Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

[roscoe]

Wondering what kind of milage to expect in the real world, mostly highway at 55 mph??<br /><br />Found a real clean one, '96, 112,000, loaded, leather, tow package, new tires, free door dings and three small rust spots included. <br /><br />Dealer is standing firm @ $4100<br /><br />Edit: Did the Carfax thing, only 2 owners. The last one is local, he put 64,000 on it in 2.5 years.<br /><br />Been waiting for dad to sell me his truck for 3 years, but can't wait any longer.<br /><br />Any info or opinions.

 

[rwise]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

roscoe<br />I had a 92 s10 blazer 4x4, 4.3l v6, it was verry reliable. the fuel mialage was about the same as a v8, lots of go power! We sold it at 220,000 miles, and never had any major problems with it. It did blow a seal on the oil cooling/filtering unit that was up on the fender at about 80,000 miles. It happened to the wife on the highway, she drove it home with no oil in it, about 45 minutes!!! After that it had a "tap" in the moter and our joke was "it knocked reliabley for 140,000 miles" I would not hesitate to buy another one (except for fuel mialage). I only tuned it up one time at 120,000 miles, plugs, wires, gas filter, cap, bug, and the only thing it needed then was the gas filter! I changed each part and the drove it, the gas filter was the only change! Still spot it around town, so it is still going!

 

[ndemge]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

I had a '94 S-10 Blazer 4.3 "W"<br /><br />Reliable, It is pretty small on the cargo, but put that puppy in 4-low and it'll pull the balls off a rhino.<br /><br />Not the best on gas, but not horrible.<br /><br />Pulled a few overloaded trailers a few times and it did ok, good power.<br /><br />The miliage it is at, it is about due for the intake gasket to leak, a cheap fix if you do it yourself.<br /><br />www.s-10forum.com is a great resource if you do buy it.

 

[bluewater19]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

I have a 1999 gmc suburban and get 13 mpg towing our 17 ft boat on long trips.<br />My father has a 1996 jimmy 4x4(same as your blazer) with 105,000 and he tells me 17-21 mpg on the freeway.<br />Anyway my fuel pump went out on the suburban right before a camping trip and my dad let me borrow the jimmy.<br />That thing tows almost as well as my suburban, BUT! I only got 10.2mpg towing with it. It kind of shocked me. <br />My father has been a gm tech for over 20 years and this was the first suv he bought. He ordered it with the 3.42 limited slip rearend for towing and the high output vortec. I have to say for v-6 it handled the hills towing the boat very well.<br />He is now looking for a new suv and I think I will be buying his jimmy when he sells it.<br />I would buy that truck in a minute if I knew it was well taken care of.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

I had a 1990 S-10 Blazer. Sold it at just under 200,000 miles. Very reliable and easy to work on yourself. Parts are easy to find and cheap. This was the 4.3L V-6 4X4. Spent alot of time off road and it always got me home. Great Truck.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

Got some other mpg feedback from coworkers. It seems that 14-24mpg depending on driving habits and which rear end gears. This one has the Vortec and 3.42 gears also, which was the "middle" set available, also available were 3.08 and 3.73.<br /><br />It is at "my" mechanic today, getting the 4x4 and other mechanicals checked out. All I could find wrong was a bad shock on the rear window, and it needs a new serpentine belt.<br /><br />Just spoke with the last owner. She lives about 10 miles from me, and used the Blazer to drive 55 miles each way to work, all highway, no towing. Says she got 18-20mpg, but only checked it once in awhile, when her husband asked her to.<br /><br />If the mechanicals are ok, I just may have to buy this one.

 

[Formula1974]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

buy it I payed more for my 95 last year then that with more miles. The usual stuff went bad and had to be replaced (alt, starter, fuel injector, U-joints) but it is a great truck no matter. the 4 wheel drive on this works great. Mine is right above 196000 miles.<br /><br />Ps. one more thing that broke on it that was a real pain was the back gate window release motor. The motor has a little tiny piece of plastic that connects to the window latch and will only open by pushing the electric button. One day mine would make the noise but the glass wouldnt open and no glass then no gate opening. I had to climb over the seat and almost just about break my back door panel off to repair it with an aluminum bracket I made. There are 2 screws on the back door panel you should take them out and clip the holes so the panel will slide off of the screws and then tighten the screws back down. you wont see this in the spot that its in but it will save you from buying a new door panel or having a great big hole in your old one.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

Thanks for the heads up Formula.<br />Very valuable info.<br /><br />I mentioned it to a friend at work tonight, same thing happened to her. Her hubby darn near ripped the tailgate off with his big truck, he was so mad. Anyway, they got the window release fixed, and liked your idea on how to lessen the damage if it happens again.

 

[rwise]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

Roscoe<br />There were little things that went wrong with mine but I figure thats with any car/truck! One thing I did not mention is they do not like flood water and the front spindle bearings are costly! So try to keep the front end out of deep water. Found this out right after we moved here, had a verry heavy rain and waded flood waters to out, about a week later, new bearings. Didn't think to much about it, lots of miles at that point. Next time it rained heavy same thing! Maybe they fixed that on the newer ones.

 

[NathanY]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

Have a 1999 GMC S-15 Jimmy, and love it. Pulls my 2500lb boat great. MPG is 16/20. 104,000 miles and counting.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

My brother has a 99 S10 ext cab 4 cyl with 4l60E (I think thats what its called). The only prob he has had was with the tranny. It just started acting up on him one day. He was able to doctor it to last a few weeks more for town driving but that was all. This tranny is the 700R4 made over fully electronic. It cost him $1460 something to be fixed and that was not a complete rebuild. A complete was gonna run around $2200. Be sure and find out what it has before jumping to big. This is a very common problem as you will see on the S10 forums.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

Yep, same trans.<br /><br />I was gonna dump my 88 Safari van real cheap.<br />But I just rebuilt the trans 14,000 miles ago.<br />Maybe I should keep it for parts <br />But my old one probably wouldn't work in the Blazer anyway. Or would it.<br /><br />Well, it came back with a pretty clean bill of health.<br />All engine campaigns are up to date. <br />Said it looked great on the computer.<br />4 x 4 looks to be up to snuff, and brakes are good.<br /><br />So it looks like I wil buy it on Monday. Get them to put on a new belt, the window shock, and a better spaare tire. I'm gonna ask for new shocks all around too, but can't imagine they will go for that. Not at that price.

 

[bluewater19]

Re: Chevy Baby Blazer info / opinon

88 safari has a 700-r4 not the 4l60E.<br />They are not the strongest tranny in the world.<br />You can get a complete B&M traveler 4l60E from summit racing for 1700. It is hopped up for towing. This is what I plan on doing if the one in my suburban ever gives me fits.