Now its a 20 year old "Classic"! lol

Hello all how did I make it this far without this forum! My 98 4-door Blazer LT with cloth seats, climate control, has had all or most of the common issues since we bought it new but man do I love it. I just can't trade her in! 155k miles now. I am just thankful I haven't had any expensive engine or transmission issues I couldn't fix myself. I've always done regular oil changes, transmission oil & filter changes every 40k miles or so and that seems to have paid off. A/C hasn't worked for several years but I have a compressor on order and my mechanic is pretty sure that was the only leaky area. I got the Delphi CS0120 for about $175 at walmart.com

I had what I thought was a possible leaky rear main seal for years now but I am so thrilled the leak has slowed considerably with a new $5 AC Delco PCV valve!!!! I had puddles under it before, now I have drops under it.

So now I'll settle in and read some of the posts here. Had really been debating updating to a much newer SUV but I dread the thought of not having a REAL 4WD with low range. Everything's AWD, basically minivan chassis! Seriously considering running this thing till she lets me down bad with rust or other major issues. The only major rust I have is behind and under the rear bumper. Its pretty bad under there.

So here's what she's had done over the years besides batteries & brakes, calipers, tires etc. Most of it I've done myself. I've got all the part numbers I used on record too. I'm sure this all sounds too familiar to most of you!

Dealer did ball joints under warranty @20k.
Replaced belt tensioner at 77k
New Bosch Platinum #6241's @83k
Steering Idler arm had some play, replaced at 91k, and again at 138k. Napa
Dealer replaced rear axle pinion seal @91k
Replaced exhaust donut seals (both sides) @100k
Replaced wiper motor pulse module at 100k
New front wheel bearing/hubs @ 110k
A/C compressor quit working @110k. Finally having one put on soon (Delphi 0120)
Replaced alternator at 140k
Replaced fuel pump @141k
New NGK 3403 plugs (Platinum) @141k
Front sway bar links broke had to replace @142K. Used Moog K6600's

Replaced both leaking remote oil filter lines (AC Delco 15194578, '79) @146k. New spring clips GM#15724727 (didn't come with the lines). I had gotten Edelman lines 1st round, they were junk I shipped them back! Hoses so thin they were kinked in the box. Only double crimped too, the AC Delcos were quad-crimped if I remember correctly.

Replaced the vacuum transfer case switch @147k. Tried a Napa it was defective so went for the GM89059420.
Put on new GM 15120548 engine coolant radiator & lower radiator mounts, water pump, tensioner pulley @148k
New metal brake line to the rear axle along the frame (old one rusted out) @157K
New AC Delco #CV769C PCV valve @158K
New AC Delco cap & rotors, new Denso 6716068 7mm spark plug wires @158k.

Just put T10 LED bulbs in the license plate lights and front corner markers. Looks pretty cool, modern, at night.

NEXT: Having A/C fixed. Mechanic found the compressor leaking badly. Putting on a Delphi CS0120

 

Congrats on keeping your Blazer for so long and keeping her on the road. I am of a similar mind: I thought I would have "upgraded" to a newer rig by about now but the cost differential and the lack of real SUVs that are body-on-frame means I'll be trying to keep mine for another 5 years. It is just too damn useful!

The one maintenance/repair item I did not see on your list was replacement of the lower intake manifold (LIM) gaskets. After joining the forum and learning of how these can fail catastrophically and dumping coolant into the lifer valley and into the oil sump which then gets pumped to the main bearings to ruin them, I decided that I had to do that upgrade. Since you want to keep your Blazer too, I'd suggest looking into this. There are much better gaskets sets out there that you can use. Also, you can take the opportunity, like I did, to upgrade the fuel injector spider.

 

Thanks for the info Christine. I previously had a 2001 Bonneville with the transversely mounted 3.8L V6 which I am very aware of the LIM issues on those. They used a plastic-framed gasket with very consistent failures, replaced with an aluminum frame gasket. The edge of these gaskets were visible without disassembly so you knew what you had. These engines also had a plastic Upper intake manifold that was cooled with coolant passage ways, they would fail at the interface gasket also and cause coolant to leak into the engine oil!! But I was NOT aware of any similar LIM gasket issue on the 4.3L V6. I've only heard great things about this particular GM V6. I will certainly keep an eye on the oil color during changes for any tell-tale signs (none so far). On the 3.8L's, another tell-tale sign of coolant in the oil would be a light colored snot-like substance on the oil-fill cap when you'd remove it. Fuel injector spider.... what's that upgrade do or what problem does it address?

 

Regarding the LIM gaskets, I've heard horror stories of these failing without warning. Perhaps there were hints that the owners did not know of but I was spooked by them enough to go ahead and replace them.

As for the fuel injection spiders, the later 2nd generations Blazers would accept the 2002+ injectors that had the injectors at the end of the tubes instead of poppet valves that could clog. This link describes it better than I can. Vortec CSFI to MPFI conversion

I had decided to upgrade the spider for two reasons: I already had it all apart for the LIM gasket replacement and I had had the injector spider go out on a '92 at about the same age and mileage.