Piston Slap: Trollblazer V1.0 Sending Out an SOS
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)
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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 4x4, 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.