Greeting from the central PA rust belt! Picked up a 2000 Chevy Blazer with only 59k miles on the clock a couple days after Christmas. In all reality, the truck is in great shape for the age, paint and interior are excellent. Not much rust, just a hint on body-fixable, frame is clean. Just did an oil change and oil cooler lines look new, a common problem on these i hear. Now while i am new to blazers, i'm not new to GM, which means, i'm not surprised to find out ONE of SIX speakers actually work lol, was the same story with my 00 Grand Prix. Backrest adjust handles are broke. The driver door sags, have to lift it and slam to close it, another common issue i hear, pin bushings dont look busted but maybe they are, idk, sounds like cracking type sound from that door when u hit a bump. Also there is play in steering, and alignment is off. I adjusted the steering box slightly which helped but its still there. Heater is ok gets hot but not really hot. Also one more complaint, the headlights SUCK compared to my 03 grand am, grand am has fogs and blazer doesn't but even so. Now the 4x4 works great, already had two snow storms, starts right up even when its 20 degrees and power train seems great. Overall though, i'm happy with it, has a few quirks to be sorted, but what 20 year old truck doesn't! I look forward to hearing what y'all have to say about the new truck, and how to fix some of the quirks she has!

 

Welcome to the Blazerforum - well, you just found about all the quirks.

 

For the steering, two common problems are worn rag-joints and bad idler arms. For the rag-joint a regular replacement is likely good enough although many of us install stainless-steel u-joints as an upgrade. For the idler arms, the OEM design is weak. The best replacements are by Moog or Proforged. There is even a 1-ton GM truck solution using an adapter.

One of the first things I had to fix were my driver's door hinge-pin bushings. It is kind of a right-of-passage with Blazers. But you will want to get on those before the bushings wear out so much that the holes into which they go get out of round.

 

Ok any particular way i can figure out which one it is, also on a possibly related note, the truck feels kinda bouncy in the front.

 

The easy way is to raise the front wheels off the ground and look. If you grab one of the front tires at the 3 and 9 o'clock position and then alternately push and pull and you feel slop with the other tire not moving, then there is likely something loose in the connections between and including the tie-rod ends and going across through the connections to the center-link and at the idler arm and pitman arm. Look for motion between where the different components attach to each other.

As for the ball-joints, that can be a bit harder because those components are under load. Again, lift up the truck and grab one of the tires at the 12 and 6 o'clock position and alternately push and pull on it. If you feel motion, then there is likely a problem with the ball joints on that side. The most likely culprit will the upper ball joint but again look for relative motion between components where they attach.

One more wear point is the front wheel hubs. If you feel slop but you don't see any loose components, then look for motion between the wheel and the large bracket/frame to which the brakes are mounted along with the wheel hubs and the end of the tie rods.

 

The clicking sound i had mentioned is defiantly the driver door, probably messed up pins and bushings moving around. Also if you listen very closely, i can hear just slight noise that sounds faintly like a wheel bearing, its so quiet maybe its just road noise. If it's a bearing its in the really really early stage of failing.

 

You may want to separate the issues and post them into the relative sections. That may yield more responses than here in the general chat.

 

'Backrest adjust handles are broke'. I would guess that 80 % of those plastic handles are broken. First look in the salvage yards, but those are broken ,too. Some one on the forum found some replacements made of metal so do a search for that . I think they were 19.99 each. Driver's door sag is the pins and bushings wear. The parts are not too expensive, but the labor is the catcher. Having a mechanical door holder is the trick. You don't want to buy one for that job, so this might be a time when you want to take it to a body shop that has one. Welcome to the world of Blazers.

 

Welcome to the Blazer forum!

I seem to have taken a perfectly, really good engine.. and what I am thinking is "spun a bearing" (based moreso on how it is acting rather than the sound.. It will still run, question is: For how long!) and now need rebuild or new engine My previous Blazer did the exact same thing but that one was knocking etc when I got it.

Happy to have you here. I've gotten some great advice from at least a few people and that's probably all I need to get back on track.

 

I would change the oil and replace with the correct weight synthetic of your choice. I would take some samples of the old oil to an experienced , reliable shop or an engine rebuilder and get them to look at the oil samples for metal particles. Another good thing to do ---from the BITOG.com. forum----- is to cut open the oil filter and look at each pleat for metal particles. Try a NAPA Gold or Platinum oil filter /which is a Wix filter/ and it will trap minute particles. This won't cure 'spun bearings' but will help with future engine oil diagnosis.
Cutting open the old oil filter is tricky. You don't want to generate new metal shaving and contaminate your diagnosis. Read how to do this procedure correctly in the BITOG.com forum for tips. Hint: You use a large pipe cutter. Please let us know what you find. Good luck.