Chevy S10

[Ozwynn]

My 23yo bought a rusted out 2000 Chevy S10 4x4 with a 4.3L. Ok well I paid for it but he has to pay me back….. just glancing at it I know it needs brake lines, fuel lines, and a tune up. I also want to change the oil and transmission fluid. What else?

 

[superj]

The mess under the intake that is the fuel lines/vacuum lines cause problems on those engines, if i remember right. I think they call it a spider.

I had a 98 stepside sonoma but i wisely shose the 2 liter engine because of all the problems people always talked about on the 4.3

 

[Blmpkn]

Smell/feel that trans fluid before you dump it. If it's gross, I'd just leave it be.

 

[Ozwynn]

I drove it 100 miles home last night. Seems to run fine after it warmed up. Held 65mph well enough

 

[sgtsandman]

Check the transfer case oil and axle gear lube. Be surprised if they were ever changed. I seem to remember there being something negative about the 4.3 but I'm not sure what it was. Prone for oil leaks?

 

[don4331]

The 4.3 in my S10 Blazer turned itself into a 5 cylinder - wiped a cam lobe off. And it ate a starter which was royal PIA as it was buried in frame rail - had to lift/rotate engine to pull it out.

It was also hard on front end parts - tie rod ends, ball joints, suspension bushings.

The driver's door was rusting like crazy, but that was a function of poor repair of damage from previous owner.​

The SUV was a lot of fun to drive - I just wasn't in a place to do that level of maintenance.

 

[Roert42]

I heard a lot of good things about the GM 4.3. Supposed to be very reliable.

Maybe that is just reliable to GM standards. I was also told that GMs 3800II was one of the most reliable engines they ever made, and that was a giant pos.

 

[bilbo]

We had an Astro van with the 4.3. It made good power and we never had an issue with it. Even with my Dad not being real great about maintenance. I had an S10 Blazer in high school with the 4.3 and it was good for the most part. I loved that thing but it ended up with a failed main seal that I didn't have the facilities or know how to replace so we traded it in in my home town in central MN. Two years later guess what rolled up to the gas station I worked at in Fargo, ND?

I second leaving the tranny alone if the fluid smells burnt. A friend of mine is a mechanic and he said they had to push quite a few cars out of the shop after the customer insisted on a flush even though they didn't recommend it after looking at the fluid.

 

[Ozwynn]

We had an Astro van with the 4.3. It made good power and we never had an issue with it. Even with my Dad not being real great about maintenance. I had an S10 Blazer in high school with the 4.3 and it was good for the most part. I loved that thing but it ended up with a failed main seal that I didn't have the facilities or know how to replace so we traded it in in my home town in central MN. Two years later guess what rolled up to the gas station I worked at in Fargo, ND?

I second leaving the tranny alone if the fluid smells burnt. A friend of mine is a mechanic and he said they had to push quite a few cars out of the shop after the customer insisted on a flush even though they didn't recommend it after looking at the fluid.

Yeah… I wasn’t going to flush it, just a filter and replace whatever comes out of the pan like I do with my Jeep.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Check for frame rot under the drivers door area.

My dad bought a 94 to use as a yard mule and its rottted pretty decent in that area even though the body is okish.

After googleing it seems halfway common on them

 

[4x4prepper]

search "2000 chevy s-10 passlock bypass"

Passlock Bypass?

www.s10forum.com

If you wait until it does not start, good luck, you will need it. On one vehicle I tried a "system", it did not work, so I ended up having to buy a BCM off E-Bay. imho, The passlock system was one of the main reasons Government Motors went out of business.

Look for bad and corroded fusible links on the starter.

 

[Ozwynn]

My god I don’t understand how these little S10s and Blazers have such a following….. in 32 years I have never had to pull the front wheels off and remove the steering shaft to change the spark plugs. And the f*****g little screws to hold down the distributor cap…. And who the hell thought up the idea to use screws to hold down the cap anyways….. and then use thin plastic dogear screw holes in the distributor base ….. which apparently were broken on the last tune up this little truck got…. I don’t know how it ran long enough to get the 100 miles home.

how the hell are you supposed to get the distributor out without lifting the cab? Because a new distributor is the only way to fix the broken dogear screw holes….

and whoever slid the steering shaft of the gear box pried in the wrong spot and shaved some splines off… unless the input shaft on the steering gear box is supposed to be flat on the top …. Which would be another stupid design….


Oh yeah and…. I don’t know who the tire shop was that installed the new tires… but both front tires had more that 250ft/lbs of torque on them. My 20v 1/2” drive impact had to hammer on the lug nut before it would turn so I wanted to know how much torque the had on them… maxed out my 250ft/lb torque wrench and they still hadn’t moved…. Went back to hammering on them with the impact.

No rust on the frame near the driver door… only surface rust. Some spots on the frame still have paint….

And I haven’t even gotten to the brake lines yet…

 

[rusty ol ranger]

My god I don’t understand how these little S10s and Blazers have such a following….. in 32 years I have never had to pull the front wheels off and remove the steering shaft to change the spark plugs. And the f*****g little screws to hold down the distributor cap…. And who the hell thought up the idea to use screws to hold down the cap anyways….. and then use thin plastic dogear screw holes in the distributor base ….. which apparently were broken on the last tune up this little truck got…. I don’t know how it ran long enough to get the 100 miles home.

how the hell are you supposed to get the distributor out without lifting the cab? Because a new distributor is the only way to fix the broken dogear screw holes….

and whoever slid the steering shaft of the gear box pried in the wrong spot and shaved some splines off… unless the input shaft on the steering gear box is supposed to be flat on the top …. Which would be another stupid design….


Oh yeah and…. I don’t know who the tire shop was that installed the new tires… but both front tires had more that 250ft/lbs of torque on them. My 20v 1/2” drive impact had to hammer on the lug nut before it would turn so I wanted to know how much torque the had on them… maxed out my 250ft/lb torque wrench and they still hadn’t moved…. Went back to hammering on them with the impact.

No rust on the frame near the driver door… only surface rust. Some spots on the frame still have paint….

And I haven’t even gotten to the brake lines yet…

You ever change a distributor on a 2.9? Its about like that. The cap also has screws.

Dads TBI 4.3 is actually eaiser IMO. Never dicked with the vortec though.

 

[Ozwynn]

It’s a Vortec and I’ve never had a 2.9l Ranger. Only 3 4.0l trucks, an Aerostar with a 4.0l, and 2 4cyl rangers.
Got the brake lines, fuel lines, abs pump, master cylinder, new exhaust, and distributor changed. Drove it 41 miles to work and the intake manifold gasket went. Since this engine has 23x,xxx miles on it… I bought a low miles engine from a 2002 blazer that I’m going to re-gasket and swap in.
I bought this truck for my son… my GF decided she likes it so I gave him $1000 to buy something else… he came home with a 2001 S10 4wd step side…. It only has 124,xxx miles on it but the driver door is sagging and it looks like it’s sagging to the point that the sheet metal on the door jamb is weak.

got all this going on and bought a house at the same time so all my money is going into the house.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Youd be surprised how bad an S10 door can sag