Thanks! I previously had 5 Dodges prior to test driving the Tundra and the funny thing is my Dodge trucks were assembled in Mexico and my Tundra was assembled in Texas.
We have a Factory Odd Ball, its an AWD Chevy Blazer. Being Full Time 4wd has actually been really nice in the 4 months of really bad weather and the remaining 5 months total of rainy weather. Yes it sucks in the 3 months of dry summer weather, because the gas mileage is in the low 20's. I do however feel safe when my wife is driving it in 2 feet of snow with my 3 year old daughter and my 2 month old daughter. Its got leather, power windows, power locks, remote start, nice stereo, A/C and the overhead display even warns when there is ice on the road.
I have tried to get it stuck in our worst snow and it just keeps going. I know if I tried to take it wheeling it would get stuck, but as a pavement princess its the best thing we have ever owned I tired taking our 2000 GTP with Traction Control and all that jazz out, it was useless, my Fiero's do better than the GTP.
We have done nothing "performance or jacking" with the Blazer, but we have done new ball joints up front, both upper and lower, new brakes on all 4 corners, new front wheel bearings on both sides. We did have a friend raise the front of the truck a bit with the torsion bars as he said it was sitting lower than it should. We just put new Snow/Ice/Mud tires on the truck and it is great.
I tow a trailer with it as well and am really happy with it.
My wife really wants a Bush Bar for it, so we will probably put that and nice Chrome Running Boards on the truck.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
[This message has been edited by Capt Fiero (edited 12-24-2012).]
Bravada in Blazer clothing. Nice. What year is that? '95? You're doing well to get 20 mpg. My '04 Blazer (which hasn't seen 4wd in a couple years) gets 17 average.
[This message has been edited by Monkeyman (edited 12-24-2012).]
Its a 96 the 20mpg is mixed city highway, on Pure Highway, and I do mean pure highway. Fill up at station next to onramp, and fill up at next freeway off ramp we do get closer to 25-26 on our runs between Surrey BC and Aurora Oregon. One of the things I did that helped was Replaced Dist Shaft, due to odd miss that turned out to be bad dist gear. Replaced the spider assembly, installed new Accell Cap and Rotor, installed new GOOD wires, and E3 spark plugs. Runs like a top pulls harder on hills than when we first bought it and gets better mileage on the highway. We have yet to go through emissions with it, but I feel it'll pass with flying colours. The bad side is if I drive it with a heavy foot pure in town driving it falls to about 15mpg. I run android Torque on it to watch the fuel economy in real time and over the length of a trip.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
Bravada in Blazer clothing. Nice. What year is that? '95? You're doing well to get 20 mpg. My '04 Blazer (which hasn't seen 4wd in a couple years) gets 17 average.
What do you know about the speed Governor on those Blazers. It really annoys me, its set at 100 mph. I know its an AWD SUV and not a sports car, but 100 mph is a joke. I have the cruise set at 80 mph on a regular basis and when I need to pass someone, I like to drop my foot to the floor and pass as quickly as I can, which usually puts right smack into the governor. Its more than stable at 80 mph. About the only thing is after a long trip (anything over 30 miles) when I get off the highway I get a small oil smell, kinda like the smell you would get if you took a sniff out of the oil fill hole after a long run. I checked PCV type stuff and it all looks fine. Well back to the Speedo thing. Is there a mechanical way around that, or does it really have to be done in the ECM. We don't have a spare ECM to ship out, and I am assuming there is no chip, and that the entire ECM has to be sent out for modding.
We have done a ton of work to the drive train to make it as reliable and get as good of gas mileage as we can. Because we are in Canada and can pay up to 6.75 a gallon for gas during the summer. (its currently at 4.80 a gallon and we are in heaven) I will be adding an MSD box as well. Hope that bumps us up at least a couple more MPG.
I do have to say those E3 Plugs are actually doing what they claim. I am really happy with them.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
Must be a Canadian thing. I've had mine above 100 a few times. The only way to change any of the settings is through the ECM. I don't know who's doing that sort of stuff these days.
Must be a Canadian thing. I've had mine above 100 a few times. The only way to change any of the settings is through the ECM. I don't know who's doing that sort of stuff these days.
Is yours an AWD version?
We are fighting with an emissions related issue right now. It passes all the tests on the dyno except the NOX output. Which is usually from a lean condition or something causing too high of combustion chamber temps. However that is a whole different topic.
I was taking it out and doing what I always do before an emission test, beating the hell out of it. 1st through 3rd redline, and some extended high speed freeway runs. I basically find an open stretch and set the cruise at around 90mph. I wanted to double check that speed governor and sure enough as soon as the speedo read 160 (100mph) it shut down. Really makes me mad as the truck has tons of power and would easily get to 120mph.
I wonder if it is related to the AWD transfer case. I guess it would be like taking a normal 4wd putting it into 4 high and trying to run over 100mph. Probably not recommended.
I did have one scare though that I am going to need to get onto s10 forums and ask about. I was doing my 90mph cruise and was coming into some traffic, I switch lanes and was about to pass a person when they decided they would let me by, not realizing that I had already switched into that lane. So I had to jam on the brakes as they came right into my path. I went to hit the brakes and the pedal was rock solid, and not in a good way. It went down about an inch and stopped completely. I had basically no brakes. It did not go to the floor it just stopped. To me it felt like the ABS pump that is suppose to pulse the brakes locked shut for no apparent reason. Really kinda scary for a second. I quickly lifted from the brakes and hit it again, after 2 quick taps they freed up and went back to normal. I drove the truck in traffic for about 6hrs yesterday putting various chemicals into the fuel tank and re-testing emissions. After 3 tests at $23 each, and 30 bucks worth of stuff, I finally gave up.
I am guessing its the FPR inside the intake is not letting enough fuel pressure and that is the problem. I will keep fiddling with it and eventually just give in and pull the intake off to replace the regulator. Its not too bad I have already replaced the spider assembly once.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
Mine's strictly 4 wheel drive. I'm not sure how good it would be to run it in 4wd at those speeds but I don't see why the tcase would shut anything down. The owners manual says not to run it in 4wd faster than 50 mph but with an AWD truck, that shouldn't apply.
I'd try some Seafoam if you have it up there. Are you throwing any codes? Could be an issue with the cat or an O2 sensor. I think there are 2 O2 sensors, one each before and after the cat. The forward one is supposed to be a ***** to change as it's tough to get to. I wonder if unplugging one or both sensors would help. It should richen it up a bit.
No idea on the brakes. Even if the ABS fails, you should still have brakes, just no ABS. Maybe you have a piece of dirt in a line. When you tapped the brakes, did it disengage the cruise? The switch that disengages the cruise is on the brake pedal linkage (from the pedal to the pivot assy inside the cab). I'm not sure if that could catch on the pedal if it got loose but it's something you might want to check.
Mine's strictly 4 wheel drive. I'm not sure how good it would be to run it in 4wd at those speeds but I don't see why the tcase would shut anything down. The owners manual says not to run it in 4wd faster than 50 mph but with an AWD truck, that shouldn't apply.
I'd try some Seafoam if you have it up there. Are you throwing any codes? Could be an issue with the cat or an O2 sensor. I think there are 2 O2 sensors, one each before and after the cat. The forward one is supposed to be a ***** to change as it's tough to get to. I wonder if unplugging one or both sensors would help. It should richen it up a bit.
No idea on the brakes. Even if the ABS fails, you should still have brakes, just no ABS. Maybe you have a piece of dirt in a line. When you tapped the brakes, did it disengage the cruise? The switch that disengages the cruise is on the brake pedal linkage (from the pedal to the pivot assy inside the cab). I'm not sure if that could catch on the pedal if it got loose but it's something you might want to check.
Honestly I don't know why, but I belive its a fuel cut-off that shuts down the injectors at 100mph as it goes Full Power and then Waa, Nothing until the speed drops a bit.
The truck actually has 3 O2 sensors, one in each bank and one after the Cat. We have replaced all 3 of them.
As to the brakes, I don't believe a piece of dirt would have caused this or the cruise switch, yes the cruise shut off and when I hit the button again after it came back on just fine. I was pressing so hard on the pedal I thought I was going to bend the thing. We had a similar issue once before and it turned out to be related to the wheel speed sensors.
The truck is a Blazer, however from the guys I have spoke to at a couple shops its a factory odd ball. Its basically an Oldsmobile Bravada drivetrain under the Blazer body. Its really a neat truck and in some ways its more relaxing to drive than our 2000 Grand Prix GTP. Tons of get up and go, just not near as quick after 60mph as our GTP, or as smooth at 80mph as the GTP. Kinda funny, but when we first got the GTP, we were on a family vacation with our 3 year old daughter in the back seat, the entire trip my wife kept giving me crap for speeding. She decided to drive, and I glanced over at the speedo and got to give her crap, I told her to look down at the speedometer. She was doing 82mph in a 65mph zone, and had no idea, as the GTP just sails along so nicely compared to the Blazer. However the GTP IS USELESS in the Snow. In the Blazer I don't mind zipping along at 60mph in a Blizzard, the GTP I am lucky if I can get within 10mph of the speed limit on the highway, and if a parking lot even has so much as a small slant to it with ice, I can just give up.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
Got myself a "new" car today. 04 BMW X5 4.4i. Has premium package, cold weather package, rear entertainment, power everything. Has had new tires, alternator and battery in the last 500 miles. Got it for $500. Only running on bank 2. I took bank 1 apart today and found the intake camshaft is broken off after the first lobe. Ordered a used head with a 6 month warranty for $1100 shipped. Should have it on the road for around $2000 total with the purchase of the truck.
What do you know about the speed Governor on those Blazers. It really annoys me, its set at 100 mph. I know its an AWD SUV and not a sports car, but 100 mph is a joke. I have the cruise set at 80 mph on a regular basis and when I need to pass someone, I like to drop my foot to the floor and pass as quickly as I can, which usually puts right smack into the governor. Its more than stable at 80 mph. About the only thing is after a long trip (anything over 30 miles) when I get off the highway I get a small oil smell, kinda like the smell you would get if you took a sniff out of the oil fill hole after a long run. I checked PCV type stuff and it all looks fine. Well back to the Speedo thing. Is there a mechanical way around that, or does it really have to be done in the ECM. We don't have a spare ECM to ship out, and I am assuming there is no chip, and that the entire ECM has to be sent out for modding.
We have done a ton of work to the drive train to make it as reliable and get as good of gas mileage as we can. Because we are in Canada and can pay up to 6.75 a gallon for gas during the summer. (its currently at 4.80 a gallon and we are in heaven) I will be adding an MSD box as well. Hope that bumps us up at least a couple more MPG.
I do have to say those E3 Plugs are actually doing what they claim. I am really happy with them.
Take out the gauge cluster or BCM fuse and it should take out the governer. It will kill the speedo though.
I have an '89 Z-71 4x4 with a 350 and auto trans. Nice body but I don't care for the engine and tranny combo.
We have a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer that my wife bought new in Colorado in late 2002 and now has 196,000 miles.
I like the older Ford 4x4s a lot but I bought a '78 Chevy 4x4 pickup with a 350 crate engine already installed in 1998 and put more than 200,000 miles on it and it never once failed me, got stuck in snow drifts only once and I wish I had it now because I think this '89Chevy 4x4 is a POS by comparison. "Pretty" doesn't make it reliable.
BTW, my '78 with overload springs could haul 2200lbs of concrete and not even complain a bit. It had a hard time passing a gas station, though.
[This message has been edited by starlightcoupe (edited 02-03-2013).]
Here is my daily driver. 2002 Audi Allroad. 2.7L Twin Turbo. AWD 5 Speed Auto/Tiptronic Currently 250 whp (Soon to be about 310 hp after some mild tuning) Currently 0-60 in 6.8 sec. Top speed limited to 130. Not sure what it would be without the limiter, but the Audi guys say 165+ Adjustable suspension ranges from 5.6" of ground clearance at level one to 8.2" at level four.
I like to cruise around in the heavy snow and pull X5's out of the ditch.
My toy 2004 Silverado 4 door 8ft bed 4 wheel drive
How do you park that in the shopping centre?
------------------ Speed never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary is what gets you! Blue Mountains Fiero's Hawkesbury Hydrogen, More Km per tank Ghost Hill Water Wholesalers Ghost hill Photography Hawkesbury Electronics Repair Service {HERS} Australia 86 gold SE 85 red SE 01161412119530
