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S10 - MPG

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KennyT772

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
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My stepdad has an s10, 4.3 v6 of course, and it eats gas like no tomorrow. He gets 12-14 MPG and sometimes as low as 10. What all can I do to get some better numbers out of this thing?
I already discussed changing the exhaust, and gutting the cats but what else is there for this thing? If you guys know anything about making this motor more efficient let me know.
 
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change the final drive gear. im betting its similar to my friends old dakota, gears so low that first is only good for like 10MPH. that means you have to shift a lot and when cruising on the interstate the RPMs are pretty high.
 
BrApple said:
basic maintinence?
Click to expand...
I think it had a tune up not too long ago, but I'm going to check everything today out at the shop. Pull the plugs, check the intake/tb. Does anyone else know of some tips? I know this is a ford based forum but these 4.3's are so common someone has to know something.
 
Man this makes me miss my S-10!
It was over 5 years ago since I had it, so I cant say what kind of gas mileage I was getting....plus back then i dont think I was really worried about it.

Mine was a 97 SS with the 4.3, ZQ8 suspension package, 16x8 wheels, and the limited slip rear end.

Some lady fell asleep when I was driving to class and hit me head on, we were both going like 40mph!!! Front end was destroyed, engine was in my lap, knee cap was shattered, femur (sp?) was broke in 2 spots, busted my fingers when they went through the heater vents, ripped the skin off my forehead from the air bag. After a week in the hospital, $30k in bills, a few surgeries, and a hardware store in my leg I can lift no more than 5 lbs with that leg and it only bends to about 90 degrees

Funny part was she was driving a 2000 cougar they fixed the merc, and totaled the chevy!

sorry for hijacking the thread :cool:
 
Oh its fine. Speaking of accidents 2 summers ago I was screwing around on a dirt road and slid it into a ditch...$650 later the truck was somewhat back to normal. Pass front quarter is still a little off.

Now I just need to get this thing making good numbers. Odds are I'll do an intake, exhaust, filter changes everywhere. Someone on another thread said I should do a tune on it and that would give some better power and mpg.
 
I had the Volant cold air intake, and I would pop the headlight out when I went to the track. I also had a Cherry Bomb Vortex muffler, I loved the sound!
Best time with it was 15.85 in the 1/4, thats a pretty popular truck Im sure you can find plenty of stuff to mod it and help out the MPG's
 
yeah you are heading towards our 79 460 f-250 range in gas....6-9 mpg. So there must be something wrong besides the gearing.
 
Firt thig I would do is pull the O2 sensors and change them. Those numbers seem way too low. And check if any of the brakes are dragging -- particularly the parking brake.

Are you throwing a CEL at all?
 
i own a 92 s10 blazer w/ the 4.3. if you look up the specs on it they say it only gets 16 mpg. i did a hell of a tune up on mine because its got 354000 miles. oxygen sensor, air cleaner, oil change, spark plugs, wires, dist. cap and rotor, cleaned EGR, cleaned IAC, fixed vacuum leaks and gutted the cat and i might get 14 or 15 miles to the gallon.
 
My 1992 4.3L S-10 with throttle body injection got 20 mpg regularly (75% highway driving), and I even used the AC a little. Aside from the basic tuneup I'd concentrate on vacuum leaks...friends with Vortec Blazers seemed to run into a lot of intake manifold leaks.
 
I believe that GM used the "poppet valve" Central fuel injection on the 4.3L S10's from 1996-2002. My brother had one with the same complaint...it used a ton of gas! Here is what we found:

On his S10 the intake manifold was a "dry" manifold, meaning no fuel ran through the intake. The "poppet valves"/injectors spray fuel close to the intake valve, thus no fuel goes through the intake. However on his S10 there was a fuel line that fed all six injectors that ran through the inside of the intake manifold (on the backside of the intake manifold toward the firewall, if I remember correctly). We pulled the upper intake manifold (we had a new gasket set ready) and found that the fuel feed line was cracked (they are plastic). So there was unmetered fuel dumping into the intake manifold. We made a trip to the dealer (after ordering the part) brought the part home, installed the new line...an voila all fixed!

Maybe you have the same thing happening...just my two cents worth...I could be way off. Let us know how you fix the problem.

Is this a 1996-2002 S10...I just noticed you didn't mention the year, so this may not even apply...ahhhh
 
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