Upper ball joint broke and was replaced it.
1996 Chevrolet Blazer suspension complaints
Page 4 of 6: complaints 71 to 100 of 149, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While traveling steering was pulling to one side. Dealer has been contacted, and technician replaced upper and lower ball joints. Please provide furather information.
Medford engine gasket blewout, and coolant ran from undernea vehicle.also, there was a noise coming from front of the vehicle due to bearings being defective. Dealership was aware of problems.
The car had made a nasty noise since about 30k miles. We brought this to the dealers attention more than once, but they found no problem. We had the car lubed, aligned, replaced tires, etc. We lived with the noise, assured there was no problem. Then last sunday my wife turned into our drive, and the right front wheel detached at the lower ball joint. Had she been going faster, this would have been catastrophic. Chevrolet says there is no problem, and ball joint failure is not unusual. I disagree and consider this a serious defect, as at moderate speed this kind of failure would result in a rollover.
While driving at approximately 20 MPH, there was a noise coming from front of vehicle, and it felt as if there was a flat tire. When attempting to stop, brake pedal went to the floor, and the right front wheel fell off. Dealership examined vehicle and determined that upper control arm/ ball joint snapped. Please provide any additional information/attachments.
Front left control arm, rusted and carroded, causing the control arm to break and damage to the steering knuckel, shock, left front axcle, axcle boot and axcle seel. This accured while beginning to back to car out of a drive way (approx. 3mph). The car was taken back to the dealer after purchase for a snaping and popping in the front driverside wheel, both times we were told it was a squeeky spring and nothing was wrong. Now we know what the noises where, not a spring. The car has been at the dealer for over 2 weeks. We have been told a couple of different stories about why the car did this and how this is seen all the time( which I know is not true). The final conclusion from the dealer is lack of maintance, yet we have this car lubed and taken care of often. This is a real concern, if this part would have broke just moments before or after it did, me and my children would have been severly injured or killed. I am very worried that the other side may do the same thing, since I can not get a good answer o.
Consumer took vehicle in for a brake service, and asked for a rotation of tires. Dealership informed him they could not rotate tires or perform a front end alignment because all of front ball joints were worn out. A chevrolet dealership mentioned that this could be the result of a bad design. *ak consumer also had front brakes replaced, consumer also had to replace all four tires due to ball joints.
Ea 99022,while driving ball joints in front end failed/came out and cut rim down center, causing front wheel to collapse againt wall.
The ball joints have significant play in them and are in need of replacement: this was noticed when tires that were new in november were found to be bald on the inner edge when I saw the steel belt. I thought it was perhaps the allignment but it turned out to be the ball joints allowing the wheels to toe outward. This I have subsequently found to be poor planning in the design of the factory ball joints in that they do not allow for lubrication or maintenance. On one side the wheel has play of approximately 1/2 inch the other side has signifcant play as well, but not as much. The failure was not catastrophic, I was advised by my mechanic not to drive the vehicle as the ball joints are degraded to a state that is unsafe.
While driving 30 MPH vehicle dropped down, right front upper control arm had broken. *ak the upper arm came off ball joint due to lack proper greezing.
Right front suspension collapsed causing the wheel and tire to explode. Nlm
While turning into a parking lot the upper ball joint on the driver side broke causing tire to come off the vehicle, the consumer had all four ball joints replaced. Nlm
While changing lanes vehicle swerved. Driver stopped vehicle, and upon visual inspection noticed that ball joint broke off.
Steering started getting tight, had to jerk it to steer. Took vehicle to dealer, and they said that lower ball joints and idler arm were bad. Consumer replaced ball joints, and they only lasted for 38000 miles. They should have lasted longer than that.
Front tires were getting quite worn out and rotating was not helping. Was forced into replacing all four at 49559 miles - well before the 60000 miles warranty on the the tires. The tire shop said that I need two front lower ball joints and an idler arm. The dealership said that I needed two front upper ball joints also. The dealership added that the joints should last a lifetime if properly lubricated - which I had taken care of. Asked the chevrolet customer service about a replacement schedule for the ball joints and was told to ask the dealership. Bottomline - did not get a replacement schedule from either place. The dealership warned that the joints could break while driving and reading some of the other complaints to the federal safety agency scared the heck out of me. Ended up getting the lower and upper ball joints on either side along with the idler arm replaced at a cost of $800. The chevrolet customer service gave a bunch of platitude about how sorry they were that the warrany had expired and that they could not help me.
This blazer has offered nothing but problems. We have replaced the alternator, brake pads three times, the battery three times, the air conditioner went out in july, 1999, and even after having it repaired twice, it still doesn't work. We took it to the dealership for repair because of a "gurgling" noise, but they couldn't find what was causing it, (it was still under warranty at that time). Now gas fumes flood into the vehicle at various times, after filling up, and even while driving. They claim that a $1,000.00 valve needs to be replaced, but I sure wish they had known that while the warranty was still good! The wipers work sometimes, the brakes allow me to slide to a stop any time there is moisture, the left radio speakers only work sometimes, dome light cover falls off, hood won't open without force, pwr. Windows only work when they want to, locks stopped working before warranty expired, and they "fixed" them, but they still didn't work. Is there any way they will take this lousy excuse for a vehicle back? I can't afford to drive my children around in something that offers the possibility of explosion due to gas leakage, not to mention that the smell and fumes make us all nautious. I wonder how many more problems we will have with it, the transmission now seems to be slipping. Please help!!
When coming to a stop sign vehicle will not stop, it goes right through the stop sign. It does not happen all the time.
While driving, w/o warning right front end collapsed. Appears to be failed upper ball joint. Had regularly lubed every 3k miles. Also damaged front rim by tearing away metal. Very lucky my wife and daughter were not at full speed.
While traveling 45 MPH during rush hour, the front left top ball joint failed causing the tire to collapse inward and loss of steering control. $1000 to repair. I believe this is another case for investigation ea99022.
Premature ball joint failure. Two chevrolet dealers refused to acknowledge or fix ball joint problem-vehicle was still under warranty. Lower ball joints replaced at our expense; upper will have to be replaced shortly. Several mechanics stated that this is a common problem for chevy blazers/trucks, but chevrolet won't acknowledge the defect. Why is that?
Ea99022, passenger side ball joint broke while driving causing a crash. Dealer had to replace the passenger and driver side ball joints. Common problem. *ak *slc consumer was injured in accident.
Was leaving on vacation, towing 2000lb boat - as we were pulling in to a local gas station to check the air in the trailer tires, the ball joint assembly in the left front wheel failed causing the upper half of the wheel to turn in at a 45 degree angle. Had it occurred while towing at highway speeds, we would have made the evening news.
This could have been a fatal accident if it occurred on a highway at a greater rate of speed as the SUV would have rolled-over.
While driving at 65 MPH on the expressway the left ball joint failed, causing the drivers side wheel to buckle, cutting the tire,rim,and causing loss of control of the vehicle. The dealer indicated the right ball joint was broken also. The bottom line is "this shouldn't have happened." the ball joints are defective and my family and I could have been killed.
While driving the vehicle the ball joint failed causing the vehicle to drag.
The front top & bottom ball joints went bad while driving. Driver's side/front wheels caved inward. Unable to drive vehicle. Had vehicle towed to dealership. Mechanic gave no indication of cause of problem.
Both o2 sensors have been replaced (at seperate time in past 4 months). Upper/lower ball joints are in need of replacement. According to dealership (desantis chevrolet) should have never passed inspection in april. Have had problem with ABS since purchase of the vehicle. First recall did nothing to fix problem. Abs can't tell difference from wet & dry pavement. Abs will kick in when slowing down on gravel at 20mph, but not at faster speeds on wet pavement.
Left upper ball joint broke, the wheel buckled causing ~$1.5k in damage. Dealer points to lack of maintenance. However, the suspension was lubed every 3000 miles - records available. Photos of damaged parts available. Damaged parts removed from vehicle and are available for the federal safety agency inspection. This type of failure seems to point to design problems compromising safety of this vehicle.
Consumer will complete form.
All front end ball joints failing from approx.. 38,000 miles and up. (6) total to date. Have been replaced with liftime ball joints. These ones also fail. This has caused us to purchase tires on a regular basis because for the front because of wear along side of tires. According to various auto dealers and auto parts stores, this is continual problem with s-10 blazers. I have checked the recall list for chevrolets and could not find this problem listed.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 1996 Chevrolet Blazer?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history