If I had to drive one, I would look for an '80s model with a 6.2l diesel, lots of army surplus ones down there still. It will be slow, but it will get in the 20s MPG wise with some luck. Rust kills those things, first thing you do when you look at one is grab one of the rear seat lap belts and pull on it. Usually they either aren't attached to anything already, or you will feel it move as it tries to take the rusted floor with it. Stuff from that era is getting to the age of restoration rather than daily driving, and even though the 6.2l and the rest of the Blazer drivetrain is solid, unless you find a mint, low mile, rust free one, you should expect to have issues. If you get into an early '90s gas one, look for low oil pressure. Make sure the oil idiot light on the dash hasn't been disconnected, and listen to it idle when it gets warmed up. Those motors tended to have soft crankshafts in them, so the crank journals would wear rather than the bearings. They will run for a long time with super low oil pressure at idle, but you are best to avoid them unless you are willing to rebuild the bottom end.
__________________
"Don't look for one place to lose 100 pounds, look for 1600 places to lose an ounce." - Tony DeFeo
Last edited by War_Wagon; 03-20-2013 at 08:04 PM..
|