I recently acquired for myself a '96 blazer 4x4 with 100K on the ticker (please, hold the applause...). I got it for a screaming deal - literally! The motor screams like a banshee if you turn it on, so I durst not crank the thing over. As I've perused the site for ideas, it sounds like it could be a plethora of things, like: an oil pump gone on Christmas Vacation to the north pole, a bearing wanting to join a high school orchestra, maybe a head gasket, etc. But that's just me thinking. Then I thought to myself, "self, if there were some way that you could delve into this florid database and coax these nice blazer-breathing folk into speaking to you, maybe they could deduce your problem for you..." So let me tell you a little story about my blazer...

As I said, I have recently acquired it as a bit of a project. The guy that I bought it from had had the car for about 4 months (after purchasing it from a nice old lady) when all of a sudden the temperature shot up and the vehicle lost power. He immediately pulled over and turned it off. The one time that I cranked it over, it made a ridiculous racket, which seemed to emanate from somewhere near the back of the motor, kind of on the passenger's side. My supersonic bat-hearing may be disoriented by my tingling spidey-senses, so the position of the sound is probably exact to within say... 4 feet.. in any direction...

Regardless, I tried to briefly assess the situation, first by pulling the plugs. All 5 of them were black, two a bit wet, smelling of gasoline (by the way, anybody know how to get that last spark plug out that is being blockaded by the steering shaft???). I didn't see any coolant and mixture in the cylinders, oil, or radiator. But I didn't go Inspector Gadget on the latter two... From underneath, I pulled the two access plate thingy-ma-jiggers on the tranny bellhousing. But things looked ship shape.

The nasty shrieking seemed to settle a bit after a few seconds. But I was scared to let her run, so I shut her down. It also seemed somewhat cyclical in nature. But, then again, I conjured all this up from mere seconds of horrific squealing.... Anybody have any ideas? Anyone... Anyone... Bueller? Thanks for the help!

 

I would start by doing a few more checks. First check the oil for coolant and while you have the dip stick out check for debris. Second I would check the throttle body for oil or gunk. What it sounds like is that the intake manifold gaskets went out on it. Check those and let us know what you find out.

 

I have a '94 (different body style) so can't say for sure but for that plug on mine I just used a long extension and went in from the wheel well was a straight shot and worked perfectly.

 

Gotta agree with thegr81 there, through and through its doing exactly what my grand prix did when the head gasket blew. Sounds though that since it hasnt been run much since it blew you are in good shape to clean it up. Drain the oil and give it a good look over for coolant (should appear milky on top of the oil) if you find any at all then start tearing it down or take it in to get serviced.

 

Thanks for the replies! Unfortunately, I have some bad news...

I re-checked the fluids and thee coolant was clean, as was the oil - at least until I got a good look at it in the light. It seemed to have a hint of glitter in it. So a kindly old mechanic who used to work on my dad's vehicles until he retired was gracious enough to come by and take a look-see-hear at it. I fired it up for him and he said it sounds like it spun a bearing... I could be wrong, but the screeching of metal to metal contact prolly isn't such a good thing...

So now I'm pulling a new question off of my prodigious list of inquiries: How should I breathe life back into the fallen mobile? Rebuild? Long-block? Short block? Junkyard? I'm on a very tight budget (who isn't?) since I'm still in college. But my wife is very patient with me. If I tried rebuilding it, there's a chance that the bearing spun into the block, which would render my efforts useless. If not, I'm still out a chunk of change for a new bottom end. I think the crank is a little over $300, plus bearings. What else would I need? A short block would mean stripping down the old motor of it's heads, intake, and other vital parts. Then basically purchasing a rebuild kit. A long block would be a little better, but more expensive. Or possibly a junker (if I can find a good one). That would mostly be labor.

I'm leaning towards the junkyard route, but I'm not sure what engines will work? It's a '96, so I'm assuming most of the 96 - 04 motors will work out of a blazer/jimmy or pickup? I think there were too many little changes to the blocks before then. But I'm not sure. Also, has anybody already done that? What would you expect to get the motor for (pricewise)? A penny for your thoughts.... (ok, I won't really give you a penny - but you can have this cool smiley if it makes you feel better...)