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Older S-10's
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Comments
C ya
tom
If you have a 2.5, the carb is common to all none FI 2.5's. I think that the MPI (multi port injection) became standard on the S-10 2.8's.
Real carb shops are getting hard to find, and the computer carbs never did work right, at least at 5,000 feet they didn't. If you don't care about emissions, swapping back to the older carb is an option. If you really want to get the old truck running nice, holly makes (or used to anyway) an aftermarket fuel injection (throttle body) set up for this engine, but it doesn't come cheap.
I put my 7000th mile on my S-10 since I bought it. I was about half way to work this morning when the odometer hit 141,502. When I bought the truck on July 16th, it had 134,502. All of those 7000 miles would have been on my 2001 Jeep Wrangler Sport, if it weren't for my little S-10. So, I have 12,8xx miles on the Jeep instead of 19,8xx. That's gotta be worth some big bucks in terms of preserving the value of my Jeep!
I am about 1800 miles into my most recent oil change, and the dipstick just shows the oil to be about one third of a quart low. Not too bad, huh?
What a great little tuck! Love it, love it, love it!
Check out my Jeep, if you are interested...
http://www.members.aol.com/tjoh298765/thelma.html
c ya
tom
I turned the key and heard the fuel pump kick on so I ruled out any fuel delivery problems. I checked the ignition and I wasn't getting any spark. I took the ignition control module to the auto parts store and it tested bad. $26 and a hour later, the truck fired right up.
I guess the moral of the story is don't ignore problems that seem to go away. It cost me an extra $55 for the tow to figure that one out.
Your S-10 is a 2.8, right? And your 4 cylinder Ranger seems to have more power? I know that a 2.8 isn't exactly loaded with power, but I would have thought it would have more than would a four cylinder, especially since your Ranger is an automatic.
c ya
tom
the Ranger has 119hp and 146 torque. the S-10 has 125hp and 150 torque. so on paper the S-10 is more powerful. but the Ranger is much quicker off the line and has a better top end, and seems to have more power. perhaps it does, as vehicles do lose some of their compression and factory "punch" with age.
By the way, Auto Zone also carries a similar product but i bought the Plasti-Kote brand because it is made locally, about 20 miles from here- in Medina, Ohio.
-- Don
heres one from back in 93
What's doggie's name again? I forgot. Is he still doin' OK?
tom
I sure do love mine. I'm up to 141K and some change on mine. Bought it back in the summer when it had 134,502 miles on it.
tom
i hate to think of that solid little truck leaving me, but i love my Ranger and it serves me better and will last longer. the funny thing was that when my fiancee and i discussed building/buying a house, the first thought that went through my mind was "cool, now i can go get an older s-10 as my "work on the house" truck. lol
When I turn on my directional, my windshield wipers will kick on for just one wipe. I know its not a big problem and my wife finds it quite funny but one of these days I'm going to fix it. I am assuming its a problem with the wiring on the directional lever.
Has anyone replaced one on a vehicle like this and how hard was it?
I think if I have to spend more than an hour on it, I'll keep living with the ghost wiper.
We've had so much rain that I haven't been able to do my weekend ritual of washing the S-10 the last two weekends. I sure hate to see it so dirty, but I can't get a break in the weather. No use in washing the truck when the roads stay wet all the time.
Let's have some posting!
tom
i still love that little truck and its kinda sad to see it sitting all by itself in the parking lot. lol
i hope someone takes good care of her.
Lots of times people will be real interested but not able to buy until they sell the one they are driving. You take in the shorts on trade-in most of the time, but at least you avoid all the hassle of trying to sell it yourself.
tom
the dealership, i thought, would have maintained it, and so i checked the oil and steering fluid, and i smelled the tranny fluid but didnt check the level since it shifted fine. any thoughts? i am used to a stick and this crap is a little annoying.
funny...i cant find anyone in ohio where i am! lol
so anyway, he is going to come look at it soon. we agreed on $2,800...he would be a good addition to this site, and i am going to give him the URL...i think it would be fun to see how far my truck goes, and maybe add to our readership.
he had a truck like mine and someone apparently ran into him and totaled it. i cant blame him for wanting another one.
That is kinda weird that no one locally was interested in it and you ended up selling it to someone from NC.
It would be cool to be able to keep up with that truck to see how many miles the guy gets out of it. Hope he will post here, as you suggested.
tom
My little truck is still doing great! It now has about 142,300 miles on it and is still running great.
c ya
tom
My truck has 142,4xx miles on it now, so very soon I will have put 8000 miles on it since I bought it on 7/16/01.
I am within a couple hundred miles of the end of my 3000 mile oil change interval, and the dipstick is showing that the truck has used about two thirds of a quart of oil since the last oil change. I think that is great for an old truck like that.
Let's hear from some of you!
tom
Hope everyone had a great Holiday and look forward to continued posts in 2002.
jerry
Heres a pretty good pic
Most of you know that I have an '89 S-10 short wheel base, 2WD pickup with the 2.8 and a 5-speed.
It just reached the 143,000 mile mark on the odometer.
Just in the last few days, I have noticed that I have no acceleration when I try to wind out the gears. It never had exactly great power, being a 2.8, but it has definitely lost what power it did have.
The engine runs smoothly with no sputtering or jerking as if it had a miss. It's just that I don't get ANY acceleration when the RPM's come up as I wind out the gears. I don't have a tach, but just by listening to the egine, I know I am up in the RPM range where I should be getting some acceleration, but I am getting NOTHING.
This is not the problem, since the clutch is grabbing just fine from a standing start and shows no indication of slippage, but that is what it feels like when I wind out the gears. It's like I am getting the high RPM's, but no extra power to the back wheels as a result of the increased RPM's.
Once again, the engine is running smoothly, and I would have no indication that anything is wrong until I need to accelerate more than just the normal take off. Even the gas mileage is normal.
What's going on here???? In the old days, I would wonder if the vacuum advance on the distributor was not working, but I guess timing is controlled by the computer on my truck, right?
tom
cat.converter ? Sometimes they plug up and
rob power. Any good muffler shop will
check em' for free ! Just a thought !
Hey Ryan didn't your dad have this prob with
his s10 ?..................geo
They even have a chassis dynomometer there! It's actually a speed shop, but they take in regular mechanical work to keep them busy.
So, they ought to know what they are doing.
No, there's no engine light on. Almost forgot to answer you about that.
tom
I'll have the guys at the shop check it out for me, and if it's something really simple, they probably won't even charge me anything.
tom
I couldn't feel any vacuum on that loose end of the hose, but maybe the vacuum is pulled on that line from wherever that plugs into. Maybe the hole that the loose end goes into is the vacuum source, which would most likely mean the intake manifold, right?
I do hear a sort of roaring noise that I didn't used to hear, so maybe I really do have a vacuum leak.
tom
under the hood? Something as simple as
a loose or cracked vac. hose could be
the problem . Especially on a older
vehicle ! You may have got lucky !....Geo
If it is a fuel-injected engine, loosing power at acceleration yet running smooth at idle is a definite sign of a weak fuel pump. If it runs worse or the pump is noisy when the gas tank is nearly empty, that is another sign of a weak pump.
Check the fuel pressure; if it is out of spec, change the pump and the fuel filter. ONLY go with an AC-Delco pump. Avoid the Made-in-Malasyia no-name parts out there---you don't want to do this twice. The new pump should come with a new O-ring and a screen--if not, replace those also.
After you replace the pump and the filter, put a can of BG 44K in the gas tank. If you can't find it in your area, go to www.cambridgeauto.com, and click on the link for Ryno products. Yes, I know it lists for $20 per can, but it is worth every penny. This stuff is not sold on late-night TV by retired actors--this is the stuff that professional shops use every day. It cleans the excess carbon off the back of your intake valves. This restores compression and lowers temperatures on the valves and in the intake manifold.
As for the earlier suggestion to check vacuum lines, that is a good idea, but I would go even further. On a truck that old, I would go to the parts store and buy about 3-5 feet of the three most common sizes of vacuum hose. Remove ONE VACUUM HOSE AT A TIME, match it to the closest size of hose, and replace it. Keep going until you replace all of them. If you find a broken 'T' connector, replace that, also. You'll be amazed how hard and brittle the existing hoses are. You will also likely notice an improvement in overall performance because most of those hard, brittle hoses leaked a small amount of vacuum. When you add up their total vacuum loss, it is significant. This is also VERY cheap preventive maintenance, expecially considering that an open vacuum leak can destroy a $50-100 oxygen sensor.
Good luck!
Joe
Guess what, Sonja? You were on the money with your cat converter suggestion! That's what it was.
I took a vacation day today to have my sick little S-10 seen about. Went to the shop down at the end of the road and had the fuel filter replaced. Also, the mechanic found where that vacuum line connected to. It was for the EGR valve and went into some round thing.
I was really optimistic that one or both of those simple things would be the solution, but when I took a test drive, I almost didn't make it back to the shop!
The mechanic drove the truck and then told me that he suspected that the converter was the problem, so I took it to a muffler shop about six miles away.
What a trip that was! The engine died at a stoplight only about a mile and a half from the shop where the fuel filter had been replaced, and I had a hard time getting it started again. After it finally started, I had to drive at about 25 MPH, and it almost wouldn't even do that.
I got about a quarter mile from the muffler shop, and got caught by another light. The engine died as soon as I pushed in the clutch at the stoplight, and this time it wouldn't start.
I had to push the truck the rest of the way, with about half of the distance being slightly downhill, thank God.
The truck is running fine now. Glad that's over with!
Thanks again, you guys!
tom
Joe
I've heard some of the 5.7 engines are having trouble with a collapsing gasket at the base of the throttle body. Since the 4.3 is basically a 5.7 engine with two cylinders removed, they may use the same gasket.
If you have a tach on the truck, have someone watch the tack at idle, and spray carb cleaner or WD-40 around the throttle body. If you suddenly get a significant change in RPM, you have found your leak.
Good luck!
Joe
On my way home today when I push the brake pedal and it travels a little further than normal. I pumped the brake a few more times and the brake light turned on on the dash. I knew I lost fluid so when I got home I checked the master cylinder and sure enough one half was empty. I filled and pumped brakes again so I could find the leak - brake fluid dripping out of right rear drum. I replaced the wheel cylinder that was bad and now heres where it gets tricky.
After I installed the new wheel cylinder and put the brakes back together, I tried to pressure bleed the rear wheels. The new wheel cylinder wasn't a problem. About four trips of the brake pedal and all the air was gone. I loosed the bleed screw on the old wheel cylinder and barely any fluid came out. I tried pressure bleeding this side a few times and nothing. Finally I took the bleed screw out and then I finally got a little fluid to come out but not much.
I tried the pedal and it is stiffer than it was but still not right. The brake light is still on on the dash. I know my front brakes are okay so I'm not too worried but I still have some air trapped in the rear lines. Any ideas on things to try to get it out? I suspect something may be clogged on my left rear wheel cylinder so I may replace that tomorrow but I'd like to avoid it if possible.
I also posted this on the Maintenance and Repair board but I thought I would try here too.
Thanks
Guess that really is irrelevant to your problem anyway, huh?
tom
Still lovin' that little truck! I have now put 9000 miles on it since buying it in July when it had 134,502 miles on it.
I don't think I have put any more money into it than a guy should expect to have to spend when he buys a vehicle with that many miles on it.
So far, I have had two U joints, the heater fan motor, the serpentine belt, the water pump, the thermostat, the fan clutch, and the catalytic converter replaced.
I have had a couple non-mechanical problems fixed also. The flat part of the bench sear was reupholstered and a star in the windshield was repaired.
There aren't too many things left that I might expect to have to deal with. I suppose the starting motor, alternator, fuel pump, and the heater core might be some of the next things that might go. Will be needing a brake job before too long also.
Since I only paid $2450 for the truck, including tax and license and all, I still think I have some nice, reliable, cheap transportation in that little S-10.
tom