I dint know where to post this, but I know there is a lot of traffic here, so here it goes. I have a 1991 TA, and it was 170,000 miles on it. I am going to park it and get another car. It gets me around town, but I am a Radiology major, and next semester I have to do a clinical rotation at a hospital about 20 miles away. It will be a lot of miles, and I dont think the TA will make it. ON top of that, it is smoking from the back passenger side fo the engine and it smells like burning oil of the manifold, could be a head gasket?????? Then, next fall, I will be going out to Columbia, MO and that will be even more miles. So, back home, my dad found a 1997 Bravada, it has 72,000 miles on it. It has a 4.3, AWD, smart trac, and all options except for a sunroof. Does anyone have experience with this model??? A few people in my family have blazers and jimmy's, but no Bravadas. I dont know anyone with a Bravada for that matter... So I want to get some feedback from people who have had experience with them, either working on them, or owning one. Their bottom dollar is 9500. I need the space to pack and move and so on, so most cars are out of hte question. That is part of the reason I am getting something bigger. Let me know what you guys think about it.

Thanks

 

Yeah, I'd say there a 90% chance its the head gasket. I would assume the bravada would be roughly the same as the blazers and whatnot. A girl i knew in school had a bravada, she said she liked it and it never really gave her any trouble. Sorry I don't have any personal experience with bravadas.

 

ADM,

Basically, Bravada = Olds "Blazer". Same chassis, different plastic. The 262 V-6 will run virtually forever if you take reasonable care of it. I'd have the transfer case checked closely, and scan the antilock system (PCM) for error code history. The "Smart-Tracs" has a few problems in that area, but I'm not sure what years.

As for the TA, for a head gasket to leak oil, it would also have to be leaking coolant. If it is only oil, I'd clean everything up and check it again after a week or so of driving. Likely it is a leak at the rocker cover or end of the intake (China wall), or possibly the distributor base.