Old S-10 rare engine question

[flyboyron]

I had the 2.8L V-6 in my 83. It was so gutless, a lot of times I had to turn off the A/C to pass cars.

 

The only design I didn't like about that was the alum intake. The torque on the bolts would come loose in about 15,000 miles and if you didn't re-torque them you would end up with a coolant leak dripping right down on the camshaft.

 

The other problem was the rope crankshaft rear seal. They would start leaking and you couldn't stop them. I got to the point where mine leaked 1 quart of oil every 30 miles. You would have to remove the cap, cut a little piece of the rope and cram it in the grove on each side, install a new rope seal on the cap and reinstall it.

Oh..........did I tell you to get the pan off you had to lift the engine at least 12". With that in mind, nothing can stay connected to the engine since there is not enough room, so you basically have to pull the engine to fix the oil leak.

Mine used the Rochester electronic controlled carb with the mixture control solenoid. That was expensive to replace when they went bad.

I think the TBI engines might have been better and definatley would prefer the 4.3 when it came out.

[RyanbabZ71]

My mom had an 87 blazer 2wd with the 2.8. It had absolutely no power. It was a nice SUV for 1987

 

 

Ryan

 

 

[Doug_Scott]

I had the 2.8L V-6 in my 83. It was so gutless, a lot of times I had to turn off the A/C to pass cars.

 

The only design I didn't like about that was the alum intake. The torque on the bolts would come loose in about 15,000 miles and if you didn't re-torque them you would end up with a coolant leak dripping right down on the camshaft.

 

The other problem was the rope crankshaft rear seal. They would start leaking and you couldn't stop them. I got to the point where mine leaked 1 quart of oil every 30 miles. You would have to remove the cap, cut a little piece of the rope and cram it in the grove on each side, install a new rope seal on the cap and reinstall it.

Oh..........did I tell you to get the pan off you had to lift the engine at least 12". With that in mind, nothing can stay connected to the engine since there is not enough room, so you basically have to pull the engine to fix the oil leak.

Mine used the Rochester electronic controlled carb with the mixture control solenoid. That was expensive to replace when they went bad.

I think the TBI engines might have been better and definatley would prefer the 4.3 when it came out.

 

 

The only way I could ever get them to stop leaking was to pull the engine right out, take pan off, pull crank, install COMPLETE new rear main seal, replace rear main bearing set with the ones that had oil groove on the surface of the bearing that routed the oil towards the engine, as opposed to stock bearing shells that directed oil at the rear seal. Bearing shell was a pretty slick idea,

Some of the 2.8 engines had a little pin in the oil seal groove that would prevent the seal from rotating, but, that also meant you could not just slide the rope seal through the groove. If no pin, use "chinese finger" type installer.