Questions and Answers

Wrong Mileage On A S-10?? Q. Hi Vincent, I bought a 1989 S-10, Blazer from a new/used car dealer In Erie, PA , that had 49,700 miles on the odometer. It has 4 wheel drive, automatic transmission, V-6 engine, and is completely loaded except for power seats.

It appeared to be in reasonable shape and because of the low mileage I ASSUMED it would be a great car for the kid to drive in the winter. (We live in Edinboro, PA and we get ALOT of snow). I paid a premo price for it. $4,800.00. There were other Blazers for that year that sold for $2,800 to $4,000.

It was awash in Armorall including the engine compartment and I had asked them if they were trying to cover something up. (They said no). It also had a February 2001 inspection sticker on it.

I have had a mess of problems with it. New exhaust, new front brakes AND rotors, new rear pads AND drums, The front rotor had been replaced on one side only and the rear pads tapered from like new to bare metal across the width, the front right torsion bar was replace incorrectly and rattles around.

The mounting beam for it has no rubber left on it, the front ball joints had been replaced, and the transmission oil is BLACK. The oil filler tube looks like its been burnt and the rubber seal around the pcv valve is dried out. The best one of all is, it consumes 1 quart of oil every 400 miles.

The oil does not leak on the ground. There is a small leak at the rear seal but not enough to drip off. There is also a leak in the hose going to the remote oil filter but again not enough to drip off the fender. It does not seem to blow oil when you start it up and it does not seem to leave a smoke trail when it is driven. With the cold temperatures it's kind of hard to tell.

It does get very bad gas mileage and I swear you can smell gas in the oil. I took it back to the dealer and told the service manager to take it home with him. He told me the next day he and his mechanics couldn't find anything wrong with it.

I have three questions for you:

1. Does this seem to be the normal condition of a vehicle with 50,000 on it?
2. In your expert opinion do you think the mileage on the odometer was true?
3. Where is the oil going?????

I hope you have the answer to these questions because the guy I bought it from doesn't seem to have a clue or any answers.

Thanks,
Al

A. Al, that seems like an awful lot of repairs for a truck that only has 50,000 miles on it. Methinks there was a rat in the cheese. Let's do a little math here. The average person drives 12,000 miles a year. Take that and multiply by 11 years and we get 132,000 miles which would be more in line with the repairs that have been done.

If the oil is not leaking out, then it's being burned. If there is indeed gas in the oil, you're looking at bad rings and an engine overhaul.

What I would do is get over to Carfax.com and get a vehicle history report. This will give you a complete history of that vehicle.

Also I would take it to a different Chevy dealer and tell them you just bought the truck and you would like a history of the work that was done on it so you can plan out a maintenance schedule. They will provide you with a complete list of all the work performed on it by any dealer in the country.

If there was any monkey business, this will give you the ammo you need to get your money refunded and this truck off your hands.