is not pressed).

 

This sound very much in the vein of things i was assuming, the electrical is a great help cant wait to check it out. A tune up is absolutley a must inside of the next month, i read in one of the DIY tech forums that this should be a first step. . . I think I've got a full weekend ahead of me. I hear that one of the spark plugs can be a real B!@tch. When you said horn relay is that in the "relay" box inside of the glove compartment. Also when i look at the fuse box I see all the coloured fuses what are the two metal ones.

P.S. I really appreciate the response. I'll post new info once i've tried some of these things.

 

The horn relay should be the center relay (if you have fog lights) or the relay to the passenger side (if you do not have fog lights) in the relay center inside the glove box.