TTAC Contributor Ingvar writes:
The family household beater has a limp. It’s a 1993 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer, four door, with the 4.3. It’s original country of purchase was Germany, at least it says so on the dealer engraved license frame. Sometime in its life it moved to Sweden, my mother bought it from a neighbor some four years ago. She needed it to have as a trailer truck dragging the horse trailer around, so it only sees occasional use.
However, from the start, it has had a small but significant lean to the front right, as though the frame was slightly bent. If that is the case, what could we do about it? And if it isn’t, what is it then? Shock absorbers, or wheel alignment, or something else?
I haven’t had it checked, the only thing I have done, is usual maintenance, oil shifts, and getting air in the tires. Please Sajeev, you are my only hope.
Sajeev answers:
Seriously, I’m far from your only hope: there are plenty of American car savvy folks in your corner of Europe. Perhaps you should attend a gathering of the American Car Club of Sweden? Even if nobody owns a Chevy truck (yeah right!) there’ll be a wrench-savvy member who’d love to scope out your Blazer. Maybe for free.
While you get what you pay for, a little knowledge goes a long way. Frame damage is obvious if the Blazer fails a bilprovningen, wanders like mad at high speeds or has odd tire wear that an alignment cannot fix. My guess is worn out metal and rubber: coil springs, bushings or engine/transmission mounts.
Given the vehicle’s age and the bare-minimum of upkeep, there are a lot of wear items that need a good look. This might be a safety issue, so have a mechanic inspect the Blazer on a lift and don’t cut corners with cheap replacement parts. My guess? Saggy, draggy coil springs that towed far too many trailers over the past 16 years.
(Send your queries to mehta@ttac.com)
What Mr. S. said. You have to just crawl under there and start looking around for worn components. Of course, if worse comes to worse you can always jack up the radiator cap and slide a new (different) truck under it. That’s the solution a lot of people in the states have used.
I feel like 90% of the first-gen S-10 Blazer/S-15 Jimmy/Bravadas I see have a lean of some sort. They just seem like such under-built vehicles for what they were. But, then, they don’t have the frame rust issues the Japanese competitors had during that time (Pathfinder, 4Runner) or the disposable transmission in the Explorer/Navajo…
Odd ducks, those early midsize SUVs. They were overbuilt for their eventual popular purpose – i.e. carrying toddlers around and replacing Chrysler K-vans – but they don’t seem to have lasted as one would expect, or as their larger brethren lasted in the form of F-150s and Silverados.
Mr Black, I seem to remember you from AWCC. Same person?
Aside: anyone remember the Bravada Smart Trak commercials with the annoying guy from Seinfeld? Kenny Banya was his name in the show. What a great spokesperson…
Why do they call it ovaltine? They should call it round-tine.
Actually, the 4-door blazers of that era did not have sufficient structural strength to do any real off-roading. I once jumped a brand new one over a small creek, and the paint popped of the welds at the top of the A-pillars when I landed. The truck was never quite right after that. I suspect that the rear doors weakened the truck significantly. Fortunately (for me), it was a company truck.
One look at my profile pic (which is missing) should tell you I perhaps have played with the suspension on a an s-series Chevy or two.. or three. :)
I don’t recall that this truck uses any kind of rubber front coil spring spacer which would be the first thing I’d check on an older truck that sits around a lot. One other thing to check would be the bottom of the lower control arms, it is possible that rust has caused the front right coil spring to poke threw, or if the coil springs have ever been removed and reinstalled, not installing them in the same way (the ends of the tops of the springs pointing in different directions) can also cause this.
Something else to consider is this SUV was not designed primary to haul trailers around especially ones that have a heavy tong weight. If the front end is sitting a little lower than the rear, then I say check the rear suspension for any add on goodies such as an add-a-leaf or after market leaf springs anything that might be jacking the rear up a little higher to help with the towing.
If there are any replacement parts needed e-bay is your best friend for an older Chevy like this.
I had the exact same truck in the picture. I still think it’s a pretty good looker for the time. Was a good truck in general…tranny gave out at 155k miles, and fuel injectors would leak (spewing some smoke upon startup) from basically 100k on, but otherwise never really gave me many problems. However, the frame/chassis was well known for it’s “flexibility”. I remember when GM made the Trailblazer to replace this, they claimed a 2000% torsional rigidity strength gain. Car and Driver’s response to that claim was that it “confirmed our suspicions that the previous generation’s frame was made of something resembling steamed broccoli.”
I remember a review of the Geo Metro convertible that said “It has the body rigidity of a rubber slipper.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Blazer that was level to ground. I figured it was a feature.
My guess: Broken spring.
Likely not obvious because it’s usually the top of the spring that breaks and that’s not easy to see because it’s in the top of the spring mount and the spring is always under compression. It’s a cheap fix b/c you can get a new spring from a junk yard.
I can’t believe it’s still alive, especially after towing horses.
Well it is a GM truck from that vintage, so of course it’s still running. Nothing on it costs more than a couple hundred to fix. That’s why you don’t see any Japanese trucks from that vintage…..
If its a 4×4 I believe you have torsion bars on the front and leafs on the back. Measure the distance from the frame to the ground on all four corners.If it varies any anymore than a couple of inches,your frame is twisting too much,and your 18 year old truck is pretty well f—ed.
I would be willing to bet that the body mounts are starting to collapse giving the ilusion to leaning.
Very good diagnosis, Mike.
The first thing to check is the torsion bar preload adjustment. It may just take a few twists of a bolt (preceeded by several hours of applying penetrating oil, lots of torque, and appropriate levels of swearing) to level the ride height.
Start by taking measurements from level ground to different points on the frame and the body. That should reveal where the problem lies.
I see so many old 4×4 trucks and suv’s that are slightly crabwise that I would measure the distance between wheel hubs on both sides, and also look for things like a broken spring bolt in a leaf spring,
Thanks guys.
It wanders a lot, especially to the right. But it hasn’t any unusual tire wear. I’ll check the springs first thing in the morning, because it’s actually dark outside now.
And no, it’s not an especially good tower. I was towing a trailer last year with about two tons of books on it, and after that summer, it had a significant squat at the back end. It took a while for the suspension to set itself to normal.
My very first vehicle was an 89 2-door 4×4 blazer (which i received somewhere around 1999). Yes there were some things on it that were overbuilt and some things that were completely passed over. Such as the driveshaft, which is wider than one from a huge K5 blazer. Or the door hinges, which failed to properly close the door after only a couple years. It finally met its end when the fuel pump died and i didn’t want to put any more money into it. Also, I recall an instance when one of the rubber body mounts fell off and landed in the driveway. Made me wonder how many other things fell off while i was traveling…
I’ll be damned…vehicles can get Peyronie’s disease as well…
I don’t know if anybody’s reading this, but here’s an update. And, oh, it’s a 4×4, with the Smart trak, I think.
I’ve checked up on the car, as it’s been sitting for the last few months in winter storage. I haven’t measured the frame, but I made an initial measurement from the top of the wheel arches to the ground, and it leans half an inch to the right. The shock absorbers seems okey, a little rusty, but they haven’t rusted through. I haven’t been able to check the torsion bar, or the preload adjustement. Where can I find that? The engine seems ok, but it’s got a lot of oil smoke and gas vapour coming out of it. The whole front left wheel house have seen some significant oil spray. Could that be the leaky fuel injector that somebody talked about?
Also, it has a severe case of electrical gremlins. The indoor light is automatic, there’s no way of turning it off manually. The problem is, the light won’t go out after the engine is turned off, even with all doors checked for being shut properly. I have to disable the battery cable everytime, or the battery will run out. Perhaps there’s some short circuit with the rear door/lift gate? You can only open the rear gate by pushing on a knob from inside the car, and it only works when the engine is running. Very strange indeed.
Ingvar,
the smoke and gas vapour coming out of the exhaust is the leaky fuel injectors. The oil spray inside the wheel house might be coming from a ruptured remote oil cooling line…just keep an eye on all your fluids for a bit if you can’t find the leak to make sure it is indeed oil. Regarding the electrical gremlin on the light…it is probably coming from the liftgate area, as I remember I had to keep mine lubricated frequently otherwise hear terrible creaks and groans. Can’t you just cut the interior lights off permanently (dial next to headlight switch) rather than disconnect the battery each time? I would just leave them off, unless specifically needed for something.
Regarding the 1/2″ lean and wobbly handling, I personally wouldn’t worry too much unless towing at freeway speeds, or feeling that it’s really uncontrollable. It’s a 20 year old beater…that’s what all 20 year old beaters do!
The oil cooling line seems to be the problem. I forgot to mention it before, because there’s so many things that are wrong on this car, but, the engine has been runnig very hot the last year, close to but not over boiling point. I’ll check that ant the fuel injectors on service.
Yes, there’s been constant creaks and groans coming from the liftgate, ever since we bought it. Funny that my problems are so common for the model. I fixed the light problem though, by cleaning the tailgate lock, and greasing the keys and keyhole. It works now, the light is off when the key is turned off. I have no idea what the problem was, but it is solved anyway.
So, checklist. Oil cooling lines, fuel injector, and torsion bar adjustment. Will have it for its yearly service soon, I’ll go through the whole car. Thanks, guys, this has been very helpful.