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SUVs Chevrolet Blazer Chevy Blazer/GMC Jimmy
508 messages, Last post on Oct 04, 2009 at 2:53 AM
You are in the Chevrolet Blazer Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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Just wanted to let all the readers know that I leased my Blazer 2 years ago. I put over 46K on it already, and not ONE problem yet. The brakes are still good! Unbelievable!! This is a great truck. I recommend buying the Blazer. I am going to purchase one soon.
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I have a 1998 Blazer LS 2-door w/ almost 68K miles on it. About 6 months into my lease, the ignition wiring harness shorted out and left me dead on the road. A few months later, my alternator went out. Soon thereafter, it went out again. The recline levers have snapped off both the passenger and driver side seats. One during warranty, the driver side soon after (not the cheapest fix). Overall it's a good truck, I just hope the redesigned 2001 is a lot more solid like they claim to be.
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I had a 97 Blazer, put 55K miles on it with nary a problem. 6 months ago I traded it for a Trooper (needed more headroom). Just heard that the people who bought my old Blazer had the tranny go kablooie on them. That's a $2,000 headache I'm glad I don't have. Just goes to show, 46K miles without a problem isn't necessarily a trend...
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Tranny life may be shortened due to a design flaw with the ATF dipstick/seal. The defect is it doesn't seal out moisture, and with it positioned below the passenger windshield washer nozzle, moisture can get in the fluid. So without periodic fluid changes, the tranny life may be shortened. On my '97 Bravada, I had the dipstick and the dipstick tube replaced under warranty at 24K last year. I also changed the ATF and filter at 30K miles, and replaced it with Mobil 1 ATF, since it has better heat tolerance than the std. Dex-III fluid. Incidentally, I periodically pull my boat with it, and live in a hilly region, so I think the tranny gets taxed more than a "normal" highway SUV, for example. No tranny problems, and the truck just turned 40K miles. Oh yes, my alternator and the belt tensioner developed a squealing bearing at 25K miles, so they were replaced under warranty. My '93 Grand Prix had an alternator let go electrically at 36K miles. My advice: if you own a GM, odds are good you'll replace an alternator at least once before 100K miles. Replace it with a remanufactured aftermarket (quality) alternator, NOT a GM re-man! |
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Thanks for your helpful input, poisondartfrog. I need to squeeze better than 200K miles out of my 1990. At 130K so far. I managed to get 120K out of the alternator and the tranny is still going strong (knock on wood). I change the fluid somewhat regularly, but I'll take your advice and try the Mobil 1. I'm going to push another six months on the front end, but it's shot. I need to do the whole works. The good thing is that the old models are easy to work on and parts are cheap. But if you can't do the work yourself, the Blazer is definitely a rather expensive truck to upkeep. |
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| If you put deep-tread knobbie tires on a Blazer (which I wouldn't recommend), would the resulting vibration tear up the trannie any more quickly than AT M+S tires? What's a good type for 50/50 paved road & gravel driving? | |
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I'd be more worried about the bearings in the differential. I bet the crazy harmonics from the "knobby" tires on concrete/asphalt would accelerate bearing ball/race wear. I'd check www.tirerack.com for an AT tire (Michelin & Dunlop come to mind). You probably want the LT rather than the P series tire - gives you better load capability (stiffer sidewall) and 1 or 2 more plys. |
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| I bought a used 1996 blazer last april 55.000 miles i also purchased the extenedted warrenty seems my tranmission had water in it and the warrenty will not cover it. ? why would i have water in my trans/ | |
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but paying 2,350 for a new transmission |
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GM has a service bulletin about corrosion of the dipstick and corrosion of the dipstick tube. I had it on my '97 Bravada, which was fixed under the 3 yr./36K warranty. The fluid was also changed out (very iimportant). It seems the seal on the top of the dipstick is poorly designed; it allows water to get into the tube, and thus, the transmission. The source of the water can be from the passenger windshield washer nozzle/plumbing, or the water leaking past the nozzle seal. The trans dipstick is located right below! So it's two-fold - water drips into the tranny through the dipstick seal, and the rest of the water corrodes the outsie of the tube. Check the '97 Blazer forum for more instances of this problem. I would fight the warranty company on this one. As a design flaw, you shouldn't pay to replace the tranny. |
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