1998 Chevy S-10 with 3.4L - Good or Bad?

[kach22i]

1998 Chevy S-10 with 4.3 L (not 3.4 oops) - Good or Bad?

I'm buying a 1998 Chevy 4x4 S-10 Pick up truck tonight, it's an automatic with the 4.3 L. (not 3.4 oops) V6 engine, 152,000 miles on it. The engine is clean, purrs at idle, not so romantic sounding when pressing the gas down, but I know it's not supposed to sound like a Porsche or Ferrari. I will be taking a test drive tonight.

I've heard that the electrical systems can be hit or miss on these cars.

I'm reading about the sludge caused by running low on the factory Dex coolant, which may show up as poor heat (clogged heater core). Flush and replace with fresh Dex?

Timing belt or chain, how often to replace?

What else should I know before laying down the cash tonight?

[rouxroux]

Our local GM plant is where the S-10's were built. We still see tons of them runnning around. I would not worry too much about the engine, as when it takes a crap on you, just drop in a SBC. A very easy swap.

It's really funny, as we spied a zebra-painted Suburban with a HUGE roof rack in Arkansas yesterday and said "George of the jungle needs that to replace his rusty Geo"!

[Tim Walsh]

I killed a 3.1(a smaller version of the 3.4) by mixing dexacool and ethylene glycol. I'd look under the radiator cap for any signs of sludge. Otherwise I'd check the suspension over carefully, you you might end up with too much camber:


This was the wife's 96 S10(with 15xK on it) after she broke an upper ball joint. Otherwise(outside of the 2.2L motor) it's been a great truck.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by rouxroux

It's really funny, as we spied a zebra-painted Suburban with a HUGE roof rack in Arkansas yesterday and said "George of the jungle needs that to replace his rusty Geo"!

Thanks for the input.

The woman with an S-10 Blazer where I buy my gas had her intake manifold gasket replaced by her boy friend. A shop would have charged her about a grand. She said over a gallon of coolant mixed with the oil when they dropped the oil pan. Just use the right coolant and flush it every other year she said.

That Zebra in Arkansas may have been Ted Nugent, after his original Bronco was stolen (long time ago) he replaced it with a Suburban. He has land down there, and had them spray paint red soil on it at the bottom to always remind him while up here in Michigan. He has land near Jackson, MI, I've seen the Suburban on Main Street downtown Ann Arbor which is close by.

[kslizzy]

I'm thinking you may have the 3 and the 4 transposed. Chevy only put a 2.5 I4 and a 4.3 V6 in the S-10's. If that's the case and it's a 4.3 then it's the Vortec which is a great motor. It's been around for a lot of years. If it's really a 3.4 then it's a transplant from a Lumina or Grand Prix or the like and if thats the case then we all know, you could be inheriting someone elses project!

[911boost]

My Grandparents had one, as did a friend. They were good trucks. Nothing fancy, and the 4.3 actually put out decent power.

Bill

[kach22i]

Yep the 4.3L (not 3.4).

2/3rds of a 2nd gen 350 small block I'm told.

I think between this forum and carnuts.us I have enough to know what to ask and what to look for.

Thanks all.

[VincentVega]

Yep, the 4.3 is down 2 cylinders to a small block. Decent trucks, but nothing special. A comparable Tacoma is a significant improvement. Intake gaskets arent uncommon and a rear main seal could be in the cards too. I think the 4.3 is the best park of the truck. Hinges and window regulators wear out at a pretty common rate too. Timing chain, no belt.

Simple, basic trucks.

[Tim Walsh]

Originally Posted by kslizzy

I'm thinking you may have the 3 and the 4 transposed. Chevy only put a 2.5 I4 and a 4.3 V6 in the S-10's. If that's the case and it's a 4.3 then it's the Vortec which is a great motor. It's been around for a lot of years. If it's really a 3.4 then it's a transplant from a Lumina or Grand Prix or the like and if thats the case then we all know, you could be inheriting someone elses project!

They also put the iron duke in them.. a 2.2L. My wife's is one, they had a 2.5L in the earlier generation. I had one of that generation(a 2.8L v6) and it served me well, though it was slow as a yugo, and clunked from 1st to 2nd every time for 4 years straight. Sorry no experience with the 4.3

[Tim Walsh]

Originally Posted by Chris Martin

Yep, the 4.3 is down 2 cylinders to a small block. Decent trucks, but nothing special. A comparable Tacoma is a significant improvement. Intake gaskets arent uncommon and a rear main seal could be in the cards too. I think the 4.3 is the best park of the truck. Hinges and window regulators wear out at a pretty common rate too. Timing chain, no belt.

Simple, basic trucks.

Simple and basic, utterly simple and basic. I never did have a hinge fail, though I did have 1 window regulator fail on my 86. I think I put about 60K on that truck after I got it, and my wife has put 100K on hers. Both were acquired after about 60K.

I have near zero experience with the V6 motors, but when it comes to the little 4's I'd say get the tacoma. My dad has one of those and after 150K and 12 years all he's needed is gas, oil and 1 set of shifter bushings, while I've had to put shocks, ball joints, 3 water pumps, a clutch, 1 U joint, a new exhaust in my wifes and now it's starting to slide out of 5th on the highway.

[vash]

check the tranny dipstick. the seal between the transfer case and tranny is suspect. you can leak all the tranny oil into the transfer case and never see a drop on the garage floor. i lost my tranny that way.

all in all my 96 was great. till the end. i had to change all the front suspension parts. at the end, my steering box gave up, and my smog results were dancing at the fail point. i changed the cat on that didnt help much, so i sold it. oh, open that hatch where you get to the oil filter. those two hoses that run to the filter are crap. they spring leaks all the time. the hatch is in the skid plate. you need a big screwdriver. i sold my truck with little miles and a new tranny for $3k.

[Oh Haha]

George, I bought one with the 4.3 brand new back in 92. It was a great running truck and when I sold it at 120,000 miles it was still running great. Mine was just a 2WD so less to go wrong.

Even still, it had no problems whatsoever during the time I owned it.

Check the basics and ask for oil change records. If the maintenance was kept up you should be good to go.

[Embraer]

had 246K on my '88 4.3 Blazer. it's a good engine.

[fastfredracing]

Decent vehicle, I work on at least one every week. Same as all gm vehicles. I regularly replace rusted fuel lines, fuel pumps front ball joints, intake manifold gaskets, water pumps. and oil cooler lines. I would say if you buy it have the oil cooler lines checked immediately. When one ruptures, you pump all out of your oil out pretty quick, I have only seen a handful of motors survive. Most oil line failures that I see, end up locking up the motor.
I am one that hopes that GM never improves its quality, as it has provided me with a steady stream of gravy work over the last two decades. The 4.3 motor itself is fairly robust, I have seen many run to nearly 200,000.

[lm6y]

Other than what was mentioned, check the injection "spider". They are pricey.

[kach22i]

I bought the truck last night, I'm expecting to change out fluids and have a shop go though it to catch things before they get too far unattended.

My only gripes are:

1. The PO had it for 1-1/2 years and 18,000 miles as his daily driver (152,000 on it now) and never heard of DEX coolant. There was a little rust under the cap, nothing as bad as I've seen on the Internet.

2. He never had any real problems with the truck, and did not know if the intake manifold gasket had ever been replaced. I'm bracing myself for a $1,000 reapair this summer if it comes down to that.

3. To adjust the angle of the seat I had to lock on a vice grip to where a seat lever had broken off.

The PO seemed like the type of guy who takes care of his car, he wanted to do an oil change before handing it off, but ran out of time. He threw an oil filter and a gallon of 10/40 in the cab and a tarp bed cover in the back (frozen in a wad). He said if I had any questions just give him a call. Is it 1962 and no body told me?

[Porsche_monkey]

I think the standard wisdom now is to either change the dex-cool every two years or switch to regular green anti-freeze.

A lot of people are suggesting the intake issues are related to really old dex-cool.

[vash]

yuck...dex cool blows. it leaves a residue in the coolant reservior for life. i think it is supposed to last 100k miles? i kept with it anyways. thinking about it, you will not have the remote oil filter unless you have the ZR2 package.

manifold gasket. mine failed early in car ownership. under warranty, the dealership fixed it. the idiot mechanic used a powered wire wheel to clean the gasket surface. he allowed all the crap to blast into the motor. my motor fragged 10k miles later. it left me stranded near another dealership, so i just rattled over to the shop, tossed the keys into the keydrop with a note, and had a friend drive me home. Chevy gave me an apology, and a new crate motor. i was pissed.

how is the heater core? those are weak too. and the joke is. they hung the heater core up with a string, and built a truck around it. it is hell to get to.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by vash

........how is the heater core? those are weak too. and the joke is. they hung the heater core up with a string, and built a truck around it. it is hell to get to.

Tons of heat and real cold A/C.

I can't seem to get any of the heat to my feet though. Cold feet, cold person.

Maybe I'll close all the upper vents off and create some back pressure so it hits my feet. I'll figure it out given time.

The coolant reservoir may have been all green coolant (car must be warm and it was dark last night), so I think this 4.3 is off the DEX. I'll verify later today. If it's off the DEX I may keep it off, more research is needed.

[vash]

GOOD! here is what i got from my chevy service manager. the dexcool has a flaw. with age, and, i think he said exposure to atmosphere, it gels up. this is hell on the heater core. i starts to clog it up. you know this is happening when you start hearing "gurgling" from some mysterious place. i had to take it to the guy for him to point it out. the coolant is tricking through the heater core. i almost passed out, when he told me the cost of changing it out.

dex and green stuff doesnt mix. i think he said you can go with one or the other. just no mixing.