This Chevy Blazer is the Worst SUV Ever Made
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Date: 2019-05-28
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Comments and reviews: 9
Jimmy S
Friend bought a 2004 Aveo Hatchback from the dealership. They wanted 6k for it at 121k miles. KBB said it was 4K tops. Well he wanted it because it was a stick shift and everything was manual like locks and windows. Saleman says KBB does not sell cars they do and they know their worth. I told them I would never pay over KBB no matter what you think. They did cave in though. Looked up on this car and it says to do the timing belt at 50k miles intervals online since they were known to break at 60k or slightly less. Did the timing belt. The 3rd day the rear driver wheel locked up. While backing out of the garage after timing belt job was done. Found the brake material came unbonded from the shoe. Replaced all the brakes on front and back. Noticed the drivers front caliper was seized. Then a month later it was throwing P0300 code and I noticed the coolant was always low. After trying the simple items plugs/wires coil pack. I pulled out a better scantool and watched the misfire counter while he was driving it. Cylinder 4 had over 1000 misfires and Cylinder 3 had over 600 misfires. More digging I believed was the engine was overheated and blew the head gasket or the head warped since it had a metal version of the thermostat housing that looked new which were know to blow apart. Explains the loss of coolant and pressure in cooling system and the misfires. Took the head off it was obvious the head was warped. Bought entire kit on ebay for a rebuilt head and gaskets and bolts and seals. That repaired all the issues. I am surprised its still running like a champ today. Replaced both master and slave cylinders for the transmission. Put in Pioneer stereo with bluetooth and infinity speakers and 12 inch subs and two matching Pioneer 760W amps. You cant tell if there is a system in there unless you looked very hard for the mods other than the head unit.
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Friend bought a 2004 Aveo Hatchback from the dealership. They wanted 6k for it at 121k miles. KBB said it was 4K tops. Well he wanted it because it was a stick shift and everything was manual like locks and windows. Saleman says KBB does not sell cars they do and they know their worth. I told them I would never pay over KBB no matter what you think. They did cave in though. Looked up on this car and it says to do the timing belt at 50k miles intervals online since they were known to break at 60k or slightly less. Did the timing belt. The 3rd day the rear driver wheel locked up. While backing out of the garage after timing belt job was done. Found the brake material came unbonded from the shoe. Replaced all the brakes on front and back. Noticed the drivers front caliper was seized. Then a month later it was throwing P0300 code and I noticed the coolant was always low. After trying the simple items plugs/wires coil pack. I pulled out a better scantool and watched the misfire counter while he was driving it. Cylinder 4 had over 1000 misfires and Cylinder 3 had over 600 misfires. More digging I believed was the engine was overheated and blew the head gasket or the head warped since it had a metal version of the thermostat housing that looked new which were know to blow apart. Explains the loss of coolant and pressure in cooling system and the misfires. Took the head off it was obvious the head was warped. Bought entire kit on ebay for a rebuilt head and gaskets and bolts and seals. That repaired all the issues. I am surprised its still running like a champ today. Replaced both master and slave cylinders for the transmission. Put in Pioneer stereo with bluetooth and infinity speakers and 12 inch subs and two matching Pioneer 760W amps. You cant tell if there is a system in there unless you looked very hard for the mods other than the head unit.
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X-Man
The worst car in all of history? What complete and utter nonsense. You really jumped the shark with that preposterous statement Scotty. You just hit your credibility with a MOAB. The S-10/Blazer platform (S-10, Blazer, Jimmy, Sonoma, Bravada) is one of the most successful group of vehicles ever made in America (including Toyota. That you would single out the 03 Blazer is ridiculous, it has no major difference from 96 up. Further, for a guy who built his claim to fame of helping novice mechanics, you should know that these vehicles are very easy to work on. A person with only enough mechanical skill to change his own oil can handle 95% of the usual things that can go wrong with this type vehicle with a minor tool box and a scanner. The only real systemic problem they have is the intake manifold gaskets that goes across all 4. 3 powered GM vehicles. You can pick up nice ones relatively cheep and because there are so many of them that share so much of the same drive train, new, used, rebuilt and aftermarket parts for these vehicles will be available for the foreseeable future and comparatively cheap. They are not going to win races or fuel economy contests but they will get you from point A to point B with reliability comparable to anything out there if it is not abused and given common, reasonable, preventative maintenance. They are, for the money, one of the best used vehicle values out there if you are a careful and modestly knowledgeable buyer. If you can do minor mechanical work yourself, these vehicles are golden. The 4L60E transmission issue you mention is way over blown and goes across many GM vehicles also. Terrible Scotty, terrible. Your credibility on this one, ZERO.
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The worst car in all of history? What complete and utter nonsense. You really jumped the shark with that preposterous statement Scotty. You just hit your credibility with a MOAB. The S-10/Blazer platform (S-10, Blazer, Jimmy, Sonoma, Bravada) is one of the most successful group of vehicles ever made in America (including Toyota. That you would single out the 03 Blazer is ridiculous, it has no major difference from 96 up. Further, for a guy who built his claim to fame of helping novice mechanics, you should know that these vehicles are very easy to work on. A person with only enough mechanical skill to change his own oil can handle 95% of the usual things that can go wrong with this type vehicle with a minor tool box and a scanner. The only real systemic problem they have is the intake manifold gaskets that goes across all 4. 3 powered GM vehicles. You can pick up nice ones relatively cheep and because there are so many of them that share so much of the same drive train, new, used, rebuilt and aftermarket parts for these vehicles will be available for the foreseeable future and comparatively cheap. They are not going to win races or fuel economy contests but they will get you from point A to point B with reliability comparable to anything out there if it is not abused and given common, reasonable, preventative maintenance. They are, for the money, one of the best used vehicle values out there if you are a careful and modestly knowledgeable buyer. If you can do minor mechanical work yourself, these vehicles are golden. The 4L60E transmission issue you mention is way over blown and goes across many GM vehicles also. Terrible Scotty, terrible. Your credibility on this one, ZERO.
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Tim Sharpe
Im not a Chevy apologist but a plugged heater core is nothing other than lousy ownership. IModern coolants are good for 5 years or 150, 000 miles so only the most neglectful owners will experience coolant failure. If you drive a 4 cylinder S10 a plugged heater core will cause serious drivability issues because the genius engineers at GM decided to put the engine coolant temperature sender in the heater circuit which means that the ECU will always be reading very low engine temps and the temp gauge wont work either. He didnt say if the Blazer transmissions were rebuilt or just replaced with used units so its not possible to make a call on that. When I worked on a police fleet the GM transmissions typically lasted a minimum of about 60, 000 miles under severe duty use. The typical Ford transmission lasted about 40, 000 and the transmissions on the 1994 Crown Victorias suffered catastrophic failures at about 6500 miles and about 2000 more after the dealership repaired them under warranty. Ford did eventually figure them out but I dont believe they ever lasted more than 50, 000 miles without a rebuild. Police fleet miles are very hard. Those cars run around the clock with the AC on high idling for hours at a time and they never get free coffee and donuts.
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Im not a Chevy apologist but a plugged heater core is nothing other than lousy ownership. IModern coolants are good for 5 years or 150, 000 miles so only the most neglectful owners will experience coolant failure. If you drive a 4 cylinder S10 a plugged heater core will cause serious drivability issues because the genius engineers at GM decided to put the engine coolant temperature sender in the heater circuit which means that the ECU will always be reading very low engine temps and the temp gauge wont work either. He didnt say if the Blazer transmissions were rebuilt or just replaced with used units so its not possible to make a call on that. When I worked on a police fleet the GM transmissions typically lasted a minimum of about 60, 000 miles under severe duty use. The typical Ford transmission lasted about 40, 000 and the transmissions on the 1994 Crown Victorias suffered catastrophic failures at about 6500 miles and about 2000 more after the dealership repaired them under warranty. Ford did eventually figure them out but I dont believe they ever lasted more than 50, 000 miles without a rebuild. Police fleet miles are very hard. Those cars run around the clock with the AC on high idling for hours at a time and they never get free coffee and donuts.
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Agent_Blackwing
My dad is making my mom keep a 03 venture. Both engine and transmission blew within 1k of each other around 100k-150k and many other things that broke in between. Half was electronics. 3+ times trying to fix the Driver side power windows. Bad switches and stuff like that. its at 260k right now. The dealership put the engine in then rattling sounds persist and it feels like the transmission is starting to weaken and when accelerating I hear squeaking(Probably a belt) but my mom does not hear it. Also, the Catalytic converter failed and got replaced but a weird smell still persists. I keep subtlely telling her to talk to the local mechanic (one who fixed some of the issues starting about 2ish years back) who even told her to look into getting a new vehicle because of issues with the venture in general. She wants a Traverse (Mah 7-8 seating capability but I dont want a V8 or AWD I can get a GM discount mindset) and still sticking with it even though some mechanical things on the newer traverses concern me. The dealer pushed her to get it in 04 labeled as a Company car. One of the first issues I remember was a Flood of water ruining the front half from a broken condenser water drain line or something. It was almost brand new at that point.
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My dad is making my mom keep a 03 venture. Both engine and transmission blew within 1k of each other around 100k-150k and many other things that broke in between. Half was electronics. 3+ times trying to fix the Driver side power windows. Bad switches and stuff like that. its at 260k right now. The dealership put the engine in then rattling sounds persist and it feels like the transmission is starting to weaken and when accelerating I hear squeaking(Probably a belt) but my mom does not hear it. Also, the Catalytic converter failed and got replaced but a weird smell still persists. I keep subtlely telling her to talk to the local mechanic (one who fixed some of the issues starting about 2ish years back) who even told her to look into getting a new vehicle because of issues with the venture in general. She wants a Traverse (Mah 7-8 seating capability but I dont want a V8 or AWD I can get a GM discount mindset) and still sticking with it even though some mechanical things on the newer traverses concern me. The dealer pushed her to get it in 04 labeled as a Company car. One of the first issues I remember was a Flood of water ruining the front half from a broken condenser water drain line or something. It was almost brand new at that point.
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onewheelup
blazers are bad ass, a actual frame, leaf springs, big rear end, huge 5 speed manual transmission, actual front & rear metal bumpers which is rare now days, ill buy them all day and flip them for people that want to do a v 8 swop if i could for fun. i had a 96 s-10 same engine the 4. 3 vortec backed up by a 5 speed i dont like 4L60E autos, i used to race the thing, then i put a vette LT1 in it, people said the 5 speed transmission would not hold up, i put a dual friction center force clutch and i raced every week end tough truck, here it is 2019, i bought me a 2005 chevy blazer 2 door with a 5 speed, see where im going with this one, yep maybe a LS swop, the manual transmissions in these things are bomb proof, i turned on the ac in it the other day checking it out, it almost blew me out the cab holy cow, those little things that went out werent nothing to replace yourself if you know a thing or two, but no its not the worst by a long shot, the 4. 3 runs great, oh darn his alternator went out call the BBB. omg please, thanks scotty.
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blazers are bad ass, a actual frame, leaf springs, big rear end, huge 5 speed manual transmission, actual front & rear metal bumpers which is rare now days, ill buy them all day and flip them for people that want to do a v 8 swop if i could for fun. i had a 96 s-10 same engine the 4. 3 vortec backed up by a 5 speed i dont like 4L60E autos, i used to race the thing, then i put a vette LT1 in it, people said the 5 speed transmission would not hold up, i put a dual friction center force clutch and i raced every week end tough truck, here it is 2019, i bought me a 2005 chevy blazer 2 door with a 5 speed, see where im going with this one, yep maybe a LS swop, the manual transmissions in these things are bomb proof, i turned on the ac in it the other day checking it out, it almost blew me out the cab holy cow, those little things that went out werent nothing to replace yourself if you know a thing or two, but no its not the worst by a long shot, the 4. 3 runs great, oh darn his alternator went out call the BBB. omg please, thanks scotty.
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Ian Wright
The Chevy S-10 Blazers built before the 94 model year were awesome little trucks. Several members of my family had them, they drive the hell out of them, never had a problem, only having to do basic maintenance. Sadly, I had the 94 model which was the last year for that body style and the first year for that particular engine. The 94 on up had the electronic EGR valve in which when it went bad, everything went bad, not to mention it was almost 700 bucks to replace just for the part. Now everything else on that truck was bullet proof. I had zero problems with the transmission or electronics. I put over a 100, 000 miles on it and other than brakes, starter, fuel pump, and fuel sender assembly (damaged by the crappy EGR valve, in 10 years I had no problems with it ever. Now with that said, I went through 2 or 3 EGR valves and I heard that they were a problem with that engine for the rest of the S-10 Blazers existence. So 93s and older were great trucks. 94s and up, sucked big time.
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The Chevy S-10 Blazers built before the 94 model year were awesome little trucks. Several members of my family had them, they drive the hell out of them, never had a problem, only having to do basic maintenance. Sadly, I had the 94 model which was the last year for that body style and the first year for that particular engine. The 94 on up had the electronic EGR valve in which when it went bad, everything went bad, not to mention it was almost 700 bucks to replace just for the part. Now everything else on that truck was bullet proof. I had zero problems with the transmission or electronics. I put over a 100, 000 miles on it and other than brakes, starter, fuel pump, and fuel sender assembly (damaged by the crappy EGR valve, in 10 years I had no problems with it ever. Now with that said, I went through 2 or 3 EGR valves and I heard that they were a problem with that engine for the rest of the S-10 Blazers existence. So 93s and older were great trucks. 94s and up, sucked big time.
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kramden
I dont think any car builder makes an automatic tranny that will last over 100, 000 miles these days. Transmission these days are constantly shifting/locking/unlocking, not like the THM350s of years gone by, once they were in third gear, that was it. Repeated transmission failures were probably due to poor rebuilds, messed up cooler, etc. Once you drive a vehicle over 100, 000 miles, you are going to have to expect to make repairs. The key is trying to stay one step ahead of the stuff that is gonna break. Im surely not saying the Blazer was super reliable, but worst SUV ever made seems unfair as well. A couple of alternators and a MAF doesnt seem too extreme. My 2009 Camry is no swiss watch either, new intermediate steering shaft assy and starter with less that 150, 000 miles. I still have one bug to work out of this car and will probably get it worked out just before I get rid of it.
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I dont think any car builder makes an automatic tranny that will last over 100, 000 miles these days. Transmission these days are constantly shifting/locking/unlocking, not like the THM350s of years gone by, once they were in third gear, that was it. Repeated transmission failures were probably due to poor rebuilds, messed up cooler, etc. Once you drive a vehicle over 100, 000 miles, you are going to have to expect to make repairs. The key is trying to stay one step ahead of the stuff that is gonna break. Im surely not saying the Blazer was super reliable, but worst SUV ever made seems unfair as well. A couple of alternators and a MAF doesnt seem too extreme. My 2009 Camry is no swiss watch either, new intermediate steering shaft assy and starter with less that 150, 000 miles. I still have one bug to work out of this car and will probably get it worked out just before I get rid of it.
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LowMan Josh
As someone who loves the s10 and blazers ive owned 3 a 1994 blazer 2 door with the 4. 3 and 4l60e had no major issues had to clean the maf sensor 2 times and replces maintenance parts it died at 250k miles (my fault went on long trip without checking the coolant levels) and my 92 s10 with the gutless 2. 8 with the t5 (ive had it for 13 years and put 100k miles on it replaced the t5 and learned how to drive a stick in it) has 230k is parked due to not passing smog still runs. And my daily is a 2002 chevrolet xtreme has 49230 miles on it had to replace the maf (it wasnt a oem duralast chinese part) the oem more then likely with miles only needed to be cleaned and new air filter. Im not a perfect mechanic but ive never had a car just break. (Usually high miles or miss use) or lack of proper maintenance. My S series rigs and Blazers have yet to fail me.
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As someone who loves the s10 and blazers ive owned 3 a 1994 blazer 2 door with the 4. 3 and 4l60e had no major issues had to clean the maf sensor 2 times and replces maintenance parts it died at 250k miles (my fault went on long trip without checking the coolant levels) and my 92 s10 with the gutless 2. 8 with the t5 (ive had it for 13 years and put 100k miles on it replaced the t5 and learned how to drive a stick in it) has 230k is parked due to not passing smog still runs. And my daily is a 2002 chevrolet xtreme has 49230 miles on it had to replace the maf (it wasnt a oem duralast chinese part) the oem more then likely with miles only needed to be cleaned and new air filter. Im not a perfect mechanic but ive never had a car just break. (Usually high miles or miss use) or lack of proper maintenance. My S series rigs and Blazers have yet to fail me.
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Anthony Liutkus
The most reliable car that I have owned was a 1985 Toyota Celica GT with a 5 speed manual transmission. It was my first car, my dad bought it new and when it became mine it had 200k on it, I put 50k miles on it and drove it hard as a teen in the 90s. When I did sell it it was still running but needed more work than it was worth (new engine and transmission) at 250k. My least reliable Car was a 1996 Mitsubishi Diamante; that car was fun to drive and went fast, but it had all kinds of problems (from the electrical system being faulty from the factory and engine smoking and burning oil, to the weak automatic transmission that finally went out around 130k and did the car in. Side note / honorable mentions: I have had good luck as far as reliability with KIA/Hyundai 4 cylinder and Lincoln/Ford V8 cars.
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The most reliable car that I have owned was a 1985 Toyota Celica GT with a 5 speed manual transmission. It was my first car, my dad bought it new and when it became mine it had 200k on it, I put 50k miles on it and drove it hard as a teen in the 90s. When I did sell it it was still running but needed more work than it was worth (new engine and transmission) at 250k. My least reliable Car was a 1996 Mitsubishi Diamante; that car was fun to drive and went fast, but it had all kinds of problems (from the electrical system being faulty from the factory and engine smoking and burning oil, to the weak automatic transmission that finally went out around 130k and did the car in. Side note / honorable mentions: I have had good luck as far as reliability with KIA/Hyundai 4 cylinder and Lincoln/Ford V8 cars.
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