Chevy s10
 

My dad is looking at a low mileage chevy s10. It was owned by an old guy, it only has 36,000 miles and its a 4.3l v6. I believe it's a 2000 - 2002 not sure what year exactly. Also has 4wd. He is going to take it to our mechanic on Monday, anyone have an input as to what to check out specifically? I saw it myself and the frame seems to have a nice coating of rust. I assume the truck sits a lot since the owner is elderly and no longer able to drive. My dad doesn't drive a whole lot since he works from home, and the truck is a killer price. We don't want it to be a complete waste of money though, like my brothers 97 4runner.

only problem I can think of with the vortec engines is the poppet valves on the fuel spider going bad. Or was that not a issue those years?

This is true. Mine (2000) went bad at about 155,XXX miles, and changed the whole spider for about $200 in parts. If done at the dealer it's about $900-$1000. Also, the valve body in the transmission tend to go bad on these as well. Many trans shops will try to sell you a new or rebuilt trans if this happens, but do the Sonnax valve body update first ($350-$400 w/labor). If it does go bad, it'll throw a code and give a hard 1-2 shift. Those are the 2 major issues I had with mine, but it's been great otherwise considering the high milage it has.

dad has the same truck with 90k on it, the oil filter lines leak after a while, about $300 from a dealer. Ball joints are always being replaced. The motor runs great, no problems.

thats right. I forgot about that oil filter setup.

if it is an 01 it won't have the fuel spider or CPI setup, my mom has one and it has sequential fuel injection. The common issues with these trucks seem to be ball joints, front hub bearings, and remote oil filter lines. Solid drivetrain overall. Some people love these trucks and some people hate them. I suppose there are a few that are just lemons and some that work great and last a long time.

front def does wear out fast on some. Make sure the alignment is good(it doesnt pull) and that you dont hear any clunking when you go over bumps. Mine has 175k miles and the front end is perfectly fine though and i beat it up offroad occasionally. Has a new spider and line kit though, so i havent had to mess with that. With those low miles you really arent going to have many of the common problems. The only issue i have is with the 4wd not wanting to stay in 4wd Hi. It will disengage itself then it wont turn back on unless you dis the battery for a moment. 4 lo works all the time though

My dad ended up buying it, the truck is in awesome shape. It's actually an 03, the elderly man that owned it had it since brand new, and since 2007 has only driven it only about 1,000 miles. The total mileage is 34,xxx and it was only $5k.

holy crap thats a good deal!

if it got rust on frame i would jack up take tires off get a grinder and grind it down then paint it so it doesnt attack all if u want this thing to last long.

or just slap some POR15 on it and call it a day

+1 on POR 15

only problem i ever had with my S10 was the vacuum actuator for the front diff. I installed a bypass kit. It used a cable to engage the front diff. instead of the vacuum actuator. cost 70 bucks.

buy it.

sounds like he should buy it thats really low miles for a s10

reading ftw.....

Who doesn't like pics?

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/o...ado/trucks.jpg

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/o...do/trucks2.jpg

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/o...116091341a.jpg

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/o...rado/frame.jpg

cap niceeeeee

haha and battleship plates, you would think he's like 70

definitely time to scratch that frame up and slop on some por15.