2000 Blazer issue/concern

[katugly]

So I was changing the wife's oil yesterday and there were slivers of metal on the drain plug magnet. Just wondering if any one has a idea of how many miles this thing has before it time bombs on me. Mind you it doesn't knock and has 20-30 psi when running. I'm pretty sure when the upper intake manifold gasket took a crap two years ago it washed the bearings. I have a trip to Texas from Kansas coming up and wondering if we should chance it.

 

[Drey]

I had a 96 with 175,000 on it when I got rid of it. 4.3 that ran hard and got romped on plenty. Changed the oil every 2000 when I had it. Bought it with 100,000 on it.

Never any metal shavings, never used any oil. Sold it to a farmer down the road and its gettin close to 200,000. Motor still hasnt been touch.


All that being said...every motor is different. Alot of people say that 3.8 liters in cars last a long time. My sisters siezed up after 130,000 while my uncle has one with 300,000 on it.

 

[katugly]

ughh 2700 to drop a new motor in it and ive already replaced the tranny due to the sunshell blowing up on me, this thing has more money in it than its worth. Sad thing is that it will never be truly off road worthy with no front locker due to the weak ass diff housing. I cant even use it as a toy

 

[Russell]

Don't worry about it & just run it. If it has good oil pressure and isn't making any noise, it'll probably be alright. Just don't run it at 5000rpm at 110 mph the whole way there!

 

[Drey]

Sad thing is that it will never be truly off road worthy with no front locker due to the weak ass diff housing. I cant even use it as a toy

Define offroad worthy...haha I broke my front swaybar mounts more then I can count but I never got mine stuck.

 

[katugly]

Well I mean it goes up trails fine but I was out on the top of a pass this last fall and it started snowing/raining off and on and holy crap I could have used all 4 wheels spinning at the same time. Guess i made it back OK but there was a lot of pucker factor going on.

 

[michael0584]

Does a 4.3 in 2000 have an intake that has coolant that flows through it? I know on the 4.8 and 5.3 they don't. But the old 96-98 4.3 5.0 and 5.7 did. Not sure if they changed the 4.3 in 99/2000.

 

[vortec]

size of the metal pieces makes a big difference. if it's just the stuff that looks like stubble from a few days without shaving i'd say don't worry about it. if it's passing inspection, getting consistent mpg and feels good on the road, it's probably just normal wear that will take tens of thousands of miles to add up to any real problems. might consider switching oil or filter type if you don't think these are protecting enough. and in most vehicles i've seen/owned, then 4.3L will be one of the last things to drop (unlike the 3.8L which i am not impressed with).

and 2700 bucks to swap the engine? pick up and engine hoist and engine rebuild kit and make it a weekend project (possibly a few weekends if you want to make it all really clean and pretty ). or just buy a good reman for $500 and drop it in. afternoon project.