2000 Trailblazer mis-fires shudders then dies - Need Help!

FZELASKO

MEMBER
2000 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER

2000 Chevy Trailblazer 4x4 automatic, 100k miles in good condition until now. Just started dieing on me after driving teh 50 mile commute home, did all 100k mile services, replaced distributor cap, spark plugs, fuel pump, gas filter etc. Seemed like problem was fixed but then started driving and it started all over again, even worse. The car starts to shudder so bad, then just dies. It seems like it mis-fires, they ran cylinder tests and sensor tests but they all come up clean. $800 later, they still cannot figure out whats wrong. Please help. This is our family car. Cannot afford to just go out and buy another. They have tested all the cylinders and sensors, they have changed what they thought was related, now they think its internal, what can it be? Is it worth fixing?

3 Replies

FISHERMAN

MECHANIC
938 POSTS

Hello !

Well its harder to fix a car when the fail its sporadic.
But.
By any chance did you do a ECU diagnostic?
Which codes do you got?

Looks to me like the injectors just quit working suddenly. Clog-up or "cut" signal.
After a shutdown.
The truck start right away?
Smell a lot of gas?

Works just fine after that?
For how long before it start missfiring?

Let Us Know !

I`ll be looking for more info.

(BTW Thanks a Lot for your Donation ! )

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Thursday, October 11th, 2007 AT 5:25 PM

FZELASKO

MEMBER
2 POSTS

[quote="fisherman"]

Hello !

Well its harder to fix a car when the fail its sporadic.
But.
By any chance did you do a ECU diagnostic?
Which codes do you got?

Looks to me like the injectors just quit working suddenly. Clog-up or "cut" signal.
After a shutdown.
The truck start right away?
Smell a lot of gas?

Works just fine after that?
For how long before it start missfiring?

Let Us Know !

I`ll be looking for more info.

(BTW Thanks a Lot for your Donation ! )

It doesn't smell like gas and it does start. In fact it can actually run as long as you have your foot on the gas. After all the maintenance the shop just did they can get it to drive but as soon as it idles it goes chug chug chug shudder shudder and then dies.

They did do the ECU test. They are trying to eliminate fuel injectors now since I have a spider set up. It is my father-in-law who is the mechanic so he is trying desperately to keep the costs, but he is scared - once it comes down to injectors we will have to pay big to fix it. At this point we don't know if it is really worth it. The car has no history of problems so I find it terribly hard to believe that this one kills it off. Everything points back to the fuel or to the cylinders - have any suggestions?

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Friday, October 12th, 2007 AT 9:09 AM

FISHERMAN

MECHANIC
938 POSTS

Well If you have problems just at idle ...
How about the IAC (Idle Air Control Valve)
That`s a common problem on idle issues....

Make sure that valve its clean and working properly ..
Also well adjusted..

Then you can clean the injectors (you have to use an approved injector cleaner from chevy)

I don`t think that`s an internal problem.. it`s a fuel control problem...

let Us Know on your findings..

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Friday, October 12th, 2007 AT 12:15 PM