Larry,
Believe it or not, I have a 91 S-10 4.3 blazer with 177,000 miles on it, and
I bought this vehicle new. And guess what? It has done the exact same
thing since day 1. Took it to the dealer several times, and they never
found a leak. I've never found a leak. Truck runs and drives great, gets
23 on the highway, 20 pulling my car, and hasn't missed a bit since day one.
I just quite worrying about it, and add some coolant occasionally. The
white smoke you saw after a couple of days off was more than likely oil
smoke, leaking past the valve seals. Mine has also done this same thing for
quite some time now. But one thing is for sure, the 4.3 with the 700-r4
behind it is quite an impressive little rig, with plenty of power, plenty of
gas mileage.
Eric Swanger
Huntersville, NC
-----Original Message-----
From: LRuggi2635@aol.com <LRuggi2635@aol.com>
To: vintage-race@autox.team.net <vintage-race@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 3:48 AM
Subject: Support Vehicle Problem
>Hey everyone-- I've been a lurker here for some time now, and I'm
continually
>amazed at the depth and breadth of knowledge of listers here. This isn't a
>race car problem, but maybe you all can help. My daily driver/support
>vehicle is a '92 GMC Sonoma pickup with the 4.3 liter V-6 motor and 60,000
>miles (I bought it at 25,000mi). Til recently it's been extremely
reliable,
>but I suspect that's about to change. I've noticed myself adding approx
1/2
>gal of coolant every 2-3 months with no visible signs of external leakage
and
>it doesn't run hot. On a trip to Orlando recently, when it sat idle for a
>couple days and then was started, I got a large cloud of white smoke from
the
>exhaust. This happened twice. I suspect a leaking head gasket, which
after
>a day+ finds coolant leaking its way into a cylinder(s), and then being
>expelled upon starting. I recently added more coolant, and notice that
after
>4 days the level hot has dropped about halfway between the "full" and "add"
>marks. I'm probably going to get the system pressure checked, but I'm not
>sure this will reveal gasket problems (or worse, like head cracks). It
runs
>well and delivers better than 20mpg, so I'm leary of tearing into the
motor.
>According to Haynes manual, it looks like a bit of a job, considering the
>motor sits low and rearward in the truck, limiting access in the classic GM
>tradition. Any ideas? Thanks...
>
>Larry Ruggiero
>Warner Robins, GA
>
>restoring/building (slowly) '65 MG Midget
|