Put some amber signals on. Included a a video testing visibility during day and night. Also a diagram of how I wired them.


Auxiliary amber turn signals




I chose these ones because they were the perfect dimensions of where I wanted them. The smoked lens ones down on the bumper to blend in; and the amber lens ones in the back just behind the rear glass mounted to the plastic trim. Can't really tell that they're there until they're on. So fun.

 

Installed a group 78 Optima Yellow Top AGM battery. It is larger than the stock group 75. I had to use a different, but I think better, way to secure it.

The group 78 has basically the dimensions of the 75 but is 1 inch longer.

 

98 Blazer 4 dr 4 wd 129k miles
l didn’t get this done today, actually it was done in August of this year. I had the shop replace my lower intake manifold gasket. I had them use the Felpro gasket. They showed me the old one when they removed it. It was cracked and torn in a couple of spots, but it looked like it was a Felpro gasket. It had the same stiffness as the new one. I know these are not the original gaskets that came with these blazers from the factory. l purchased the Blazer less than a year ago with 127k miles on it. This made me question how long ago was the gasket replaced?

 

There are more than one LIM Felpro gasket that can be used on our motors. There is the original style plastic one and the preferred upgraded one with the metal frame. It sounds like it was the plastic type that was removed from yours. I'm pretty sure mine were original when I replaced them and they were black plastic. That would be bad if even the replacement plastic ones ae failing in a short amount of time. Then again, the act of removing them, can damage them.

 

l hope the one l had installed was not plastic. I paid for five hours of labor to have it installed. Someone told me there was only one type of LIM Felpro gasket currently being made. I got it at an auto parts store. What color is the metal gasket?

 

Look up the Felpro gasket kit MS 98002 T. This is what I used along with new intake manifold bolts.

 

The one l got was the plastic one. I know the metal one is better, but someone did say the plastic one can last 10-15 years.

 

Thought I had a failure in my HVAC system that is one of the Computer Controlled versions. Turns out I think the blend air door actuator might not have been initialized correctly after replacing the battery. I even pulled a couple errors for the HVAC system using my iLink code reader.

The symptoms were that I could not change the temperature of the air. So my first task was to open up the air-box and look to see if the blend door was loose but it was not. The actuator was holding it in position.

Access panel to inspect blend door circled in red. I believe on the non-computer controlled systems, the blower motor resistors go here.



Blend door marked with the red arrow. The axle for it is in yellow.


I then hooked up the iLink and found the DTCs (B0408 and B0415) which indicated issues with the temperature control circuit. So I went inside, copied a few pages from my service manual to have in the truck as I did the diagnostics only to discover that the temperature control was now working.

I did learn that I have access to the HVAC controls and sensors through the iLink scanner so that was cool.

 

Took advantage of the long weekend and rebuilt the front end of the blazer. (With the help of three family members!) Upper and lower control arms, front and rear shocks, front and rear sway bar links, pitman, idler... It's in for alignment now.

Biggest facepalm moment was disconnecting the steering column to wrench the upper control arm, and then forgetting to reattach it before spinning the steering wheel a few times. So the shop gets to recenter the wheel to the clock spring...
But horn still works and no airbag light so fingers crossed the clock spring wasn't harmed lol.

 

I'm looking at doing some steering repairs and this is a good reminder to not touch the steering wheel when it is disconnected!