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Chevy S10/GMC S15-Sonoma: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
joe - It appears to be light surface rust. Would something like high-heat rust-oleum do the trick, and does that serve as prime and paint?
and a new crankshaft i still have problems with the $%#* thing. For starters i have put 87 octane gas in the truck since ive owned it and every now and then it will want to act up. Just a while ago i was on my way to work and i felt a little jerk when i was sitting at a red light and looked and i was smoking like a chimney.I pulled over at a gas station and give it a little throttle and out came the biggest puff of black smoke ive ever seen.So i thought it was just some bad gas so i went on and then as soon as i pulled back onto the street the thing went dead.I had to put the gas to the floor to get it to turn over.when it did it was running like [non-permissible content removed].I cant have my truck acting like this so if you could please help with my question.Why would it be blowing black smoke and also what can i do to make it stop,and it is idling like it has a 350 but its only a 2.8
I, too, have a lot of paint damage. However, I think that it's because today's paints are not as durable as the older finishes were. The EPA has required the manufacturers to remove the VOCs (volatile organic chemicals) from the paints. This is good for the environment, but appears to be really bad for paint durability. Just my $0.02 worth, based on my experience.
Just as a side note, I have a 1996 Camaro with 42,000 summer miles on it, and quite honestly, it could use a total repaint...all stone chips.
Thanks,
Robert
Thanks.
I am a young and impressionable new 2001 S-10 2.2L automatic owner. I have owned 2 other Chevy products (albeit used), that I thought were wonderful and easy to fix. I am still in the honeymoon with the S-10, so I am hopeful. I have 6500 miles and no prob until I start to here this funny whining noise when I accelerate from 1-2 or 2-3. For the first time I also heard it when I put the truck in cruise control and the engine had to work hard to maintain 65 mph the whining begins and goes away after the engine has plateaued rpms. I took the truck to the dealership and the tech tells me it is a vibration problem from the engine (not the transmission?!?!??). He says GM has no bulletin
and I must be the first with this problem (2 year old truck, I'm the first). The truck is under warranty for 2.5 more years. He says they will "check" with the engineers in Detroit, go figure.
I don't push the truck hard so I assume this must be a factory defect. It has had regular oil changes (3K) and tires rotated etc.. Anyone have any advice?
Thanks for any help
ricsch: Sorry to hear GM is not giving you any help on your '97 Blazer's bad engine. GM seems to be trying to pinch pennys, but they end up making enemies. Any good marketer will tell you that a satisfied customer will talk to a few people, but a ticked off customer talks to EVERYBODY! This forum proves that. The few thousand dollars GM saved on a new engine cost them at least one future customer (you) and potentially many more. You may want to talk to a lawyer, letting him know what was said. The communications between GM and your dealer may have implied that GM was going to cover some or all of the costs. If so, a trip to the courthouse will cost them a lot more than the price of a new engine.
meysterman: My 2000 S-10 extended cab has the same problem with the seat. I will be taking it back to the dealer I use to get them to fix it, among other things. I'll let you know what he does to fix it. Keep after your dealer to fix it. The seat not locking in place is a violation of Federal vehicle safety standards and a huge safety risk. If someone were in the seat during an accident, the seat coming unlocked could prove to be fatal. If Chevy doesn't get mine right, I will be talking to the NHTSA about the defect.
By the way, the dealer I use for service is NOT the one I bought the truck from. The selling dealer's service department thinks customer service means you argue with the customer to convince him his truck ISN'T broken, rather than fixing the problem. Since they were the problem, and there are a gazillion Chevy dealers here in San Antonio, I fixed the problem by finding a dealership that listens to customers.
Good luck to all! The S-10 is a great truck, but like any vehicle, they do have a few quirks.
Joe
1) The heater blend door in the air box in the cab is not opening and closing properly. Let the glove box door hang down (there should be a release to let it come all the way down in the upper left corner of the glove box) and move the A/C control from max A/C to the regular A/C position. If you can't see the door moving, it is stuck, or the vacuum line came off.
2) The valve that controls hot water going into the heater coil may be broken, allowing hot water to flow through the heater year 'round. If so, your A/C is working, it just can't compete with high outside temps AND a heater on full blast.
Good luck!
Joe
Joe
Between this, no performance and my 21MPG hiway, I am ready for a car.
I keep up on this stuff I have a 99 Son 2.2 auto & air with 32K.I get between 25 & 29 mpg highway,the difference is how fast.
Advance Auto Parts didn't have the gasket (Autozone had it), and the guy told me "maybe it doesn't need a gasket". Then his boss said "ah, you don't need a gasket, just slap some adhesive on the cover". The best part is their people????
If your truck is out of warranty, or if the dealer doesn't seem to be able to fix it to your satisfaction, I suggest you take it to an auto upholstery shop. They probably work on more seat assemblies in a month than the dealer does in a year. If lubricating and adjusting the track is all yours needs, then they probably can fix it while you wait.
Hope this helps!
Joe
Anyway, to the point. A few weeks ago, I started hearing a low groaning coming from the rear. The noise has gotten worse. The noise seems to get louder, the faster I go... with max noise between 65mph and 70mph. When I'm on a smaller two lane road, I can hear the noise some, but if I turn LEFT, the noise reduces greatly... but when I turn to the right, the noise gets louder??
Right now, the dealership is telling me "It could be the rear axle bearings but we won't know for sure until we tear it down and look at it." Does this sound right, at all?? Also, my service advisor tells me if this is the problem, the cost for repair could be between $1100 and $1600. Ouch
Ideas? A friend of mine seems to think the noise sounds more like a transmission mount or wheel bearing noise?
I need some help. The dealership is going to call me again, tomorrow, to see if they want me to work on it.
Tx.
- ddavis
I plan to do the coolant flush way before the recommended. And I know about repacking wheel bearings after going thru high water. If anyone has any suggestions, especially from any "wish I'd known that" situations, I'd appreciate hearing.
Thanks, Janel
The $1100-$1600 is a diff. rebuild,check the fluid level.
I have 2000 2.2 same engine but in a Cavalier that has developed the piston rattle when cold,they must have come off the same production line.I guess I will call the dealer monday and see what they say.
Thanks
Thanks
Joemilan: As far as the timing chain goes, if you do what I recommended to janel and go to synthetic oil, you will probably never have a problem with the chain. If it does break, it shouldn't cause any problems. The 4.3 engine is basically a 350 cubic inch V-8 with two cylinders chopped off. That engine is one of the best and longest lasting engines GM has ever made. It has plenty of clearance in the cylinders for the valves to clear the tops of the pistons if the chain does snap.
jjstokes0430: Check the owner's manual and then check the transmission to see what kind of fluid is in it. I've heard stories of the manual calling for ATF fluid in a manual (yes, many manuals now have ATF in them) while the factory may have put 10W30 oil in the tranny. If your manual calls for 10W30 oil, try changing it to a 20W50 synthetic oil. If that doesn't help, you may want to try another dealer or a tranny shop for another opinion. If you work on your own truck, you may want to put the truck on a lift, start it and then look at the linkage. You may have a loose or rattling piece of the clutch linkage or a cable rubbing against the floorboard, causing the noise. I haven't heard too many problems about the 5-speed trannys lately, but they did have trouble with them several years ago. At one time, the tranny was made by Suzuki for Chevrolet, and it wasn't holding up well. I know of one guy that had so much trouble with it while it was under warranty, that he was able to force Chevy to buy back the truck.
Good luck to all!
Joe
What I found was that the solder-joints on connector pins on the board were "cold" (dull color on surface of solder and cracks around pins you can see with magnifying glass). This causes the wiper motor to operate intermittntly - sometimes appears to be heat related (worse when warm under the hood), you might also be able to get the wiper to run sometimes by wiggling harness close to the motor...
You can remove the control board from the motor assembly without removing motor (removing the motor is a real pain and the motor is not the problem!). Get a small soldering iron and re-heat the solder around connector pins by touching each pin connection on back of board with a drop of fresh solder. This fixed my wipers - no problems now going-on 3 years! (You can buy new Circuit Board from GM - I think it is $40. The solder repair costs about 5-cents!)
I guess it couldn't hurt to change the trans fluid earlier - when do they start throwing off bits of metal?
And your comments on the 4.3 6cyl were good to hear. I was scrambling to find one of the last before they come out with their new 6cyl., which I bet has an alum. head.
Someone talked about a problem with a seat not locking - had that same problem on an Astrovan - passenger seat. Never found a solution - but didn't look too hard , so it's not a new problem - it was an 86.
And someone was working on a blower fan. Replaced one on the Astrovan and turned out to be a switch under the control on the dash. Easy to replace and took back the new blower fan.
Before that, junk would fall into it and it'd squeal and hang up as someone had just cut the screen to get to the windshield wiper motor. Fixed the screen and no more problems.
I had the Hayne's manual on the van, so I could read it and decide if I could do it or before I'd take it in and know that the mechanic was really going through the trouble he said. But, for the engine codes, I found them in a book at the library and zeroxed those pages. Wow - that opened up a whole new world.
Thanks again, Joe
Janel
cajun: If you manual doesn't tell you what that fluid is, go to a good independent shop or parts store and have them check to see what your transmission calls for. The fluid the dealer wants $11 per quart for sounds like a synthetic ATF. If you can't get a straight answer, go to some Internet sites that sell GM parts and order the fluid. Try www.gmpartsdirect.com or do a search for GM dealers on the web using Yahoo or Google. Even if you have to pay $11/quart, just remember that $33 is small change compared to a new tranny.
Joe
I have the 4.3 in my 2000 S-10 extended cab. Reliable, quiet, never stalls, quits, runs hot or idles rough. It tows and hauls well. It easily breaks the tires loose if I want to, and always 'runs with the big dogs.'
Based upon comments from owners with the 4.3 engine in the "Older S-10" discussion, this engine easily lasts well over 150K. I'm tired of car payments, so when mine is paid off, I hope to break 300K on synthetic oil before I have to buy another one.
Good luck.
Joe
Information on 2-3 Upshift Clunk Noise
2002 and Prior Light Duty Trucks
Equipped with 4L60E Automatic Transmission
Some vehicles may exhibit a clunk noise that can be heard on a 2-3 upshift.
During a 2-3 upshift, the 2-4 band is released and the 3-4 clutch is applied. The timing of this shift can cause a momentary torque reversal of the output shaft that results in a clunk noise. This condition may be worse on a 4-wheel drive vehicle due to the additional tolerances in the transfer case.
This is a normal condition. No repairs should be attempted.