2004 Trailblazer 4.2 - Newest Member of the Family

[JTK]

To me, the 4.2L GMT360s always felt like GM kept them heavily governed with the programming. Be it for economy or to keep it from tearing things up.

Maybe gearing or more gears like you guy say, would have helped.

 

[clinebarger]

What type of issues did you have with those?

Seemed to be something all the time....

Both needed the oil pick-up O-rings right at 100K, A horrendous job on a 4x4. They must run a pretty high oil temperature.....Trying to cool a 5.3L with a 4.2L cooling stack & a packed engine compartment might have something to do with it.

5.3L's used the same fan clutch as the 4.2L.

A lot of electrical issues, These were the first GM trucks to use downsized gauge wiring, Lot of broken wires.

Transmissions run hot, Seem to not last as long as the same unit in a fullsize with better cooling. Both had trans failures before 200K. I added auxiliary coolers to both after rebuilds.

Bunch of things I forget now, And these belonged to female family members & most of the work I did was for free which can put a sour taste in anyone's mouth.

Enjoy you truck....Wasn't trying to bash them.

 

[clinebarger]

Now, a 4200 in front of a 6L80? That could change the whole dynamic of the truck.

Don't think a 6L80E would clear the floorboard? But, I agree they do change the dynamics of a vehicle! I have a 6L90E in a 2000 Silverado & I'm not going back to 4 speeds. A 6L certainly won't fit into my Camaro...But that 6.2L make so much torque (455 at the tire) it doesn't really matter.

 

[14Accent]

Don't think a 6L80E would clear the floorboard? But, I agree they do change the dynamics of a vehicle! I have a 6L90E in a 2000 Silverado & I'm not going back to 4 speeds. A 6L certainly won't fit into my Camaro...But that 6.2L make so much torque (455 at the tire) it doesn't really matter.

I made myself curious with my own suggestion, so I googled a bit and it seems there's a full kit out there that actually uses the 6L50 behind the 4200.

 

[clinebarger]

6L50's are physically smaller than a 6L80, Makes sense.

 

[dogememe]

Seemed to be something all the time....

Both needed the oil pick-up O-rings right at 100K, A horrendous job on a 4x4. They must run a pretty high oil temperature.....Trying to cool a 5.3L with a 4.2L cooling stack & a packed engine compartment might have something to do with it.

5.3L's used the same fan clutch as the 4.2L.

A lot of electrical issues, These were the first GM trucks to use downsized gauge wiring, Lot of broken wires.

Transmissions run hot, Seem to not last as long as the same unit in a fullsize with better cooling. Both had trans failures before 200K. I added auxiliary coolers to both after rebuilds.

Bunch of things I forget now, And these belonged to female family members & most of the work I did was for free which can put a sour taste in anyone's mouth.

Enjoy you truck....Wasn't trying to bash them.

Oof, I imagine the LS oil pickup o-ring is 5x worse to do on one of these than a 2WD Tahoe or something.

I wonder if my tranny is original. The 02 Envoy I had before was on its 2nd one already. The first one only made it to 100K which is pretty awful but the 2nd made it beyond 250K when I got rid of it, and that included A LOT of towing and then my crazy driving at the time. I may consider adding an aux cooler to my Trailblazer when I change the tranny fluid - it's fairly dark right now.

 

[Mcbeem5]

Seemed to be something all the time....

Both needed the oil pick-up O-rings right at 100K, A horrendous job on a 4x4. They must run a pretty high oil temperature.....Trying to cool a 5.3L with a 4.2L cooling stack & a packed engine compartment might have something to do with it.

5.3L's used the same fan clutch as the 4.2L.

A lot of electrical issues, These were the first GM trucks to use downsized gauge wiring, Lot of broken wires.

Transmissions run hot, Seem to not last as long as the same unit in a fullsize with better cooling. Both had trans failures before 200K. I added auxiliary coolers to both after rebuilds.

Bunch of things I forget now, And these belonged to female family members & most of the work I did was for free which can put a sour taste in anyone's mouth.

Enjoy you truck....Wasn't trying to bash them.

I own a-2010 Chev Colorado with Atlas engine, same motor family as trailblazer.On the older Colorado's there were electrical problems that originated from Grounding Block issues.Also that motor has been amazingly reliable!

 

[DriveHard]

Had one myself...loved that engine.

Thermostat will be a problem...not a huge pain to replace, but not a 5 minute job.
Fan clutch as others have mentioned...if it roars, it needs it

GET IT TUNED! There is a ton of potential in these engines. With a good tune, it woke up, more power, and better mpg.

I wish GM had kept that engine going.

 

[dogememe]

Had one myself...loved that engine.

Thermostat will be a problem...not a huge pain to replace, but not a 5 minute job.
Fan clutch as others have mentioned...if it roars, it needs it

GET IT TUNED! There is a ton of potential in these engines. With a good tune, it woke up, more power, and better mpg.

I wish GM had kept that engine going.

I won't be tuning it, but yeah, I'll definitely keep an eye on the cooling system. Thank you

 

[GMFan]

My dad loves his 2003 4.2L trailblazer. The engines are very smooth. Gotta love the inline 6!

 

[dogememe]

Well, I resolved the clunking noise and feeling from the front right suspension today. We jacked it up and it was immediately obvious one of the upper control arm bushings had failed completely. $40 and 20 minutes later that is resolved.

It seems like the upper control arm was not adjustable... so I don't think I need to do an alignment? Although I guess I probably should anyway since I'm getting new tires later this week.

 

[mjk1967]

My cluster went out on my 01 Tahoe. There is a guy in the area that rebuilds them. Took it over to him, and 30 minutes later, I was walking out the door.

 

[dogememe]

My cluster went out on my 01 Tahoe. There is a guy in the area that rebuilds them. Took it over to him, and 30 minutes later, I was walking out the door.

Yeah I don’t think anyone in a 2 hour radius of me would want to rebuild a gauge cluster and any further than that would cost me more in gas and time than just ordering the Dorman one for $250.

 

[D60]

Yeah I don’t think anyone in a 2 hour radius of me would want to rebuild a gauge cluster and any further than that would cost me more in gas and time than just ordering the Dorman one for $250.

Are you really gonna order a Dorman cluster? Do you hate yourself that much?

Then again, just about everything Dorman touches becomes a cluster....

 

[dogememe]

Are you really gonna order a Dorman cluster? Do you hate yourself that much?

Then again, just about everything Dorman touches becomes a cluster....

Well at work it was either Dorman or Cardone and both are trash so I went with Dorman as it could arrive quicker. It will be here later today

 

[D60]

Well at work it was either Dorman or Cardone and both are trash so I went with Dorman as it could arrive quicker. It will be here later today

I can't fathom why you wouldn't use the ebay link I provided. It was $50 less than your previously mentioned $250, and I really do feel the blue LEDs are an upgrade without looking all like-Fast-N-Furious-brah.

Not because *I* provided the link -- it's not personal -- but because it's less expensive and almost surely couldn't be worse than Dorman.

I guess maybe you're concerned with warranty but if these clusters are competently rebuilt future problems within the life of the vehicle are very rare.

 

[dishdude]

Well at work it was either Dorman or Cardone and both are trash so I went with Dorman as it could arrive quicker. It will be here later today

The only thing worse than Dorman is Cardone! lol

 

[dogememe]

I can't fathom why you wouldn't use the ebay link I provided. It was $50 less than your previously mentioned $250, and I really do feel the blue LEDs are an upgrade without looking all like-Fast-N-Furious-brah.

Not because *I* provided the link -- it's not personal -- but because it's less expensive and almost surely couldn't be worse than Dorman.

I guess maybe you're concerned with warranty but if these clusters are competently rebuilt future problems within the life of the vehicle are very rare.

I know it's not personal haha. I didn't want blue I wanted stock and I knew I could get it fastest through work. I'm impatient Thank you!

 

[D60]

I know it's not personal haha. I didn't want blue I wanted stock and I knew I could get it fastest through work. I'm impatient Thank you!

Plenty of reputable rebuilders will forego the blue (which is really how OEM should have come because it just appears brighter, crisper and yet somehow softer to the human eye). Even that place would likely do you one with standard bulbs if you only asked -- they were very responsive and personable when I dealt with them.

But the impatience.....can't help ya there.

A couple of words translated from Albanian in Taken come to mind. Let us know how the Dorman Cluster (TM) does

 

[dogememe]

Plenty of reputable rebuilders will forego the blue (which is really how OEM should have come because it just appears brighter, crisper and yet somehow softer to the human eye). Even that place would likely do you one with standard bulbs if you only asked -- they were very responsive and personable when I dealt with them.

But the impatience.....can't help ya there.

A couple of words translated from Albanian in Taken come to mind. Let us know how the Dorman Cluster (TM) does

It is nice, they did a good job (I think and hope it stays that way). While I had the dash panel off I installed a new radio with BT and CarPlay. Yes it's generic junk, yes it was cheap, and yes it's better than the original one haha.

The only thing is, now that I have a working temp gauge... she runs a little warmer than I'd expect I took a 10 minute drive and this is where the temperature was... a bit above halfway. I don't remember ever having it go above halfway on the Envoy so I don't think this is normal. For reference its 67F today, very nice day.