This weekend, a friend of mine had problems with his 1999 Chevy Blazer’s cooling system. He called me up and I went to go and take a peek at it. We opened the radiator cap and noticed that the coolant was extremely low (i.e. not visible at the top of the radiator). Also, there was a rusty sludge on the cap and inside the radiator. His coolant reservoir, while filled with more of this nasty blackish-orangish ichor, was filled within specification.

Found out later that this is a common problem for Blazer owners, specfically those with the V6 4.3L Vortec engine. The Blazer’s sister vehicles, the Oldsmobile Bravada and GMC Jimmy, also seem to be affected. My friend also already had to have his heater core replaced this past winter, which was not cheap at all.

I hope that a class action lawsuit comes about because of this. No one should have to put up with this kind of design stupidity.

In other news, our Totin’ car’s turn signal won’t stop signalling a right-hand turn. Called the dealer and several service shops, and the consensus is that it will cost about $200 to replace. For now, the turn signal fuse was removed so we didn’t look like old folks driving around forgetting that our turn signal was left on. Of course, since we can’t signal anymore, we now fit in with 90% of the other Triangle drivers who refuse to signal.