Serpentine belt and belt tensioner at 162,000 miles, cost of $50. Central Port Fuel Injection assembly replaced at 163,000 miles, cost of $500. Spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter, fuel filter, PCV Valve replaced at 163,500 miles, cost of $100. Air Conditioning vacuumed down and recharged at 163,500 miles. CPFI assembly, along with IDLE Air Control Valve, Fuel Pump, and Fuel Pulsator replaced at 164,000 miles, cost of $500. Catalytic Converter replaced at 164,500 miles. Headliner beginning to fall down at the windshield. Driver seat beginning to tear up.
The muffler is still needing replacement, along with it still has a rough idle, surging, rattling noise from the motor, along with a belt squeal.
Have had 2 oil changes down, one at the same time of the rest of the tune-up, and one when I first bought the vehicle 2 months ago. Entire fuel system has been cleaned. One dealer, 2 private shops, 4 mechanics who work on their own, along with myself and my dad who know quite a bit about vehicles have yet to be able to find whats wrong with it now.
The vehicle is extremely slow for a 4.3L Vortec motor. It has been unreliable in the 2 months I have owned it. There are more things that have gone with it, but just don't even have the room or time to go through everything. The 4.3L Throttle Body Injection motor is fairly good, but the 4.3L Vortec motor on 1995 and older vehicles have proven to be nothing, but trouble. I have owned mulitple types of cars, and General Motor vehicles have proven to be nothing, but trouble. I will never own another GM again. I feel GM needs to take some hints from foreign car manufactures on how to build a vehicle. Unless you want a vehicle that is expensive to buy and more expensive to keep on the road, I would not recommend buying it. I am scared to death of driving it for fear of it leaving me stranded again. I have owned this vehicle for 2 months and am already looking to sell it, even though I paid 2000 for it and have $2500 in repairs. Been in the shop more times than I can count. I have only had one other vehicle as bad as this one. I am done with GM vehicles, and probably wouldn't take one if you were to give it to me. I do regular maintenance myself, and this vehicle was bought off of a individual who bought it brand new (one owner vehicle) and had full maintenance and repair receipts and he did take care of it per manufacture recommendations. He even had about $5,000 worth of repairs he had done. GMC when making this vehicle decided to make a vehicle to leave people stranded once a month. No wonder why every mechanic I have had it to, including dealer have said they have a 1991-1995 GMC Jimmy and Chevy Blazer with the 4.3L Vortec Motor in at least one a week, if not several. It's definitely a mechanic's favorite vehicle as they can make a living off of repairing them only!
Just wanted to let everyone know that after Two Months of owning this vehicle, and spending over $1800 in repairs just to keep it on the road, and still needing another $1000-1500 in repairs to get it running right, I finally traded it in today. Needless to say I am extremely disappointed in the 92-94 GMC Jimmy's and Chevy Blazer's with the 4.3L Vortec Motor.
Post Script - I just noticed that when I did the initial review of the vehicle, I put 9/10 for the running cost and the higher the number the cheaper is it. The running cost for this vehicle was 1/10, in other words very high running costs. Also according to recommendations of dealers and private shops and mechanics and of www.fueleconomy.gov the vehicle is supposed to run on premium feel, and if your extremely lucky you will only get about 17/21 miles per gallon and the 4x4 model. Do to that fuel is quite expensive to keep in the vehicle, especially with the gas prices of being anywhere between $2.30/gallon to $3.00/gallon.
I own 1994 GMC Jimmy and I love the truck, I have had no problems with it but the normal stuff (plugs wires air filter and tires). You guy just don't take care of your vehicle. Keep to the books and all your cars will be like mine at 301,096 miles.
Our 99 Jimmy is hopefully on the way to the trash compactor. After 1000's of dollars of repairs we are taking full advantage of the clunker cash and throwing in the towel on GMC.
This car has been nothing but trouble - anyone who got a GMC Jimmy to 300K with only oil changes must have some magic oil - we did all of that stuff and still it is a bomb.
As painful as it is we will NOT be buying American (until they start making cars people have been asking for for decades)
All I can say is good luck to anybody who gets a 99 Jimmy at this point!
I am sorry for all of your troubles. I know it is discouraging, but don't give up on the USA. America makes many good vehicles, the GMC with a 4.3 might not be one of them.
I myself own a 1994 Jimmy, but it is what it is, old, 15 years old. And with anything you use on a daily basis, there will be repairs. How many old foreign cars do you see, and the parts for foreign cars are outrageous if you can even buy them after a few years; when they are done manufacturing a motor or style of a car, the parts are discontinued and if you can find it overseas, I hope it is a light small part as shipping is extremely high.
Thanks for reading what I have to say. Hope I didn't offend anyone. If you live in the USA, then you need to buy from the USA, or who knows what will happen; imagine if everybody bought a foreign car, what kind of shape would that put America into. Thank you god bless you and the USA.
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