Got a steal on a 1992 Chevy Blazer Tahoe 4x4. It was unwanted, in too poor of shape to fix or drive. Seriously, that was the owners opinion.
Drove 70 miles to get it. Put in a battery (from the Gladiator), put some air in the tires, added a quart of oil and a half gallon of antifreeze to the engine, and drove it home. Well, maybe not quite that simple, but close.
It has been sitting for over a year, maybe nearly 2 years. The windows don't roll up, there was nearly a foot of snow on it and more inside it that had to be dug out. It's been used as a trash receptacle, filled two garbage cans with dirty diapers and other trash. Someone ripped the radio out of the dash. Most of the fuses were missing. Had to replace some light bulbs. The drivers door is about to fall off the hinges. The left passenger door doesn't open from the outside.
Back up and start over.
It really was buried in the snowbank, behind/under snow pushed up by the plow. Didn't have a shovel or even a snow brush (what WAS I thinking?), so I brushed most of the snow off the hood and windshield with my hands. Installed the battery, added oil and antifreeze. Started the engine, took a few cranks and a few coughs and wheezes, didn't want to idle at first, but then it smoothed out. Put it in 4 Lo and drove it out of the snowbank. Yep, no shoveling, except with hands to get the snow out of the seat.
Was then able to see that the only tire with air in it was the right front. Used my air tank to get about 10 psi in the other three tires and drove it about a mile to the nearest gas station with an air hose. Very slowly. Got all the tires up to 35 psi, put $20 gas in the tank, scraped more of the ice off the windshield and freed up the wiper blades, and started for home.
Got over 30 mph and it had a horrible vibration. Discovered a big chunk of ice on the inside of the left rear wheel, but didn't have anything in reach to knock it out with. Seemed to run and stop OK other than the vibration. ABS not working.
Got about 5 miles from home and the engine started coughing and sputtering going up a hill. Fortunately, the turn off the highway was soon after and then I was on a county road, because I couldn't get over 30 mph after that. Made it to the road in front of the house before the engine died. Didn't want to start, but finally got it running enough to get into the driveway. Hmmm.
About an hour later I tried it and it fired right up and seemed to run smoothly. Plugged fuel filter maybe? So, I drove it down to the neighbor's garage and jacked it up and crawled under it to look for the fuel filter. Found it, still bolted to the frame, but the fuel line had been chopped off about 6 inches either side and the filter was bypassed with a cheap piece of rubber hose and a couple of spring clamps. Mind you, this has an electric fuel pump in the tank pushing about 30-60 psi thru the line. I'm thinking "I could have gone up in a ball of flame at 60 mph on the way home". Ouch. A genny A-Hole job. That was Friday.
I was a bit concerned about getting title to the Blazer. I've been thru this before; get a fixer-upper and then not be able to get title. So, on Saturday after getting a clear title to it and new plates and tags, I'm ready to start working on it.
While looking under the hood I notice that the electrical connectors on the ABS are disconnected, plug them in.
OK, first repair. Go buy a new fuel filter and two line repair kits, about $50. I'm thinking "if the fuel filter isn't plugged, it has to be either the injector or the pickup sock on the fuel pump." So, before I installed the new filter, I put some air pressure on the line back to the pump. "Fwump!" I think I heard the sock pop off. So, if this works, I will need to replace the fuel pump, but not today.
Fired up, runs good. Wedge the windows up, they are off the roller lift and off the guides. Screws in the armrests are buried under ice and snow. Filled it up with gas, drove it around town, and let it run for about 10 hours non-stop with the heater going full blast. Dig two cans of trash out of the vehicle, vacuum as much of the snow and mud and ice and water out of the carpet and seats as I can at the car wash. Never a sputter, no drips under the vehicle when parked for several hours idling in one spot.
Crawl under the dash and find the fuse box. Most of the fuses are gone. Start replacing fuses and Ta Da! dash lights, turn signals, horn, brake lights, parking lights, gauges, all start working. Left taillight seems to be on the bright side all the time, replace the broken 2057 bulb with a new one and it starts working properly.
Sunday night (evening Jan 4) we saw -30°F. Monday morning I went out to try to drive the Blazer to work. Lifted the door handle and it went flying. OK, so I went in thru the passenger door. It started after a few tries and groans and grunts. I try to push open the drivers door, seems to be frozen shut. Well duh, after warming the car up all day Sunday and then being this cold it might be frozen shut. I let the car warm up for about 15 minutes, then try again. I can get the top of the door to open a few inches, but then can't get it closed. OK, I'll drive Vger to work.
Monday on the way home from work I picked up a Dorman replacement handle, $20 at O'Reilly's. Pull off the door panel, hose everything down with TriFlow and get the latch, lock, and window mechanisms working freely. I'm working in an unheated garage, it's about +10°F and I'm using a little portable propane sunflower to warm my hands up with. I try to snap the rod into the plastic keeper on the new handle and it snaps; just too darn cold to expect plastic to be flexible. So, hop in the Suburban (neighbor's car) and head back to O'Reilly's and buy an assortment of rod clips for $4. Find one that kinda sorta fits, warm up all the peices with a hair dryer, and install. Hey! I can now open the drivers door from outside again.
While the door is apart I look at the window situation. The drivers door window is the only one that stays up, but when I try to roll it down the front of the glass falls down pulling the upper back corner out of the track and showing me the guide that is supposed to keep the glass on the track. I already know that the other windows do NOT have the little guide clip on them, so I need to get four of them. I hope to get those tonight on the way home, O'Reilly's has the Dorman replacement part, $5 for 2, I need 4.
Drove it to work today. Runs good, Drivers door opens and closes and locks and unlocks.
The left rear door doesn't open from the outside, so I'm planning on getting another door handle this weekend and then I'll tear into that door, $20.
Drivers door sags about 3 inches when open. Hinge bushings are gone. Dorman Bushing kit is about $5 at O'Reilly's, so I plan on picking up one of them on the way home tonight as well.
The drivers door window crank was off and in the door pocket, when I looked it I could see that there were no teeth left on the inside of the crank. Picked up a new one when I got the handle, $14.
The Temp gauge sits at the bottom peg and then, after it warms up, hits the top peg, causing a "Check Gages" warning light to come on. A new temp sending unit is about $17.
The Serpentine belt has some missing chunks, about $36.
Need to drain the black sludge out of the crankcase. At this point I don't see any oil leaks, so I'm going to put some Wal-Mart brand synthetic oil in and see what happens; if it works then I will upgrade to a better synthetic next oil change. $40
I want to get a pair of new front doors, about $175 each for new shells. That's not going to happen real soon, I've got leads on some used ones but haven't heard anything back yet. So, for now, I think I will put some gorilla tape over the holes and maybe some foam-in-a-can to seal it up. Last night while working on the drivers door I had quite a battle getting the snow and ice out of the door so I could fix the handle. Blow dryer works, need to find my heat gun.
New front fenders are about $100 each.
New fuel pump is about $100.
It has two OK rear tires, 235/75/R15 on the rear, and two marginal 235/75/R15 tires on the front. Door sticker recommends 205/75R15. I figure I should be able to get 4 new 205/75/R15 M+S tires for about $520.
Need to find a spare tire. Haven't actually measured it yet, but I think these are 4.75 on 5 rims, not 5 on 5 like the rest of my 15" GM rims. And, they are not the steel rims but the aluminum ones, although I'd take a steel one for a spare.
So, roughly speaking, I think I've got a winter beater 4x4 for about $200, and a pretty decent 4x4 possible for well under $2000. Better deal than the Red Horizon.
What a steal. As soon as I get a few moments I will get a photo and add it to my Vehicle Summary lineup.
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