So my ride is a '97 Blazer LT 4x4 with the 4.3L. I've heard so much from people about how Blazers are very poorly made and stuff. I personally love it. Decent power for towing, and competent off-road capability. And as far as looks you could do a lot worse, like the Pontiac Aztec LOL! Although I do wish I got a '98+ for the front end, but I'm very pleased with it. Why do people talk so bad about them?

 

ive been a mechanic full time for about 4 years, it might be blasphamy to say on this site, but every s10 blazer that rolls through here is always a piece of crap. front ends fallng off, leaking everything, rusted, backing plates falling off etc. i know it has more to do with the owners just using them as transportation and not fixing anything until they break. but you know when a s10 shows up you are going to have to write a novel on everything wrong with it i have a 93 i use for offroad only and for the past 5 years its been the best running vehicle i have. beat the heck out of it and it always starts up and moves.

i would have no problem buying another one after this one gets destroyed.

 

Ive been around cars off and on for 5 years,and 4 years full time. ALL OF THEM have there weaknesses. 95% of the people nowadays dont care about maintenance. They will wait for it to catch fire or break down before doing anything...

Blazers. Meh,yes there are better vehicles when it comes to dependability. Most cars these days are made to "work" for 125k miles. older vehicles might be old,but they hold up well.

Blazers are bad for pumps,intake manifold gaskets,idler arms and injector assemblies. replace em all with dealership quality parts and not this knock off bs at aftermarket stores and they will last.


99.999999999% of problems is people whos too lazy to keep up with oil changes,trans services and maintenance items. NOTHING is going to reach 200k miles without SOMETHING going wrong. they are machines built to work,but metal degrades etc. so **** happens.

 

I bet every vehicle out there has it's common issues, even the most dependable. When I was into Toyota 4x4s, you could pick up a 10 year old truck that was rusted through for around $500, and they were common.
And how often do people complain that their vehicle is reliable and has no issues? We only hear the bad stories. Around here all the Explorers, 4Runners and Cherokees are already in the junk yard, with the Blazers still running. Nobody complains that the heater doesn't work if they had to junk it.

 

plus,its like leaving feedback on ebay,amazon etc...

you dont have anything good to say unless you have a issue. then everyone hears about it. Nobody leaves good feedback.

 

Ive had several S-series Blazers and pick ups I currently own a 99 pickup and 99 Blazer.
Maintenance is the key with good quality parts. Cheap replacement parts are just that cheap.

 

I think the newer ones were built as a good all rounder, and that might be part of the stigma. For off roaders the IFS is bad, but for daily city driving its good. The engine is powerful but thirsty. Can tow a lot but will kill your brakes. Never really the best at one thing. Having lots of features to compete with Cherokees and other high end suvs meant not using the best quality sometimes (like the leather or plastics) or hard to service parts. Ive always thought chevy's make up for some of there design downfalls with strong rebuild-able and really tough chassis and engines, oh and being pretty doesn't hurt!

 

still rather work on a s10 then a older chrysler car any day. thats were the real headaches are

 

Also, the NEWEST S10 Blazer is 8ish years old, and the oldest is 30 years old.
Still a few mid to late 80s around here, but not many anymore. Quite a few early 90s, and heaps of 2nd gens.

 

yeah i never see any nice 80s once around anymore. i do see a few running around that are just rusty and beat up as heck. but no real clean ones. maybe thats a good thing, peopleactually use them. growing up i had a few blazers in the 80s. and they were actually really good trucks, both had the 2.8 engine and had minimal problems. but they rotted away to nothing and had to get rid of them