Did ya get er done?

 

Replaced the driver side hinge pins and bushings today.
Now I'm waiting for a new door armrest to arrive so I can finally shut my door correctly.

 

Got it sprayed off, all the salt, before this -13 cold air gets here. Also put some gas dryer in it just in case. I don't normally add anything to my fuel.

 

took it out in the snow and played awhile on the streets, love 4wd powerslides! and the 4wd burnouts from a stop when the light goes green!

 

Remind me to NEVER announce to the world how great the Blazer is running, because it'll bite ya in the ***! Spent a couple hours yesterday in 15° temps screwing with the exhaust system ....

Wifey came home and told me it had a hard time climbing the hill, and it's loud. Hmmm.. wtf could that be??? So I'm thinking, OH BOY ... that's probably the end of this engine. She had just filled the tank ... I check the MPG's - 13.96!! WOAH something ain't right - we were getting 17 all last month!

So I go for a ride. Start climbing this small hill and put my foot into it, and the carb lets out this SUPER LOUD BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!!! like a sick cow, with absolutely zero power. I know that sound instantly - clogged catalytic converter. Should've never installed the damn thing to begin with!

Pulled the exhaust down at the cat, and fired it up - was dead silent! Problem confirmed. Hogged it out & fired it up a few times to blast the chunks out. Got a shopping bag full of pieces. Bolted it all back up and all is well. It's got a little exhaust note to it now, sort of like those fart cannons the ricer kids put on their Toyota Corollas ... only nowhere near as obnoxious ...

Now it's running better than ever! Guess this was a problem from day one that was gradually getting worse. Thing runs better than it ever has now! OOPS ....

I mean, no - NO IT'S NOT running good at all ..... terrible!

 

id gut my converter if i knew it would be ok, what with the sensor thats plugged into it, im not sure what effect it would have with a empty shell instead of how it would normally be. ive gutted the cat on the ranger, but the sensors on it are on the Y pipe before the converter, noting on the converter itself like the blazer is. im sure theres some resistor i could wire into the sensor to "trick" the system into thinking everything is alright, just dont know what it is. i guess as long as its working i'll let it be.

 

This cold weather is really getting out of hand. Started the truck this morning, Man, these things make some weird noises when it is this cold (-17°f)

 

Wow that's damn cold! I'd be having some issues with the 10W-30, even though it's Amsoil, at those temps - lots of clicking and tapping going on ...



OBD-II vehicles have the sensor after the cat - everything built '96 and after is OBD-II. Anything prior is OBD-I with no sensor. Mine being an '89 is OBD-I, so no sensor. Not that it matters anyway, since there isn't one electronic part on that engine now anyway.

You can cheat the post-cat sensor with a spark plug defouler of the correct size. Just find one that the o2 sensor will thread into, then thread that into the bung. It pulls the sensor out of the exhaust stream, so it can't tell the cat isn't there. The other option is the cheater sensor, but that costs a bit of cash ... and then there's the question of compatibility - will it work, or not? De-fouler is the way to go.

 

Tell me about it, surprisingly, the noises it did not make, was clicking and tapping.
There was an interesting noise (has happened when this cold since we got it) when first starting for about a second that literally sounded like the truck was saying a high pitched "nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

Then after that went away, There was a nice high pitched child scream that was coming from the front (I am guessing tension pulley) That one was actually new. But, when its this cold, you can expect things to make noises that you normally would not hear.

Dont even get me started on leather seats when it is this cold. felt like I was sitting on a seat made of ice cream.

 

Finally got it towed yesterday. Gonna be fun scheduling time to work on it. I'm in the process of moving to Broomfield, and my work schedule has me working 3:30 p.m. Wed - Fri and 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sat and Sun.