When the Fiero keeled over on my on Friday night, Cindy and I made an emergency car purchase on Saturday.

We planned to drive around and shop a bit for a vehicle, but at the first dealership we came across, we found a deal we couldn't refuse...

2000 Chevy Blazer four door, 142,000 miles in better than good condition.

The body is rust free except for the rear bumper, which needs to be cleaned and painted.
The rear receiver hitch is quite rusty, but the frame itself is clean with no flaking. It looks like someone swapped in a rusty class three hitch.

The frame underneath is very clean.

It even came with remote start and keyless entry.
Power seats, power mirrors, push button four wheel drive (which works great)...

KBB lists the Blazer in Excellent condition with that mileage for 5800 bucks (give or take a little bit)...
We paid 3500.
The ABS light would turn on whenever we would start driving.

Discovered that the ABS fuse was pulled under the hood.
When we asked why (prior to purchase), we were told that the reason it was so cheap was because the wiring to the front driver side ABS sensor in the bearing had a break in it.

We decided to buy the truck anyway after the drive, and some discussion.

When I put a scanner on the system, the error code was specific, and stated "intermittent signal from driver's wheel sensor"...

Putting the fuse back in brought the ABS system back into line, and the light has only kicked on once after making a HARD U-Turn to the left...

Other than that issue, a blown speaker in the passenger front door and the rear wiper not working, everything else works great...


Soooo... Now I am looking for information on free/cheap modifications from fellow owners...

I will be doing the "Quad Headlight" mod that allows all four lights on during high beam.
I'd like to add power seats to the truck, but am unsure whether the wiring harness includes the connectors or not..
Same for the "Tow" package...
Does anyone here do BCM reprogramming to enable extra features? Is it even possible?

I signed up on www.blazerforum.com.

Any more input?

The rear wiper is a bad motor. It's not hard to replace and it's nice to have. The high beam mod really isn't necessary and doesn't do a whole lot. When the high beams are on you have your light aimed well above the road and you don't light up the closer things which actuallymakes your distant vision better. Having the low beams on with the highs will actually wash out the distant stuff and the high beams lose some of their effect. That's why on older cars that have 4 lights that light up with the high beams the headlamps have dual filaments.....to get the light off of the roadway immediately in front of you.

quote Originally posted by Firefox: The rear wiper is a bad motor. It's not hard to replace and it's nice to have. The high beam mod really isn't necessary and doesn't do a whole lot. When the high beams are on you have your light aimed well above the road and you don't light up the closer things which actuallymakes your distant vision better. Having the low beams on with the highs will actually wash out the distant stuff and the high beams lose some of their effect. That's why on older cars that have 4 lights that light up with the high beams the headlamps have dual filaments.....to get the light off of the roadway immediately in front of you.

Thanks Mark..

Yeah, we tested the motor after we got it home.. Turned the key on, hit the switch, and helped the motor along it's journey...
Appears it is a pretty common failure.

I understand Re: the lighting.. I am spoiled by my projector setup on the Fiero with the HIDs, and would like to replicate the lighting as much as possible... I am actually looking at a set of HID projector housings for the S10 series trucks that would be a direct bolt in.

I have also been reading up on the Corvette Shift Solenoid upgrade for the transmission, along with a few other performance tweaks.

We averaged 18 a gallon pulling the teardrop to Grand Rapids on Saturday.. I'd like to improve that with a PCM retune, but that may have to wait a bit.

keep a few sets of fuel pumps handy. they tend to take a dump every 10k - 15k.

Front end parts.....
I owned a GMC Jimmy. I got so I could change out a ball joint in no time!

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86 GT
87 coupe restoration project.

quote Originally posted by HI-TECH: keep a few sets of fuel pumps handy. they tend to take a dump every 10k - 15k.

Ditto, try not to run it on less than a half of a tank.

My 2000 ZR2 Blazer was a mess and my friend that I sold it to is still trying to figure some things out...on the other hand, my Father's 97 Blazer (pretty much the same thing) is going on 260,xxx miles and he loved it so much he bought another 2000 Blazer.

In my opinion the Blazer was a very solid SUV and you still see tons of them running around. My ZR2 was just a basket case...wonder if it's related to my Fiero?

Gotta go two thumbs up, on the Corvette solenoid.

I had that, and a shift kit installed 6 years ago, when my transmission conked out.
Tranny shop figured the prev owner did some water crossings, and didn't change the fluid.
Burned up the clutch disc linings.

Now I get rubber on both tires at half throttle, from first to second gear.
More solid shifting for pulling a heavy trailer, too.

Usefull vehicle,
I get a lot of use out of mine.

The ABS issue could be the pickup sensor in the bearing hub, (Corrosion issue) The solution would be to replace the hub/sensor assembly ($350). The port injectors have been known to leak, the solution is to replace the port system with a mini-injector kit ($450), I traded my 2001 Blazer with 155,000 miles only because my wife said we needed to avoid replacing my car and her car at the same time. Otherwise I would still have my Blazer at 220,000 miles.

The one thing i notice about those blazers is they all seem to have the original shocks that only kinda work. I suspect the stock ones didn't really work very well new, much less 10-15 years down the line. I'd throw a good quality set on myself. I've done them at work and it does seem to make quite a difference. I also second the updated injector, as it gets rid of the poppet nozzle's and places the injector solenoid down at the nozzle where it belongs. Those definitely work much better than the originals.

Though it's not a Blazer, I have a 94 S10 Thant I've owned for 15 years. My son, who is away at college, drives it and it's bee VERY reliable. The one time it broke down was due to the MSD coil failing( I put an AC Delco one back on). It did have an ABS sensor fail on the front left side, but the parts were about $53 from O'Reilley's. Speaking of ABS, that's the only part of the truck that's struck me as a little disconcerting; slamming on the brakes is definitely a weird experience. The only other things I've replaced is the AC compressor (it still worked, but it was getting noisy) and an alternator. The 4.3 engine is a solid engine that generally does 150,000 miles without any issue. BTW, my son graduates this May; when he decides to buy his own wheels, I'm getting the S10 back and I'll drive it until it quits.

[This message has been edited by carnut122 (edited 09-20-2011).]

You might look into Olds Bravada interior upgrades.

quote Originally posted by fastblack: Ditto, try not to run it on less than a half of a tank. My 2000 ZR2 Blazer was a mess and my friend that I sold it to is still trying to figure some things out... My ZR2 was just a basket case...wonder if it's related to my Fiero?

My 96 Jimmy was the worst vehicle I've ever owned. I've heard that they were hit & miss vehicles. I definitely struck out on mine!
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86 GT
87 coupe restoration project.

[This message has been edited by nmw75 (edited 09-20-2011).]

The '96 Jimmy that I have has been an outstanding vehicle. I've got 160,000 miles on it and I've had no major repairs that weren't considered maintenance. I replaced rear springs but I tow heavy at times. I still have the original fuel pump in it but I'm going to change it as a precaution. This way I get to pull the tank when it's empty insted of full. I just replaced the intake manifold gasket on the Vortec 4.3 and it was a lot easier than I expected and it lasted longer than I expected, also. I love this truck.

My brother has a '98 Blazer and he's had the same luck on his truck. He bought his new and now has 120,000 miles on it....nothing major to fix. Again, outstanding vehicle.

Well, the alternator appears to be a bit wonky on the truck...
Starting the truck, the alternator gauge sits at about 10 volts for thirty seconds before slowly working up to just under 14 at idle. Driving the truck with or without accessories, the alternator gauge doesn't seem to move.

I am heading to Oreilly's during lunch to look at the AD244 145 amp alternator from a GMC Yukon Denali...
Direct bolt in, you just use a belt that is one inch longer. Increased amperage at idle and higher output when running.

I am also going to do the "Big Three" upgrade, as they call it.
Upgrade the alternator charging wire to 4 gauge cable, provide a heavier ground from the battery to the engine, and provide a heavier ground from the engine to the chassis.

Numerous discussions about this upgrade out there... Should take care of charging/running issues.

Had a "Random Misfire" the other day when towing the camper. Reset the code, have not seen it since.
I understand the original "poppet" style injectors can cause this...
In the comment above, the injector upgrade was mentioned. I am looking into this... If I start seeing "random misfire" codes or get hard start issues, I'll be doing the full tuneup with iridium plugs and new everything... Then we can dig deeper if we need to.