My Blazer Story

[Bills 97 Blazer]

Hello, I’m new to the forum and I thought I would share my story about my 97 Blazer LT that I recently purchased. First of all, I believe this is the best site on the internet, perfect for a weekend mechanic like me that has been working on cars since I was 15, that was 30 years ago.
I have almost always purchase GM cars, I have owned all different makes and they all have there pros and cons. I liked GM the best because they were the best looking, best running, most bang for the buck and easiest to get parts for.
I got my Blazer when a person at work asked me to help them put their truck on Ebay. I asked what it was and they said it was a 1997 S10 Blazer LT. I was instantly interested because I always have liked the Blazers. I asked him to tell me about it, he said it had 165,000 miles on it and the transmission was out. He also stated that the engine had a knock. I told him that I would be glad to help him put it on Ebay but it would be a lot better if it was running. I also said I might be interested, so I went to look at it. The exterior of the vehicle was excellent, no body damage, no rust and beautiful original paint. It also had new tires. The inside drivers seat was torn down below where the vinyl material starts right below the leather. I asked to start the engine and he said he had taken the water pump off because he thought that it was the source of the engine noise. So, here it was a nice looking Blazer, but engine unknown and transmission was for sure bad.

I thought about it and told him the most I could offer was $500.00 because an engine and transmission would cost around $4000.00 installed. He said he would think about it. On the following Monday morning when he came to work he said he was tired of dumping money into it and would sell it to me for $500. He told me that he had it for four years, bought it with 40,000 miles on it, and already had put one transmission in it at a cost of $1800.00. I had him help me tow it home that weekend, paid him and got the title for it.

I started to call around to local junk yards and located an engine and transmission. They wanted $675 for the engine ( 108,000 miles, 150 compression each cylinder) and $650 for the transmission.

I looked at the water pump that he had removed and decided that it was fine. I put it back on and hooked everything back up and started the engine. It did have a knock but not like a lifter, rod, bearing or piston knock. The knock also went away when I sped up the motor. The other thing was, it ran good with plenty of power. I put it in gear and it had 3rd gear forward but no reverse. I knew that the transmission needed to come out, but the engine just seemed to run to good to be replaced.
I decided to pull the transmission only, and let me tell you this, I never want to take out another Blazer transmission as long as I live. I jacked the truck up on jack stands and pulled it out with out the use of a lift. I am sure it would have been a little better with the truck on a lift, but it still would have been close to the threshold of Hell! After I got everything apart and lowered the transmission, I had a sense of jubilation because I saw the source of the engine noise, the flex plate was cracked almost all the way around the attaching bolts. After two days of complete hell taking the transmission out, I had a good thing happen, Thank God!

I got the transmission from the salvage yard and also purchased the flex plate off of the engine that I almost had to buy. They charged me $50 for the flex plate. I was ready to go. I installed the flex plate and transmission and everything thing is running and shifting great. I kept a record of the expenses to date and I am enjoying the Blazer daily. Below are my current expenses from the start until now
• Blazer $500
• Transmission $650
• Flex plate $ 50
• Oil Lines $ 150
• Seats repaired $125
• Fluid , filters $ 50
• Ball Joints $ 125

Total $1,650

The cruise doesn’t work and an O2 sensor went out the other day but I am still way ahead. I special thanks to BlazerLT and everyone on the Forum, I look here first to find solution to problems and things to look out for.

Regards, Bill

[BlazerLT]

Very good read and can you say.....SCORE!

Keep up on th repairs and get the sensors changed so it doesn't cause more problems.

I would replace the 3 O2 sensors before the cat, trust me, your fuel economy will improve a lot.

[Allbert]

I was actually wondering if your knock might have been the flex plate... I had a '70 Impala that backfired on startup one time which blew the nose cone off the starter and cracked the flex plate... it knocked off and on with different loading until I fixed it. Great Deal!!

[talonx]

Originally Posted by Allbert

I was actually wondering if your knock might have been the flex plate... I had a '70 Impala that backfired on startup one time which blew the nose cone off the starter and cracked the flex plate... it knocked off and on with different loading until I fixed it. Great Deal!!

When you guys say flex plate, do you mean the flywheel?
(that he starter drive engauges to, bolted to the torque converter)

[johnpsu]

Ive several stories about cracked flexplates on these things. Mine is having similar symptoms that of a cracked flexplate. Hopefully this summer I'll get a chance to find out.


btw nice work/find