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4.3 and S10 stuff

thatK30guy

thatK30guy

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Got a '98 Jimmy with the Vortec. Wanted to ask what others have experienced for gas mileage, both in city and highway, with these little trucks.

I want to hear averages so I can determine if theres something wrong with my rig. Its not doing real great on mileage.

Next, theres a mysterious problem of disappearing coolant. No clue where its going as theres no leaks or smoke. Any ideas?

Finally, do others experience the check light staying on frequently on these trucks? Mine does and its not pulling any code.

What the hell is up with these POS trucks? :dunno:
 
2001 pickup 4.3

17/20mpg
intake manifold gaskets are prone to fail on these trucks, either outside, into the oil, or into an intake port. Also, if you do this or ever flush the cooling system, replace with some prestone green stuff, no GM red sh1t.
If you do the intake gasket, check to make sure you have the updated fuel injection spider. If not, get it, it won't cost you any in labor or time since you're already taking everything apart.
Never had a check engine light except when the spider was leaking, or I forced the light. Have you tried unplugging the battery for a few minutes to clear it? Then when it comes back on check for codes again.
 
Damn! 17/20!!!

I get an average 12 in the town but at the last fill up, it got 10 mpg. :confused:

Definitely something wrong with this thing!
 
I should say, I never "just" do city driving. If I hit the highway and don't stop till I need gas....it's ~20mpg. If I go a week on a tank, with about 50% freeway or less, I'm looking at about 16-17mpg. If I have the AC on during an entire tank, it's more like 14-15mpg.

but yes, you're eating fuel bad. Need to find out what this code it. It could be a lot of things obviously.
 
I can't do highway driving because I rarely venture out of the city. My home and job are both in town and the only highway driving we see is maybe out to my folks, 4 miles away.

I recently took a road trip to another members house a few weeks ago. Going down there was pretty good since the wind was behind me. Got 23 mpg going down. But coming back home into the wind, I got 16 mpg.

I always fill up the tank and never let it get below half tank. I check the mileage at every fill up and its always averaged 12 mpg as long as I've owned it for 2.5 years. Just a little frustrating it came out to 10 mpg the other day. I know something is wrong.
 
fullsized '94 ext cab silverado, Vortec TBI though, averages about 15-17 or so, if easy on the gas, it will eat the gas if you're on it enough though.

on our trip to Indiana from Arizona, the Silvy was pulling a small Coleman camper trailer, gutted, but was full loaded, the bed was full loaded and we had a complete mattress set up on top of the camper shell. OH, and a cat condo thingy... :tongue1: Only ran no faster than 65mph all the way here and from what i figured up through the mileage and receipts, it averaged about 19, suprised us both, but i contribute this to the steady speed limit, which is what we were trying to accomplish,,, a higher mileage as we were real low on funds.:doah:

also as mentioned, i too had to redo an intake gasket on this older one.
Having a SES light fault of the TPS sensor and knock sensor now though.

Personally, i don't think these 4.3's get the mileage they really should, especially when we used to have a '76 Nova with a 250 inline 6 that would easily get up in the 20's.

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crappy pics there, taken from a previous cell phone...
 
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sweetk30 said:
s10 stuff in that range like the blazer suck for mileage. 12 is about normal.
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Guess its time to sell this Jimmy and buy a full size truck of the same year or newer. At least it will be comparable to the smaller rigs mileage but with a lot more room to haul.

Soon on the agenda after selling this Jimmy (hopefully): a 3/4 ton 4x4, preferrably a newer one.
 
I have a 92 s-10 4.3 vortec and I get about 17 highway and 15 around town.
 
my dads 95 s-10 kept throwing an o2 sensor code, got a new muffler put on it because the old one had two tiny rust holes on top of it, that took care of that issue. still ran like crap, so I replaced the spider and the supply & return lines seems to be doing better, and the exhaust doesnt smell like it used to. not sure about the mileage though, only drive it as a back up vehicle.
 
I had a 1996 s-10 extended cab with a 4.3 got 25 mpg on the highway and 20 mpg in town but I had the w code 4.3 (ho) with 4.10 gears with a little tune made all the difference and had plenty of power. The truck had 31 x10.50 tires.
 
bigred81 said:
I had a 1996 s-10 extended cab with a 4.3 got 25 mpg on the highway and 20 mpg in town but I had the w code 4.3 (ho) with 4.10 gears with a little tune made all the difference and had plenty of power. The truck had 31 x10.50 tires.
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Was this truck a ZR2?
 
I can't see that millage being right. I have the W vin code, 180hp, the HO is only 190 with maybe 5ft more TQ. Can't remember the torque. I can't see rolling on 31s and getting 20/25mpg, even with a tune or turbo or sail. It seems very out of the ordinary. Only s10s I've ever seen get that kind of millage are the ls1 stuffed trucks, but their city millage is no better than mine.

I will say, for being 3/4 of a 350v8 and stuffed in a 3500lb truck, they sure are gutless.
 
K85 Octane said:
I can't see that millage being right. I have the W vin code, 180hp, the HO is only 190 with maybe 5ft more TQ. Can't remember the torque. I can't see rolling on 31s and getting 20/25mpg, even with a tune or turbo or sail. It seems very out of the ordinary. Only s10s I've ever seen get that kind of millage are the ls1 stuffed trucks, but their city millage is no better than mine.

I will say, for being 3/4 of a 350v8 and stuffed in a 3500lb truck, they sure are gutless.
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I pretty much agree, betting those tires were not stock, throwing off the mileage reading.

and for that last comment about them being gutless in a S-10? try it in this fullsized 1/2 ton ext. cab:doah:

NOT very power happy, but it has some serious grunt for pulling though as was proven to me several years back. I drove out to San Diego from Phoenix, with an empty U-Haul car trailer to essentially rescue my dad and his little Aveo+Harley cycle. We loaded the car on the 2000lb trailer, and the motorcycle inthe bed of the truck, plus all his construction hand tools and all clothing, 3 adults.

Some pretty serious uphill grades leaving the LA basin, I-10 just east of Indio, 6% for several miles, this little 6 banger pulled those hills with all that stuff in it and never dropped below about 40mph. It was pushin close to redline on the tach, but was pulling. Suprised the heck out of me as to what it was capable of.

Pulling all that weight, we averaged around 12 mpg, was real easy on the throttle on the flatter gounds trying to save the gas :D
 
If I would have known these things got the same gas mileage as a full size with a v8. I would have thought twice about getting mine. I thought it was going to be good on gas when I got mine. I guess I should have done a little research.
 
recon561 said:
If I would have known these things got the same gas mileage as a full size with a v8. I would have thought twice about getting mine. I thought it was going to be good on gas when I got mine. I guess I should have done a little research.
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yup, i used to work at a delivery company out in Phoenix several years ago, we used our own vehicles, contract drivers,,, one guy went out and bought a Astro looking van, don't remember the name, but it was bigger than a small van, but didn't seem to be as big as the fullsize, heck it may have been a fullsize, i dunno, but he specifically got this one because of the 4.3 it had, thinkin it would do great on gas, that was out biggest expense...

Needless to say, he told me he was not happy with getting the 13-16 mpg it was getting.
 
recon561 said:
If I would have known these things got the same gas mileage as a full size with a v8. I would have thought twice about getting mine. I thought it was going to be good on gas when I got mine. I guess I should have done a little research.
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Thats exactly what I learned with this little truck.

Doubt I will ever own another one. This truck will be one of those "tried it, done it" deals. Never again.
 
Plus I have also gone through 3 of the spider injecters and had to replace the notorious intake gasket on the thing. I may just put a v8 in mine. Hell couldnt hurt the gas mileage may help it.
 
Mine has the TBI, not the spider thingie.
 
thatK30guy said:
Mine has the TBI, not the spider thingie.
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If I ever had another one it would be the tbi. The spider injection is junk. Well in my book it is. Its alot easier to get after market performance parts for the tbi.
 
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