Plethora of Issues 99 Blazer

4.3 W 4x4

I got some issues and have been perusing the search function too much and been trying to piece together everyone's solution to find my own and I got a brain freeze and thought I go and post up what I found, where I'm at and hopefully get leads. :grinyes:

First issue: When I bought the truck end of January had it in to mechanic to get checked. He stated that the 4x4 would not work, i.e front right wheel would spin although dash stated 4HI. I thought thats just dandy but since I had a 91 Blazer and that would go into 4x4 when it wanted to, I tackle it later. Few weeks after buying it, the truck kicked the SES light and it was P1870. The warranty company took care of the issue, new valve body shift kit, quite a noticeable 1-2 shift still but told thats the shift kit, anywho I diverge. Truck was down for about 2 weeks. We got 2 storms after that and 4x4 worked great. Last night coming home, not so great. The G80 kicked in which was nice. Now that the background is out of the way, I can tell you what I found. In searching for this vac ball, which is hidden and Im sure its in the drivers side fender there are 2 vac line tees. The one line snakes behind the throttle body hat, around the oil fill tube, down underneath the radiator, presumably to the front differential. Couldnt take a look today at where it connects due to snow on ground and time constraints. The other line appears to go behind distributor and towards the transmission. There is a fair amount of play in that line but not enough where the line is able to be pulled up. The right line on that tee (very small line) goes into the drivers side fender and that line is SHOT. Very very brittle, entire outer cover of it is gone. Problem is there is an ABS module there and a cruise control box I believe it is and my big paw is not fitting in there. The other tee in that area all the lines seem fine. Is this the line going to the ball and is there any way to get at it to fix it? The only other thing I could think of with this is the mechanic told me that the input/output shaft seal (didnt get the clear message since dad took the call) was leaking and I thought maybe that was causing it not to engage. Thought that due to a thread stating such.

Problem 2: (Correlates to 1 and what I think is causing it is that vacuum line.) When I got the truck, I had horrible gas mileage. Averaging around 12.7. Took it out on highway and got only 15 mpg but also that is when I kicked the P1870. After the P1870 fix, gas mileage went up to 13.8mpg, then 14.8 mpg, but I noticed I had no heat and truck was not warming up. Changed out the thermostat and topped off the system with green antifreeze since my truck was converted to green from orange. There is no dexcool in the system (probably only good thing prior owners did :) . Noticed I had air in the system but I was getting heat and I was happy. I got some help from ZL1 on the rad cap removal and had my dad take it off and thats been swapped to a non AC Delco cap. Took big highway trip Monday, got 22mpg, no air in system. Problem is this: If I have my heat selector at 1 the truck cooks. If I move it to 4, there is no heat(lukewarm) and blows very little from the left or right vents and overall compared to my dads 01 blazer it blows poorly. From searching, I keep coming across 4x4 and heat no blow threads and Im thinking that the line I mentioned above is the problem. I plan on flushing the system next weekend pending weather since I work outside on it and flushing the heater core to ensure I have good flow. The lines into the core though are extremely hot, I got hot lower and upper radiator hoses. I'm thinking that the vacuum line in question is the issue but once again the issue of how to get at it perplexes me. Another thing to go along with this is at idle, there is more air blowing out which to me would mean that since the rest of the engine would not need as much vacuum at idle as it would at drive that this would give me more air blowing.

Problem 3: (The hits keep coming, haha.) When it was into the mechanic rite after buying it, I had the serpentine belt and idler tensioner replaced. It still is making a god awful squeal/squeak and seems to get louder when driving but overall the pitch will stay the same at idle. I turned the AC onto max and it didnt make a difference but then yesterday when I was out trying to figure out the multimeter to test the ohms at the blower resistor(per the one thread I found), I thought why not try to jump the low pressure switch. I did jump it for a second and actually got it to turn. Truck was running with AC on high. I need to locate the test light to recreate the jumping of the switch to see if it takes away the squeak all together. I tried some belt dressing on it and got nowhere with it.

Problem 4: I kicked the SES light for the EVAP codes. Off top of my head cant think of them, but did replace gas cap and now smell gas more than with the old cap. When I fill the truck up, it clicks and I put nozzle back on pump. Install cap and drive home and get out and the smell is heavy in the back of the truck. When the tanks is 3/4 and emptier, no gas smell. Any ideas? Checked out the lines at the purge solenoid back by the gas tank per the one thread I came across. Couldnt locate the charcoal cannister, me thinks thats under the air filter housing and that will be a Saturday job.

Other more minor irritants: I needed to get all the brakes replaced. When it was in the first time I had the front rotors cut and ceramic pads installed. Brakes never made noise prior to going in and now all I hear when I come to a stop are the front brakes. Rear brake pads get replaced this weekend.

Rear wiper arm was bent upon buying truck, bought new one, installed it and it wont seem to come to a rest on its mount. It gets stuck. Thinking I need to back the nut off a little and run it to see if it makes a difference.

Did find a solution to the PRNDL and odometer going out through this forum and the C/K silverado forum. That one is a tad advanced for me though.

Anywho thanks in advance for any leads, suggestions, help, etc. In the meantime, I'll keep searching but I think as anyone who has ever searched extensively knows sometimes it just helps to ask the educated to narrow it down so your not continually chasing your tail on something. Ill take some pics of that hose before work and post them around 11:30PMest tonight, post work. Im off to make money to make the truck go vroom. Oh btw am getting around 16.5 mpg now.

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/3/6023355989.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic/7764022)

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/3/6023360010.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic/7764023)

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/3/6023360054.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic/7764024)

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/3/6023360027.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic/7764025)

First picture is the one of the fittings and the line on the right going towards the fender is the one I want to replace but am perplexed by how.

Second picture shows the fittings.

Third picture is of the line that has some slack but heads to I believe the tranny.

RE: problem 3 the squeek/squeal.

From your description, turning the A/C on didn't engage the A/C clutch until you bypassed the low pressure switch.

Did the sound stop when you engaged the A/C clutch? If so the noise is probably the bearing in the clutch.

You probably know not to run A/C unit using the bypass method for more than a second or 2 to test, right?

Yeh I know not to run it for more than second but I couldn't tell if it made the noise stopped since it was on/off.

The vacuum line above has been replaced. Its about 6" long and about 32 cents at the hardware store if you have a new cashier, hah. This vacuum ball of which everyone speaks and is located in the fender is what had me hung up. There is a plastic door over the ball on the inner fender due North of the ABS box between that and the firewall. I removed the two bolts holding the ABS box in and lifted that up enough to wiggle my hand in towards this plastic cover/door. The only thing protruding through this door/cover is the nipple from the vacuum ball. Took the line off there and put a rubber stopper in and it seemed to help when I turned the truck on and put the vents on. It did suck but very poorly. The line crumbled at the T and so a screwdriver facilitated removing that. I got the new line onto the T easily but it took a few attempts to get it on the nipple. Will take truck for a run later so it can get up to operating temperature and see if it has full blow.

Ac compressor kicks on when on defrost mode, it goes on for a few seconds then off. When it spins, squeak is there. Seems to be at pulley above water pump if I recall correctly. I think thats an idle pulley.

Rear wiper arm, I took the nut off holding that and tried to realign it. I am going to spray WD40 on the base and see if that helps. It just won't slide down the upper base into the rest position. Worse comes the worse I'll take off the part that is catching (part on the arm) and that will probably stop it.


The line was beyond shot and compared to others is gone. It's no longer spongy but rock hard and brittle. There is a little half inch line that comes off this tee and goes to a small line that vanishes under the truck that I want to replace next but I will have to study that one.

Tested 4x4 on snowy/muddy road and it worked flawless. Still not convinced it was because of that little line I replaced and won't be till I get into the rest of the lines on Saturday. Off to check vac lines at rear of truck.

While checking vac lines today noticed that the dust/rock protector (dont know name of part) its located behind the rotor and is circular in nature is rusted all to heck. Its flopping in the breeze. Did a search of rockauto didnt turn the part name up? Is it include with the rotor?

Couldn't really check the lines since Ill need to get it up to see whats in there. Its off to the mechanic on Monday for the transfer case seal.

Replaced the idler pulley today prior to the monsoon. PITA since the new one doesnt have all the bushings/washers like the old one and I had to transfer some over to get it right. Truck is quiet at idle but gets loud on acceleration. Im leaning towards a bad belt although it was replaced.

Belt doesn't want to sit on pulley right, seems to want to have an 1/8 of the belt off the back of the pulley. There is some play in the idler pulley a little wobble but not much and some movement in the idler tensioner, sure that though is normal.

With the rear wiper issue, is the wiper getting stuck on the window? I'm not really sure what's happening from your description. I've replaced the motor on my rear wiper on my '99 blazer three times now.

The arm was getting stuck on the window because on the back of the wiper there is a plastic tab that lets the arm sit in the base on the rear gate. I seem to have it working now, had to give it some persuasion. :)

The newer pulley has clearance issues. Took it apart and reassembled the components on it onto the old pulley. On the old style everything fits inside snug as a bug in back and out front. On the new pulley everything is wishy washy loose till its torqued down. Belt still squeals no matter what.

Fuel vapors are from big fuel leak. I took down the back half of the gas tank shield and I saw fuel leaking from the fuel filler hose. The clamp was loose. Tightened it back up(PITA) and fuel continues to leak. It's at the mechanic now for tommorows appointment and Im going to have him solve that.

Update

Mechanic fixed the leak. It was a new gas tank (we both figured as much) and they hadnt installed the fuel filler hose properly. The clamp was half under the hose and had rubbed through. He replaced that and the 2 brake lines that I pointed out to him were pretty rusty.

He replaced the rear pads because I had him take the metal plates behind the rotor off with his cutting implement.

He played with the pulley but said I need a new belt/tensioner. Tad bit of an issue there since my records indicate he replaced both. He said there was movement in the tensioner. So when I go back down in a month, Ill show him my records.

Fuel filter and grease job. Need to get some gas to replace the 1/4 tank that was lost.

Other than that, I think its ok for now. Ill keep updating this thread and helping myself :)

Update

Mechanic fixed the leak. It was a new gas tank (we both figured as much) and they hadnt installed the fuel filler hose properly. The clamp was half under the hose and had rubbed through. He replaced that and the 2 brake lines that I pointed out to him were pretty rusty.

He replaced the rear pads because I had him take the metal plates behind the rotor off with his cutting implement.

He played with the pulley but said I need a new belt/tensioner. Tad bit of an issue there since my records indicate he replaced both. He said there was movement in the tensioner. So when I go back down in a month, Ill show him my records.

Fuel filter and grease job. Need to get some gas to replace the 1/4 tank that was lost.

Other than that, I think its ok for now. Ill keep updating this thread and helping myself :)
You're a funny guy! :)

I've been away, or I would have tried to put in a word edgewize...

Haha its ok I think what happened was everyone on here is so used to having to pull teeth to get guys/ladies to diagnose their rigs so we can help and when someone gave a thorough diagnosis it just took all the fun out of guessing what was wrong and pulling teeth. Plus maybe some people were scared by the length. :)

Anywho its my trilogy that I have started and will keep going.

Haha Spectria thats like the link in my signature to a cooling problem Im trying to tackle on my sisters car. I searched that board, google and other sites for weeks, made a checklist went over it and gave them all info I had. I think i had 2 responses on it haha. Im going back to playing dumb. Lol whats the pedal next to the rectangle pedal called. :)

Update time

Took a trip over the weekend and had horrendous vibration at 65,more so than normal in the truck. Stopped for gas and smelled burning brake smell at rear of truck. Thought maybe new pads had to clearance themselves. Drove around some and drove home, gas mileage tanked, vibration bad. Thinking drivers side rear pad is stuck or not spaced properly. Took wheel off and it will go forward backward, the normal amount and the front pad looked ok but rear pad had some fragments on it. Called mechanic, who didnt seem pleased that I rang haha and he is going to check it out in the morning.

Second thing after having marginal 4x4 operation over the weekend went looking again. Dropped the splash guard in the front and the one vacuum line that I had followed earlier from the T at the fender to below the radiator I located and it was fine. I did have to replace a 5/32 line from the one component to the other. Anyone got an idea at what this is called? Next to the oil filter.

Found the oil leak to be at the lines from the radiator to the oil filter housing. Not too bad.

Did jack truck up on passenger side and engaged 4Hi can hear it engage but the tire freely spins. Thought it was not to move but oh well.

Ill keep helping myself :) but thought a bump was in order.