Jeckyl and Hide truck

spopey · July 14, 2003

This is a great site and it's my first post.

Here is my dilema I have an '03 4.3L SilverSLOWdo. When the air is on my truck is extremely slow and shifts wierd and is terrible to drive. With the air off it's great it's quick shifts fine. I took the truck to the stealership (before I figured out it was the air) they said the truck was designed to go slow from 0 - 20 to save on gas What in the world is wrong with my truck and what should I do about the stealership if they don't fix it and stick with the story about chevy making truck to go slow

Thanks

Kevin

99silveradoz71 · July 14, 2003

I don't know about the design, but AC is going to put a strain on any engine. And if you're running the v-6 in a full-size pickup, you're going to notice it when you have the air on. Not sure what to suggest to you.

99-2door · July 14, 2003

OK, I agree that you will notice some extra lag with the AC on, but it should not make the engine run badly or the trans shift funky. That line the dealership gave you is one of the worst I have ever heard If they won't fix the problem go to another dealership that will and have the service manager ride with you while you turn the ac on/off. Does the AC work properly? Sounds to me like the compressor is pulling too much and lugging the engine down. If you are only noticing a slight difference in performance, that is normal with the AC on. If however it is causing the engine to stumble there is something wrong. Most vehicles with small engines have a signal to turn the compressor off when WOT is requested. Not sure if this is the case with the 4.3L. I'll try to check into it and see if it is.

sjspor · July 14, 2003

I have an 01 EXT cab 2wd with the 4.3, there's no doubt you are running the AC when driving, but it's not a huge difference.

Give us a little more info on this... when is it slow, town or hiway, how many miles are on the truck..

Also.. Keep a Distributor cap and rotor with you and the tools to change them in the truck. You may want to insulate the Air Cond. suction line where it passes over the cap and rotor too.

Look on the bright side... your motor won't have cold start knocking...

spopey · July 14, 2003

Give us a little more info on this... when is it slow, town or hiway, how many miles are on the truck..

Thanks for all the info. To answer your question the thing is slow everywhere. really bad in the city forget about pulling out in front of somebody. The highway is bad but not as noticable unless you have to pass someone then it down shifts makes alot of noice and doesn't go anywhere. It makes you drive like your grandma. The truck has 7000 miles on it and is about 5 months old. The air runs fine and besides the way it drives the truck is great. I know the air should put some strain on the engine but this is crazy.

Thanks

sjspor · July 14, 2003

Well Spopey, the best thing to do is take a ride and go test drive one at another dealer somewhere. Mine's no race car, but I don't feel unsafe pulling out, it could be your tranny may be a little low on fluid, or is sliping, and that extra 10 horses the AC is using is pushing it over the limit.

If you drive another one, and its better.. then have your dealer guy drive two like trucks. I hope you get it worked out.

I even tow a 2500lb camper with mine, with AC on, and 4 passengers, bikes, food, beach stuff and all the crap teenagers take everywhere, and the truck will pull along fine on the highway with the air on...

spopey · July 16, 2003

Alrighty heres the deal when the temp is under 210 (around 190) The truck runs fine. 210 or above and it's a beast it's really really slow. What in the world is that about.

Shaners · July 17, 2003

210* seems high... your truck should run in the 190-200 degree range I would think.

On a hot day, with a hot engine, the engine fan clutch would be fully engaged, and that would rob HP as much as any other accessory. I think between the AC and the engine fan running, then it would pull down the performance of your motor a fair amount.

However, I think you need to take a trip to the dealer and have them check it out, because your power loss seems a little more than what I would consider "normal".

Maybe for the '03 models they added the "engine over heating" mode to the V-6 trucks (standard on the v-8 trucks in earlier years). It is designed to cut back the power on the the engine to keep from causing any damage... If that is the case than you may have a bad thermostat or a bad temp sensor, and the computer is killing your power.

Redapple · July 17, 2003

Agreed. My truck never goes above the 195 mark, even when towing.

Bill

spopey · July 18, 2003

Well thats good to know my truck always runs around 210 usually higher I thought that was normal. I am going to take it in to another dealer monday. Lets see what they say.