Faults:

The reverse on my transmission went out at about 90,000 miles.

Headlight needed adjusting at one point.

Starting the vehicle, it hesitates for a good ten seconds before firing up. Once running it runs well, heats up pretty fast so I'm warmed up within 5-10 minutes on a cold Minnesota day.

The tires that came with the vehicle lasted about to 145k miles and I ran 'em until each was showing metal and they have been replaced along with the brake pads and rotors for a second time now.

The spare tire no longer holds up the spare as it rusted out.

My 4wd buttons have had a mind of their own until I learned to trick the computer into getting it back to 2wd and unplugging the whole 4wd switch until it was absolutely needed for the snow, and it has worked fine since.

The gas gauges do jump from time to time, but work, and I have ran out of gas when it showed I had at least 30 miles or so to go on tank.

When I park the vehicle, it tends to shut off when shifting into park, but always starts back up, except for those in my vehicle who use that passenger side mirror light or front end console lights for more than 15 minutes or even have the door open; it would drain my battery dead every time, but they never listened to my fair warnings about that.

I don't mind having no reverse, since it really isn't that bad to just think ahead and pull through a parking space or park at the pump and or on a hill or inclined parking spot.

I love the Blazer, it's been dependable and a lil' bit of a pain to deal with at times, but every car seems that way when you're the only one fixing it and maintaining it. I would get another Blazer, which I did so I can take the parts off it (which I am) and it only cost me $300 and got a new set of tires out of it, brake pads, rotors, shocks, tranny, seats, pretty much everything except the engine, yet a lot of the parts were still good to use.

I hope my Blazer runs at least 250k miles or better, because Chevrolet cars rule!

Faults:

What HASN'T gone wrong is the question:

At the time of purchase, the 4wd wasn't engaging, but the problem was repaired by the used car dealer it was purchased from (at no cost to me).

A month after buying it, the ABS began to act up until eventually it stopped working altogether (it was erratic anyway, and I feel safer without it).

The radiator cracked 3 months later; replaced it and flushed the cooling system good, and converted it to non-Dexcool antifreeze, due to all the problems I've heard about it.

It blew an axle bearing and seal that damaged the axle shaft on the affected side.

The 4wd gave out AGAIN about a year and a half after purchase; ended up having to replace the transfer case shift motor (don't remember if that was the problem before purchase).

The thermostat stuck open and needed to be replaced.

The L/F hub bearing began making a noise, and was replaced.

4wd gave out AGAIN, due to faulty shift motor (possible dud), replaced only months before.

The transmission blew up with little to no warning, total overhaul required.

Ate the R/F hub bearing, needed to be replaced.

Another axle seal and bearing needed to be replaced.

The starter began to fail recently and was replaced.

The transmission, which was rebuilt, is now popping out of overdrive intermittently at around 55-60, likely due to a solenoid that was probably a dud from the get go.

Now it needs a new driver's side motor mount.

I wonder what else will happen, hmm...

General Comments:

Largely due to my dad, a lifelong GM guy, I had it in me to follow that route (had nothing but GM vehicles since I started driving), but after all the grief this thing has given me (as well as the bailout of the company), I have reconsidered/renounced that loyalty, and will never, EVER own another GM vehicle. We should not have given them taxpayer money to save their sorry tails, we should have let them go belly up; that way they'd no longer be around to push off their mass-produced, low-quality garbage on the public.

Before this, I had a '93 S10 Blazer that was purchased at about the same mileage, and by the time it rolled 150,000 it didn't have HALF the things go wrong with it that this one has had, it's still on the road and after 18 years/nearly 200,000 miles, it still has its original transmission; this one didn't even make it to 150,000. The 4wd system was always reliable and I could depend on it when needed, it never needed to have all 4 wheel bearings replaced, the motor mounts are still strong, and the starter lasted to about 165,000. My '93 vs my '01 shows how GM quality steadily went down the drain over the years.

The one good point to this thing is probably the 4.3 V6, a very rugged machine that can take quite a bit of punishment, it's just a shame that everything else around it seems to fall apart with quite a bit of consistency.

As soon as I have the funds to do so, I'm parting with this thing and with GM vehicles period. I'm looking to Toyota, Nissan, or Ford for my next truck purchase...