Alright, so we replaced the water pump and did a tune up.
the truck didn't run right to begin with.
It was missing all over the place and wouldn't idle.
After the tune up, the missing stopped. One problem solved
the issue now is it is smoking and won't idle. it just dies off.
We drove it around the block some and got parked back in the drive way, it idled for like 45 seconds and then died. Thats as good as it got. When you give it gas, it smokes.
you can hold the pedal down just a touch and hold the RPMs steady at where idle should be and its smooth. doesn't sound like it is missing at all. actually sounds healthy considering the age and miles. But once you give it more gas, it smokes.
the little bit of history we have on the truck is that the problem got worse and worse until finally it wouldn't start without help from the throttle and wouldn't stay running without help.

anybody have any ideas?

thanks

-Phil

 

what color is the smoke?

 

tbi right?
check computer for codes
smoke color ?
pull plugs to inspect
test compression wile there

 

yes its TBI
no check engine light. no codes
the smoke was dark... but then again, it was dark outside so i can't confirm the color...
the plugs are new and gapped properly
its got a bunch of miles on it, so the compression might be lower than it should be..
we advanced the timing and it idles and runs pretty well...
we've got it advanced like one degree of valve chatter...

 

color of and type of soot on new plugs ?
look in the day time. white or black/dark blue smoke
better put a light on that timing
hows your tempature acting ?

 

what they said also look for a vacumm leak

 

the new plugs, look fine, i mean they are kinda black, but just within the bounds of normal.
the smoke is more of a grey. so a very light black... i know it isn't your usual oil, it isn't coolant... i would say its running rich.
From what I can tell the temp is fine... its been driving around for a while with no issues.. in heavy traffic...
i had a honda that we were working on that when you gave it too much gas, it would retard the timing some stupid amount to stay alive... nothing helped. new parts, advanced the timing the whole bit. we later found out that the compression was all kinds of fucked because the sleeves were warped. so pistons 1, 2, and 4 were ok, but piston 3 was horrible... that was throwing the computer off and in an atempt to stay alive, it retarded the timing...
from the way it sounds/acts, this seems to be very similar... i just don't know if this blazer is smart enough to do that. and since advanceing the timing helped alot, it has really thrown me off.
we also checked for the vacuum leak by taking a bottle of starter fluid and spraying it around... we didn't see it move and the rpms never changed...
i'm leaning towards compression issues... it does have alot of miles on it...