OK, so I had our "neighborhood" mechanic take a look at the Blazer since it's still running bad, and he told me the following: I have an arc on my distributor (which was recently replaced) because when he used starting fluid to check my vacuum lines back there it ignited (Yes, that was quite exciting), I need the lower intake manifold gasket replaced because it is leaking (which he said my mechanic should have replaced when he put in a new spider assembly and a new upper gasket), I need to have the seals checked on my fuel rail, and that there is a vacuum leak somewhere in the transfer case forward (when he sprayed the starting fluid into the air intake it nearly died). He said all of these are contributing to my loss of power and rough idle. For financial and safety reasons, what should I concentrate on first? I'm most concerned about the arcing distributor, and why it is doing this when it was replaced like 2 months ago...He said he's only seen that twice in over 40 years of working on cars. Advice, please?

 

Seriously think about replacing that mechanic. How can you replace something like the Spider and redo a fuel rail, it either has one or the other(at least on the 99,I'm sure of that,since I redid mine 3 times to get it right),maybe he meant the fuel lines into the spider? Try and find a young guy that has a project car of same type and pose these questions to him and save yourself a lot of money, the cost any other way,will be more than its worth.Hopefully someone will help more than I,but please take it from that mechanic now.

 

Perhaps I should have been more specific...he said to check the O-rings around the fuel (so he probably did mean the lines that run in to the spider) by the firewall. And replace WHICH mechanic, the one that originally worked on my car, or the one that I just had look at it? The first one has already replaced the spider, distributor, plugs and wires and some vacuum hoses....but still has not found out why my Blazer is running poorly. The stuff that the second mechanic mentioned (who was not offering to fix it for me, but told me to find out why my FIRST mechanic did not notice these things) was all new to me.

 

My 1993 was running under the radar so to speak. Throwing no codes. I bought it knowing it needed the injector assembly, and at that time I replaced the "nut kit" which are the fuel lines from the "fire wall" running in to the lower plenum and to the injector assembly. This gives you new o-rings. My vehicle would have stumbles off idle and just wasn't exactly running smooth. After monitor my scanner data for several weeks, I narrowed it down to the O2 sensor and replaced that (mine and yours only has one). It was like a new car all over again. Smooth acceleration, increased fuel economy, a real joy to drive again. I had no O2 sensor codes, but from monitoring my scanner data, I could see that the O2 sensor wasn't very responsive.

When you say the distributor is arcing, are you talking about the actual distributor or the cap? I could under stand the cap if it had been cracked during isntallation (much easier to replace the cap when the upper plenum is removed, otherwise, it is a tight fit!). An arcing distributor would be very unusual.

 

Thanks for some help! I am guessing that the "nut kit" was not replaced when the spider was, the O rings don't look too new to me. I also don't know about the arcing, if it happened when he was checking the vacuum lines (and I did see it ignite) so would that most likely be the cap? Would that NOT have been replaced when the distributor was? I guess I'm asking if that would have come with the new distributor. If not, then I need to get that checked out. As far as the O2 sensor, I'm assuming that you mean the one on the exhaust? It was supposedly checked out by my mechanic, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

 

Talked to my mechanic and he said the cap was replaced when the distributor was, and he's going to take a look at it for me next week (keep my fingers crossed that it keeps running that long!) and I'm going to have him replace the O2 sensor as long as he's got the car--the one that is on there is so corroded that I can't even budge it. I hope that solves the problem, since there are never any codes when he checks it. If those don't help, I'm sure I'll be back for more advice. Thanks!

 

Good luck, and yes some of those O2 sensors are a bear to get out. I believe your 94 would only have one O2 sensor, in front of the catalytic converter. If you happen to have one behind the catalytic converter, there isn't much need to replace the rear one as I understand it. If your mechanic has a scanner that can attain live values, it would be advisable to watch the O2 sensor to see how active it is. The more active the merrier! My old Bosch O2 sensor would cross count (cross the .500 mVolt barrier) about every 2 to 4 seconds when it was working at its best during my initial observations about 4 months ago. I replaced it with an AC Delco O2 sensor and the cross counts are at ½ to 1 second intervals, much better.

 

Thanks, I will pass on the info to my mechanic. I only have one sensor, and since I bought the Blazer used I don't know what kind is on it, or for how long. Everyone so far seems to agree to go with the AC Delco so I will make sure to pick that up myself. Will know by Wed. when he replaces it if that was the problem....