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The top left picture of your truck's suspension looks like the sway bar link is missing. Don't know if that is an illusion or what, but is your sway bar link good?

And, I forgot to mention, I replaced all four O2 sensor's on my pickup earlier this summer. I got all four sensors from Amazon for $144.24. AC-Delco Part # 213-1702.

Also, you need to troubleshoot what made the cat go bad. Most likely with the loss in fuel economy, understanding you have 33's and a lift, your computer is dumping more fuel in to compensate for some type of lean condition. I would first check for a vacuum leak. Plug a scan tool in and see what the fuel trims are. If your cats are in fact bad, they are getting cheaper. I just bought one for my son's Monte Carlo for $165 off of Amazon. Second if this is your DD and you want better fuel economy, return it to near as stock as possible. Or, park it and get something better on fuel. I wonder if over on the Prius forums they have people wondering how to increase the payload or towing capacity of their cars..... I parked my Silverado, bought a Chevy Cruze Turbo Diesel for commuting. 42-46MPG on the highway.

You should look for vacuum leak or something internal in the engine such as a broken valve spring, stuck valve etc. Stop throwing parts at it. I think you are beyond internet diagnosis now. Let's review, you have essentially replaced all of the ignition parts, Coils, plugs, wires, and a new injector for good measure. How much have you spent so far on parts that have not repaired the vehicle? I still think your compression # is lower than expected.

Now that you know you have spark, you need to troubleshoot the injector. I'm sure there are tests for that online. I suggest you hunt one of those down.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought stock compression should be at 170-190. My 2004 Silverado shop manual says 100 is the minimum. But the differential between the cylinder with the highest compression and the lowest should be no more than 70%. Hook an inline spark tester and see if you are getting fire. Eliminate spark first, then move to fuel. I've never seen anyone use a 1/2" copper pipe to test for proper ignition. I'm a good ole' boy for sure, but you need some tools to make a proper diagnosis or you can buy parts until you luck out. You still have not figured out if you are getting spark. Just because you put a new plug, wire, and coil pack on does not guarantee you will have spark. Eliminate spark then move on.

When the truck is cold and first started does it loudly clatter. What I'm getting at it is the possibly of a stuck lifter. If you have a stuck lifter you would know it. It will clack very loudly then as the oil pressure builds it pumps up the lifter and the clacking stops. You need to also get a volt meter and check to see if you have the proper voltage at the coil. I don't know what it should be or where to plug your volt meter in, but you need to eliminate that as well. Do some google research on GM coil pack troubleshooting. You can also get an inline spark tester that will show if the cylinder is firing. If you hook the compression gauge up and you show low compression, then stop there. If compression is good, you need to determine if you have a fuel problem or electrical. Once you determine you have good voltage to the coil pack that eliminates spark. Then start going down the fuel tree. Good pressure, etc. I'm not sure if a vacuum leak would be fouling just on one cylinder. Could not hurt to hook a vacuum gauge up and see what vacuum you are pulling. One of the more experienced guys can chime in here, if you have a broken or weakened valve spring that will show up on the vacuum gauge. A vacuum leak would cause the engine to dump more gas in causing a fouling problem but not sure if that hold true. It is weird that it is only on one cylinder.

If you have access to a fuel pressure gauge and a compression gauge do those first. No sense in buying a new injector without looking at those first. If compression is done, an injector is not going to help. Have you had any valve clatter? Just to double check your coil and this is highly unlikely, but swap it with known working cylinder. This will eliminate all possibilities about not having good spark. Did you test to see if you have voltage at the coil pack? Maybe something is electrical is broken upstream from the coil. Then research the proper way to troubleshoot an injector. I'm not going to tell you to throw an injector in and hope that it cures it.

So you switched a known working coil pack to #2, put #2's coil on a known firing cylinder and code did not follow #2's coil pack? If that is ok, you have spark. That leaves fuel & compression. Did test the fuel pressure? Certain you do not have a vacuum leak? Fouling indicates rich. Could be a leaky injector, or some type of vacuum leak and the ECM is putting more fuel in to compensate for all the unmetered air. Did you do a compression check on #2? I'd start with compression first, easiest and quickest to test.

I get the same thing, a P0300 on my son's 2001 4.3L. It will only throw a P0300 code when the A/C is turned on. If you leave the A/C off the CEL will clear itself. It is very strange. I've replaced the fuel pump, twice. It died two times, new knock sensor, and new evap purge solenoid, new plugs, cap rotor, and wires. I also put in a new fuel injector spider, because I was getting a P0303. The spider cured the P0303, but I still get the P0300 when the A/C kicks on. This has driven me nuts trying to run down. Would a weak coil cause this? I was under the impression that a coil either worked or it did not, so I've left that alone.

My local trusted shop, is doing it for $425 + new seals. I'm also having him put a new output shaft seal in as well. The leak is coming from the rear inspection cover, the little one. That is on the back side of the bell housing right up against the transmission. I suspect I screwed up the torque converter seal somehow. Not sure how, but it did not leak until I pulled the converter and put a new seal in. Hopefully this does the trick. The truck just has to last another year or so, until my son gets out of college then he can buy his own transportation. On another note, every time I hear somebody spout off about American cars not being any good, I tell them about my son's S10. It survived being given to my son at age 17. He's now 23. He has put 100,000 miles on it. It starts and runs great. It is smooth quiet and still gets pretty good gas mileage. We got our money's worth out of it and then some. I did get stuck with repairing the intake manifold gasket. If GM would have spent just a little more and put decent gaskets in I would be even happier. It was leaking oil out of the timing chain cover, I can't really complain too much the gasket made it to 200k. Parts were inexpensive, but took a bunch of my time to fix. I put a new oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, rear main seal, and intake manifold gaskets in. So it should not leak any oil for a while. I should have really broken down and had it rebuilt while it was out of the truck, but I didn't have the $$ in the budget.

I found a local transmission shop that quoted me $500.00 in labor to pull it and put it back in. New seal and other parts will be added on to the bill...

7.3 hours is what I figured. It is no fun working on the S10. The top two bolts on the bell housing are an absolute bear to get at. GM crammed the body in around the transmission/engine and makes access challenging to say the least. The converter looked pretty good. Everything was smooth and shiny. I did not see a groove that I can remember.

How many shop labor hours are required to replace the torque converter seal in a 2001 S10 2WD with a 4.3 and a 4L60E transmission? I pulled the engine to replace the oil pain gasket and timing chain cover. I ended up pulling the torque converter, don't ask very long sad story there. Anyway before I put the torque converter back in, I put a new seal in. I lubed up the torque converter before sliding it into the seal and reassembling. I've got a drip coming from the rear inspection cover, so my seal repair job must have not done the trick. I'm going to call tomorrow to a local independent shop that I trust. I was just curious how many hours an experienced tech would take to remove and replace the transmission. I could probably do it, but I'm tired of wrestling with the truck. It has been a long winter with it.... Thanks in advance.

Castech head problem maybe???