Second "Blazer", First Time Forum Member
#1
09-26-2015, 12:53 PM
Second "Blazer", First Time Forum Member
Hello Blazerforum community! New member from New York checking in...I'd consider myself a general auto enthusiast mostly into cars, but I recently purchased a 1998 GMC Jimmy SLS as a cheap daily/workhorse/potential off road toy after selling my beloved 2000 BMW M5. Back in 2010 I graduated the GM ASEP program and worked in a Chevy dealership so I've always been pretty biased towards GM vehicles, trucks especially...even though I may have swayed from those roots in my choice of German cars!
Now this isn't my first Blazer, a few years ago I briefly had a first gen that I paid $600 for (with working 4x4!) that ran great for about 2 months before the sunshell went with no warning...so that one went to scrap.
For my current Jimmy I paid a decent $1300, which I thought was fair due to it having 210k on the clock. I knew it needed some work when I bought it but "some" work has quickly escalated into "a good amount" of course
Good news is it runs smooth, 4x4 works great and it's relatively clean inside and out besides just about ALL the plastic being cracked from a careless previous owner two.
There is bad news of course...besides the little quirks like power mirrors not working, panel lights out etc, I recently developed what seemed to be a common transmission problem. I got a CEL for p0785 and my trans was stuck in 3rd, so true to my stubborn Technician roots I thought I would just throw a solenoid at it and it would fix it
Naturally Murphy's law took effect and my problems multiplied into an inop cluster, multiple CEL's and the same trans problems 
Also when I changed the oil there was so much material in the pan that it disrupted the flow of oil (seemed like a mix of metallic and sludge) 
this concerns me a little, but the motor doesn't knock, tick or anything. It runs as smooth as I can imagine!
Up until I developed this problem I had planned on making it a reliable daily with mild off road capability. I installed a new Pioneer head unit, Sirius XM and some decent speakers...I had planned on at least throwing some decent All Terrains on it and eventually doing the Rough Country lift, but unfortunately that will have to wait now.
After skimming the forum for hours I can say that it's already helped me at least make headway in some of the issues I've been having. From what I've seen there is a wealth of knowledgeable and passionate members on this forum and I'm glad to have stumbled on it!
I apologize for the ramble! Here's a couple quick pictures of my Jimmy!
Just for fun, the first $600 Blazer that I mentioned...
Now this isn't my first Blazer, a few years ago I briefly had a first gen that I paid $600 for (with working 4x4!) that ran great for about 2 months before the sunshell went with no warning...so that one went to scrap.
For my current Jimmy I paid a decent $1300, which I thought was fair due to it having 210k on the clock. I knew it needed some work when I bought it but "some" work has quickly escalated into "a good amount" of course
Good news is it runs smooth, 4x4 works great and it's relatively clean inside and out besides just about ALL the plastic being cracked from a careless previous owner two. There is bad news of course...besides the little quirks like power mirrors not working, panel lights out etc, I recently developed what seemed to be a common transmission problem. I got a CEL for p0785 and my trans was stuck in 3rd, so true to my stubborn Technician roots I thought I would just throw a solenoid at it and it would fix it
Naturally Murphy's law took effect and my problems multiplied into an inop cluster, multiple CEL's and the same trans problems Also when I changed the oil there was so much material in the pan that it disrupted the flow of oil (seemed like a mix of metallic and sludge) this concerns me a little, but the motor doesn't knock, tick or anything. It runs as smooth as I can imagine!Up until I developed this problem I had planned on making it a reliable daily with mild off road capability. I installed a new Pioneer head unit, Sirius XM and some decent speakers...I had planned on at least throwing some decent All Terrains on it and eventually doing the Rough Country lift, but unfortunately that will have to wait now.
After skimming the forum for hours I can say that it's already helped me at least make headway in some of the issues I've been having. From what I've seen there is a wealth of knowledgeable and passionate members on this forum and I'm glad to have stumbled on it!
I apologize for the ramble! Here's a couple quick pictures of my Jimmy!
Just for fun, the first $600 Blazer that I mentioned...
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post