Hey everyone. I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread of a list of important do and don'ts with keeping Blazers on the road, trouble free and working to their peak. Alot of this I learned from the good people on the forum.

1. Preventative Maintenance is key.
2. Stop leak products can only cause more damage and lead to a larger repair bill than the repair bill for the original problem that the stop leak was used for.
3. Transmission coolers are mandatory for towing and extreme conditions
4. Don't use Fram oil filters
5. If you have to replace a fuel pump, use an AC Delco unit.
6. Change your fuel filter often
7. Change out oil lines if they show evidence of leaks.
8. Keep an eye on belts and hoses. Replace them if they show signs of cracks.
9. Check your fluids under the hood often.
10. Throttle Body Spacers don't work.
11. Cold air intakes DO work.
12. Throttle Body Spacers and most cold air intake kits DO NOT mix.
13. Keep an eye on front end components, especially ball joints and idler arms.
14. Higher octane fuel will not improve performance much on the 4.3 unless the PCM has been reprogrammed to use it.
15. Use 3 for towing or on hills if the tranny starts to search for gears.
16. Do a search first before starting a duplicate thread. You might just have found the answer to your problem.
17. Change the coolant often no matter if you use green or orange.
18. Change out the radiator cap often, especially if you use orange.
19. If you replace the timing chain, it might be a good idea to change the water pump at the same time.
20. "Big 3" wiring upgrades are important, especially if you have a huge sound system.

Please keep adding on to this list even if it makes it to 100!

 

hmm whoops think i broke rule #4 lol..i had a fram high milage oil filter used on my bravada last oil change.and i was told #11 wasnt true at a local car audio/accessory shop,lie'n bastards lmao

 

I broke rule 4 on Friday also, but that is going to get corrected in the morning since I heard the horror stories.

 

With a couple of exceptions, everything on the list applies to all vehicles, not just Blazers.

 

#16 isn't true. You just have to search first, but that goes with any thread topic. Most people just find it easier *for them* to duplicate past threads than to actually put some effort into finding threads that may already have been created on the topic.

On that thought, don't we already have a thread like this??

 

My mistake. Edited the original post.

 

umm...ok guys don't kill me but if you have a body lift DON'T jump your blazer "my body mount by the drivers door is kind of caved in a bit"

On a 1st gen 4x4 you may need to take the passenger side motor mount bolt out and jack the motor up to change a starter. "just did it today"

Watch the gas tank I have replaced 3 of them "2 had a hole in the same spot"

DON'T abuse the electronic 4x4 it will stop working eventually

Keep an eye on the vacume lines they will dry out and split

a body lift makes changing spark plugs easy as hell

watch your spider injectors buy AC Delco if you need to change it!!

 

What do you mean by "DONT abuse the electronic 4x4 it will stop working eventually"? I have had quite a few 4x4 failures and I barely even used the damn 4WD. 1st one was a broken front axle shift fork (it was there when we got the car.), 2nd one was the TCCM (shorted out for some reason. DTC 3 or 4 set). 3rd one was a foulup by GM stealership putting a 10A fuse on the T/C Encoder motor circuit when it called for a 20A and it got stuck in 4HI. THAT one I obviously fixed myself by putting the correct amperage fuse in the fusebox. How could you abuse the electronic 4WD if it has all kinds of safety features programmed into it? I am just asking because I am curious and I don't want to have any more preventable failures in the 4WD. I don't do any transfer case shifts unless the car is stopped or moving under 5mph. Of course, if I am on a straightaway and I need 2WD and I can't stop, I take it out of 4HI if I am moving under 30mph.

 

Ive always switched while in neutral and stopped it use to work great when i got the truck but Ive used it so much Ive replaced the switch 4 times, and now "I think" the decoder motor is letting go. "it only goes into 4wd low but the automatic shifter has to be in the right spot in neutral or the switch has no power" and at times it would only work when it wants to. so i guess i should change it to "never use the push button 4x4 and you will never have a problem lol" I wasn't being sarcastic towards you just trying to make a funny so no pun intended

 

On my 92 sonoma I changed my starter and did not have to do this.