Repairing 1997 S-10 LS Blazer

[Off Road Bella]

I had to park my Blazer, (I really miss driving it), it was burning motor anti-freeze really bad and there is an oil leak as well. so far have been told
that the intake manifold gasket needs replacing, oil cooler lines adapter, oil cooler line Rad, (wondering if its the same thing), valve cover gasket also leaking.
so my question is, this truck has over 314000kms on it right now, what other areas should be looked at that needs to be replaced with that kinda mileage and what to keep an eye on. I have had a rad flush done, idler, pitman air replaced upper and lower ball joints, I know there were other repairs made as well, which I would have to find the paperwork for. and any advise you may have would be greatly appreciated thank you so much.

 

[Mooseman]

I had a cracked head on my 2000 Jimmy so that is also a possibility. You should do a compression test to be sure.

 

[Chickenhawk]

If you get clunking under the floor pan, replace the rubber mounts for the torsion bars.

You pretty much need a lift because you have to use a long pry bar to get the new ones in. If you are doing it yourself, if they can't slide in, try grinding off the ends of the mounting bolts a bit. (Once you try it, you will see what I mean.)

 

[Off Road Bella]

Thank you for your advise, going through the truck this weekend and seeing what needs to be replaced.

 

[bigytwotone]

So is there more to look at??? im thinking U joints, front suspension, rear suspension, 4x4, compression, spark plugs, fuel filter, diff fluid's front and rear, transmission fluid. what else am i missing??? oh how hard is it to do the transfer case fluid change??

 

[Mooseman]

Yeah, they're nice little trucks. I actually miss mine because it didn't suck as much gas and a lot less trouble than my current TB.

 

[Chickenhawk]

If you are changing plugs, budget two full hours for five of the six plugs plus four additional hours for the sixth. (I am not kidding.)

 

[bigytwotone]

what why???? well we are going to look tomorrow

 

[AbsoluteZero]

I suspect there's enough similarity between your 97 and my 95 engine that my experience might apply.

I've changed the lower manifold gasket twice. Once because their was an external leak where coolant was dripping on the garage floor. Again when I thought there was a leak but was wrong... another story. On the 95 the distributor has to be removed to get the lower manifold off. Since I don't do this for a living I took several pictures to mark the relative position of the distributor and rotor. When reinstalling it will only go back in one way and have the correct alignment. I found when removing, the helical distributor gear would slghtly turn the oil pump that drives the distributor. It took some trial and error to align correctly. In fact I made a tool using a long piece of 1/2 copper tubing that I could slip down the hole and turn the oil pump slightly.

If you have the remote oil filter and in-radiator oil cooler there's 2 sets of lines, one from the engine to the oil filter adapter and another set from the oil filter adaptor to the radiator.
Dorman makes replacement assemblies for both. I had to replace the engine to oil filter adapter because of leaks. On the 95 there's a brace that couples the engine to the transmission that had to be removed. Clearance was tight. It helps to have a stubby swivel-head ratchet for the bolt on the block. Also it took a very long extension setup to reach the bolt holding the adapter to the block.

The spark plug Chickenhawk is referring to is probably the one behind the steering shaft. I found if I removed the lower steering shaft it made access easy for several of the plugs. I had removed this shaft previously to rebuilt the rag joint so it was fairly easy since I've done it before. Most don't do it this way and use a universal on the plug socket. Many plugs were more easily accessed thru the wheel well.
By the way if you determine you rag joint is worn I probably can find a link or some photos of how I rebuilt mine using a Dorman part and some 3/8" bolts.
Hope some of this is helpful

 

[bigytwotone]

Any pic's would be great we are slowly going over this truck from bumper to bumper and even though we are not mechanic's we are gong to try and fix everything so what ever tips you got post them up we would love to see pic's to thanks guys.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

I had some play in the steering. After investigating I found over time the rag joint had some play. It's attached to the lower steering shaft and only replaced as an unit.... expensive.
Anyway I took some pictures of how I replaced the coupling. I don't recall dimensions so you should verify the Dorman 31002 couple has the correct dimensions for the 97.
I drilled and ground off the rivets in the original joint and replaced the coupler with the Dorman 31002 and put back together with 3/8" bolts.
You can see if the lower steering shaft is removed it gives access to the plug with close clearance.

 

[jrSS]

I know a guy from where I work that is selling his 2000 blazer. Really nice condition. White and only thing he's done after market wise was added some 20" wheels

 

[bigytwotone]

i don't think she is going to buy a new truck we are trying to fix this one and give it to her daughter and then Off Road Bella is going to buy Trailblazer

 

[Off Road Bella]

Here are Pictures, of process with repairing the Blazer, Sorry I am just sticking these pictures on for now, hopefully that is alright until I can get more familiar with parts and part names etc... This chicky is learning and wow there is so much to learn and trying to wrap my brain around the whats what... but most of all its just nice to see how everything comes together and understand whats being said and how to solve the problem or fix it in my case. so cool....

View attachment 19360

Throttle was so dirt I couldn't Believe how dirty it was...

 

[HTUSA]

If you are changing plugs, budget two full hours for five of the six plugs plus four additional hours for the sixth. (I am not kidding.)

Remove the drivers side wheel, and then peel back the fender cover. Makes changing that spark plug so much easier. When I figured this out after changing plugs for the 4th time, I wanted to scream. Changing that plug now would take me less than 10 minutes with a good swivel.

 

[Off Road Bella]

Thanks for your advice, greatly appreciated.... We are doing that this weekend, I an going to download more pictures, with the progress.

 

[woody79]

Love following along with your project. Hands on is the only way to get experience in my opinion. I started with close to knowing nothing about fixing cars, but have learned a lot from this community

Keep the pics coming

 

[Off Road Bella]

Here are some more Pictures; the back end the def. is going to be spray painted black I think it will look great and will clean it up a bit.

View attachment 19458

right now cleaning up the parts and replacing new parts, its so nice to see how it is coming together ..... so cool.....

 

[Off Road Bella]

the Manifold gaskett is completely shot, its being replaced for sure, and the bolt that is holding the leaf springs is a stubborn piece of you know what%&^&^, using a hack saw to cut it, tried to hammer it won't even move a inch. well one way or another its coming out.

View attachment 19469

 

[Mooseman]

Good project you have going there. Seeing that engine open brings back memories of when I had to do mine with the cracked head. It was a good little truck after that.

 

[Off Road Bella]

yeah sure is a project, having a rough time with cutting the bolt off the leaf springs, next weekend, going to try a different blade to cut off that bolt. and also hope to try and get U bolts for the leaf springs, hope I can get them..... the spark plugs are in... broke my first spark plug, (crap!!!!)... tighten it way to much.... learned quickly though, and so is the manifold gasket. so nice to see the truck coming back together again.....

 

[Mooseman]

Learned a long time ago to use antiseize on just about everything, including spark plugs . I also bought a torch set for the most stubborn bolts. Another possible solution would be to use an angle grinder to cut it off.

 

[bigytwotone]

we cant get the angle grinder in close enough i thought of that but theirs not enough room so we have a reciprocating saw.

 

[Off Road Bella]

well the saw didnt work, either did the hack saw either, dulled the blades, and took way too long. had to get a grinder and it was done very quickly.

 

[Off Road Bella]

My blazer is final done and on the road..... so excited this is happening........ I will have to get pictures and post them.....

 

[Short Bus]

My blazer is final done and on the road..... so excited this is happening........ I will have to get pictures and post them.....

 

[woody79]

My blazer is final done and on the road..... so excited this is happening........ I will have to get pictures and post them.....

Well done!

 

[Off Road Bella]

I am so upset I had more before photos of the blazer repairs on my cellphone, then at a family reunion, I had my phone in my pocket and I was thrown into the pool and I lost all my photos, that is so nuts, sure learnt my lesson, well the upside now is I have a new phone and I have taken the after photos. I am so excited that my blazer is back on the road View attachment 22356
looks so good.