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Jeep Blazer

D

Denvergrows

Registered Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2013
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Location
Denver, CO
I slid on some ice and wrecked my car a few weeks ago and decided to save most of the insurance money and buy a 1986 K5 Blazer for pretty cheap. It has a freshly rebuilt engine, 3 seats and a steering wheel. A 2.5" body lift and 33x12.5's. The drive train and body are good. However with the engine rebuild came the PO wiring the thing really crazy and dangerously. And the interior has seen better days. So my cousin(who has since purchased a 1985 K5 for himself) and I started ripping the dash, seats, and some other stuff out of the inside.
Then I had a wiring problem about a week ago and got on this site to get some help. Fordum, poorboyk5, cwyawyn, and a few others bailed my butt out. And it made me decide to start a build thread. Now I had a '79 cj-7 in high school(graduated in '04 so it was 20 years old then) and my step dad and I fixed it up and had a good time doing it. So my experience working on vehicles comes from a Jeep.
Anyway, short story long, I'm building this girl (My girlfriend named her Jeep) up and she's going to be pretty.
So far I have:
Put in seats from a '97 Tahoe-- $32
Changed the battery(i bought an optima but my gf made me put it in her jeep and use hers in my blazer)--$225
Took the top off-- I know it's January, but it looks better.
Made a cheap cover for the back-- $25
Put in a radio-- $55
Changed belts and hoses--???

Here are a few pictures.

8453887417_e74826e5db_m.jpg

8454980980_24262b66ce_m.jpg

8454981032_843c637b8b_m.jpg
 
good lookin rig.


Why does your gf get your optima???

Tell her whats up :whistle:
 
Well we've been talking about putting an optima in the jeep since we got it. We go camping about 2-3 times a month over the summer and do some pretty rough trails so its probably better to have it in there.
 
Denvergrows said:
Well we've been talking about putting an optima in the jeep since we got it. We go camping about 2-3 times a month over the summer and do some pretty rough trails so its probably better to have it in there.
Click to expand...



Fine fine.


:D
 
Looks good. I thought the title meant you were putting a Jeep body on the Blazer. I have thought about that more than once.
 
I need some help. Am I allowed to post questions on my build thread? I'm going to go ahead and if I'm not supposed to, let me know and I won't again.

To preface, I had a problem with some wiring last week. A few guys on here helped me out and we got it running. Thead here :http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=304597.
Since Thursday morning, it has been starting and running great. Today I was leaving my neighborhood and there is a hill about 50 yards long and steep. My Blazer has never liked climbing it. Second is too low and 3rd is too high. But it always makes it I just have to go slow in second. But today I decided to try third again. As soon as I went into it, My blazer started trying to stall and sputter, so I went back to second and as soon as I let off the clutch it jumped and died. Now I think I might have let off the clutch too fast and just stalled it. It's new to me. We all do it at first with a new manual. Right? But anyway, I tried to start it back up and it won't start. I have gas I'm pretty sure but to be sure I hit it with some starter fluid. Just a little. And still nothing. So it's not gas. It had been running, and there was no violent ending when it stalled. Just stalled. So I assume my compression is still good. It has to be fire then, right? I know I can pull a spark plug wire and try to start it to see if it arc's. But I'm by myself and I've never done it before so I might do it wrong even if I had someone to start it while I looked. Is there any way to use a volt meter to see if I'm getting spark to my plugs? Then, if there is no spark to my plug, how to I see if I'm getting fire to my cap from the coil? I've never messed with this HEI ignition before. On my Jeep I believe we had a coil and then a wire going straight into the middle of the cap.
Any advice on any of this?
 
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So an update. I tried it again. Its starting to turn over but just not firing. I'm still thinking coil, but another thing I just noticed. As I tried to crank it, it seemed to be getting weaker. I thought ok I've been trying it a while, I killed the battery. So I brought it inside and put it on the charger but it was already reading 12.4 volts. So I tried it again and it sounded like it was still dead so I put the volt meter on it and it says 12.5. The other day with the other problem I was having I fried the starter solenoid and to make sure that was all it was I bought the cheapest starter/solenoid I could find. It is a re-manufactured Bestest I got from O'Reiley's for $29. I'm wondering if maybe this isn't the problem. I mean the fan is turning and pretty quick so I don't think so but I figured I would give all the info I had.
 
So an update. I tried it again. Its starting to turn over but just not firing. I'm still thinking coil, but another thing I just noticed. As I tried to crank it, it seemed to be getting weaker. I thought ok I've been trying it a while, I killed the battery. So I brought it inside and put it on the charger but it was already reading 12.4 volts. So I tried it again and it sounded like it was still dead so I put the volt meter on it and it says 12.5. The other day with the other problem I was having I fried the starter solenoid and to make sure that was all it was I bought the cheapest starter/solenoid I could find. It is a re-manufactured Bestest I got from O'Reiley's for $29. I'm wondering if maybe this isn't the problem. I mean the fan is turning and pretty quick so I don't think so but I figured I would give all the info I had.
 
See if the distruibutor is loose. Could be way out of time. Also check batt cables for heat after cranking. Did you run another ground from the batt back to the core support like the PO had it? You should have some sort of ground from the battery to BOTH locations (engine and body/chassis). How does it sound while cranking? If it sounds funny, the starter may need a shim. This will give it a little more clearance from the ring gear on the flywheel. It'll let the starter work more "freely". Also, the big box store starter you got could be faulty.
 
This is your thread. If you want to tell us about what you ate for dinner last june in your thread then feel free :waytogo:

We're all here to help one another. If its trying to start then the thing has to have spark. I'd bet you either have a fueling issue or timing is off like Poorboy said.

If you go down to your local parts chain they should sell a self contained spark checker. Its basically a spark plug stem with a bright ass light at the end. You hook it to the wire, lay it on the cowl, and crank the truck. Then if it flashes you have spark.
 
Let me clarify, when I say trying to start, I mean the starter is turning it over but its not firing on its own. Correct me if I am wrong, but if you put starter fluid on the carb, and it still doesn't start, you can rule out fuel delivery. Right? And I tired that so I'm really not thinking it is fuel. Now a few weeks ago when I first got the thing all the vacuum lines were rotted out and it ran hard. So we replaced all those. While we were doing it, I must have bumped the plug going into the top of the distributor cap and knocked it off. So when we got done, it wouldn't fire. We thought the gas gauge didn't work so we assumed it was out of gas. But we checked it and it was fine. So I called my step dad and he said that he thought either out of time, or the coil. So I went back over to take the belts and cover off and inspect the timing chain. I also went ahead and swung by autozone on the way and picked up a HEI coil. When I got under the hood, I noticed that the plug was off. So I plugged it in and tried it and it started right up. I saw all that just to say, I dealt with a no firing problem about 2 weeks ago and this seems to sound a lot like that. I think I am going to go to autozone and grab a spark tester and just check it.
I'll let you know what I find.
 
Got back to it this morning and it started right up. I talked to a guy at napa that suggested the control module. I replaced it. We will see if it keeps running. I bought a HEI coil to keep on hand as well.
 
Well it happened again. It ran fine all day yesterday and when I got in it after work, I drove about 100 yards and it died and wouldn't crank again. I think I'm going to try replacing the coil today. Any other suggestions?
 
FYI, use brake cleaner instead of starter fluid when troubleshooting. Starting fluid is bad stuff. Unless you don't like your bearings in the bottom end of the motor.. :whistle:
 
I went out to it this morning and it fired up just fine. I let it run about 10 minutes and then tried to drive it home. It started sounding like it was missing really bad and then, as soon as I let off the gas, it died. I cranked back up and I was able to push it into a parking spot where I changed the coil. So now in the last 2 days, I have replaced the control module under the distributor cap and the coil pack on top of it. It seems like it is ok but once it warms up it dies. But it is intermittent. It did this 2 days ago. Then yesterday it worked fine even after it was warm and then last night it did it. Then today it did it again.
 
How do the terminal ends in the coil wire look? Obviously whatever is going on is intermittent. Coils can work intermittently, but you've swapped that out to no end. If the plug wires are old, and specifically the coil wire since it's affecting the whole system, it's possible there's some corrosion or deterioration that's just sometimes not allowing a connection. So take it off and look to see if all the metal is there, if it looks clean or if it's all rusted to hell. Check both ends. If all that looks good, get a multimeter if you have one and check the resistance through the wire. Check it multiple times with the leads in different places on the ends to see if you get the same or close enough a reading each time. The wires have a rating, which I don't know off hand but I'm sure you can find on here. If they're out of range you'll need new plug wires. And if all that looks fine, make sure it's pressed on all the way. It sounds silly, but sometimes you really have to press on them to get them to actually click and seat. I've left mine loose before. I felt like an idiot, but it was the cheapest fix I've ever had, so I wasn't complaining too much.

Oh, and don't just throw parts at it on a hunch, or because Joe Partsdude says it may be part xyz. It's a lousy way to blow money. You can troubleshoot almost anything, which may take a little longer, but will keep you from buying unnecessary parts.
 
bigred88 said:
Oh, and don't just throw parts at it on a hunch, or because Joe Partsdude says it may be part xyz. It's a lousy way to blow money. You can troubleshoot almost anything, which may take a little longer, but will keep you from buying unnecessary parts.
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I hear you on that, and I really don't want to waste money, but I've read that these coils and control modules go out pretty often. I was looking at it more that I have replaced a part that is commonly a problem for $20-30. I saved the old ones and put them in my truck.
 
Denvergrows said:
I hear you on that, and I really don't want to waste money, but I've read that these coils and control modules go out pretty often. I was looking at it more that I have replaced a part that is commonly a problem for $20-30. I saved the old ones and put them in my truck.
Click to expand...
Did you use the heat sink paste that came with your new module. You can get more at Radio Shack if yours did not come with it.

pRS1C-2265179w345.jpg
 
Ok So now it will start and idle just fine. For as long as I want it to. And it sounds fine idling. However, when I try to go sometimes it will work just fine and sometimes it will start shuddering and stall after about 10 feet. Once that happens, it takes about 2 hours before I can start it up again. I was thinking at first maybe I wasn't letting it warm up enough so I started letting it idle for about 15 minutes before I drove it. But then this morning, I let it warm up, went to the grocery store, grabbed a milk, and when I came back out 5 minutes later, it died again. I got a spark checker and I have spark to the plugs. So I pulled a plug and it had gas on it. Now I'm thinking it's flooding out not a spark problem.
 
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