My First SUV
 

Greeting everybody. Eastern NC Newbie here.....Just picked up a 2000 LS 4dr 4wd. Lots to learn and its looks like most of what I need to know is in the forum already. Time to start searching and reading. Looking forward to learning more.

Welcome! These Blazers have lots of quirks that are well known but fixable.

A couple things to do/check are the following:

• see if your year falls into the range that had bad lower intake manifold (LIM) gaskets. My 1999 was one of those years. These can, but fortunately rarely, fail catastrophically and pour coolant into the lifter valley ruining the main bearings. As soon as I learned of this I swapped them out.
• The fuel pumps are known to go out and are a pain to swap out. I try to keep my tank at least 1/4 full to keep the pump working well.
• The underhood vacuum hoses can rot causing the HVAC system to not operate properly. This failure will also cause the front axle for the 4wd system not to engage.
• If you tow anything at all substantial, never drive in overdrive. I did and ruined my 3/4 clutch pack mandating a complete rebuild.

Christine_208,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll definitely look into the lower intake manifold gaskets. That's a problem I certainly want to avoid if possible. I think I already have the fuel pump problem. Thought I was given a full tank when I bought the vehicle as the needle was pegged at FULL. then I thought, WOW, this thing gets GREAT gas mileage. Next thing I know I got the LOW FUEL light. Sigh.... Sounds like I have a vacuum hose problem just like you pointed out.... The HVAC system doesn't seem to want to switch to the different settings very well. No plans to haul anything as of now, but will heed your advice. Thanks for looking out for the " new guy"

Time to look up the VIN and see exactly what I've got.

Thanks again

Welcome to the Blazer Forum.

You are very welcome.

As for the VIN lookup, there should be a sticker on the inside of your glove compartment that has your VIN and your RPO (regular production option) codes. A VIN decode report is nice, I got one, but in a pinch, the contents of the sticker will due just fine. You will only have to manually check what each code means.

As for the vacuum hoses, I have a thread I maintain on replacing the hoses on Blazers with the 4-button (Auto-4wd) transfer case. But the instructions are also helpful if you have the 3-button version. The link is in my signature.

Good Luck!