Hello all,
I do not own a Blazer, but my brother who is "computer challenged" and my friend who is "automotive maintenance challenged" both have 1986 Chevy K5 Blazers.
My brother is in California, and fuel got on the ignition connector between the carb and distributor cap and ignited. His mechanic says that the wiring harness needs replaced, you can't splice the wires, as the system depends on the resistance of the system as designed inorder to work. (1986 is the bastard child year with the computer controlled carburetor from what he says.)
Is there a separate 1986 version for California? If not I can search here in Idaho for a wiring harness.
Is there a source for replacement wiring harnesses?
Is there an aftermarket TBI that's CARB (California Air Resources Board) certified? He would love to lose the computer controlled carb! (350 / 5.7l engine in this one)

My friend has the 305 in his rig here in Idaho, and his transmission stops working once it warms up. Is this a common problem? Is there a solution besides a trans rebuild?

Thanks in advance for any help you folks can provide.

 

ive never heard of not being able to splice in new wires due to resistance, unless there was some modules or something like that you are just trying to bypass. if its just a few wires and you have clean sections to patch to. just do that.

resistance, or a lower voltage is usually controlled by the computer

 

The mechanic in California sounds like he is scared to do any work on an old vehicle because he doesn't really know how cars work, he just understands how to plug in a code reader and replaces the part that comes up on the readout.

Course if I was in California I wouldn't want to work on any emissions related part. Did the parts just get fuel on them or did they catch fire and burn? I've heard of there being referees that you can go to when you're doing engine swaps, perhaps they can bypass the computer controlled carbs as they're becoming obsolete and the repair of them is becoming impossible because of lack of parts.



AS far as replacement parts I have no idea what you can and can't replace with aftermarket products....



Can you be a little more specific regarding the transmission problem... Do all forward gears stop working and you come to a stop? Is it the shifting that stops?
first thing to check is the fluid. Is it at the right level, is it the right color, does it smell burnt?

 

Re wiring:
I was an electronics tech a long time ago. And yes unless there's a resistor or other component built into the connector(s), I can't see any reason why splicing in new wiring, or a different connector wouldn't work. I'm just going off what my brother says the mechanic said. (If I get down there at Christmas I'll look into this personally.)

Re Transmission:
I asked my buddy if he checked the fluid, he said yes. I didn't check it myself to see if it appeared or smelled burnt. I'll check on that part. He said it wouldn't go at all. I don't know if he checked reverse, or just tried "drive". I'll check on that too.

Thank you both for your help so far.