Thoughts on a 1995 4.3 Blazer.

[Chris B.]

Not a UOA but about one. My coworker has a 95 Blazer with the 4.3 V6 and she abuses the heak out of it! It now has 140,000 miles on it and she uses quick lube places to change her oil using the cheepest dino oil they have. She then drives it well over 15,000 miles and over a year before she gets around to changing it again. Right now she can't even remember the last time it was changed(well over a year ago)! I don't get along with her at all but just to be nice I offer her to change her oil for free and I would even pay for the oil and filter, she has 3 young kids and not a lot of money. She thanked me and declined my offer. I was going to do a UOA on her engine if I could get the oil just to see what is happening to the engine and what kind of numbers an abused engine using dino would show with 15,000-20,000 miles on it!

She never lets it warm up just starts and floors it out of there. I just can't believe this 4.3 is still going!!!! It really must be a fighter cause I have worked with her for 3 years and she has never taken care of it. I'd love to get my hands on that oil!!!!

 

[Patman]

It's funny you should mention this, because just the other day I was thinking that we've never really seen a UOA on a cheap dino oil that had been severely pushed beyond it's limit (such as 15k in a poorly maintained car)

There must be someone on here who knows someone with oil like this in their car and could convince them to get a sample of it somehow.

 

[rpn453]

As far as I know the 4.3 was a reliable engine.
Not to defend her ridiculous maintenance practices, but this kind of shows that many of us are a little more concerned about our oil than we need to be!
My dad spent the extra money to put M1 10W-30 in his truck one time (1980 Suburban with a 350 - don't know how many miles on the engine though), then proceeded to go 16,000km (more than a year) of city driving, including a -40 winter, before finally changing his oil because "my lifters were sticking". Terrible. I would like to have a sample of that oil!

 

[Chris B.]

I'll se if I can somehow convince her to let me take a sample. Like I said we don't get along well and she thinks I'm crazy when I talk about car maintainance!

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Not to defend her ridiculous maintenance practices, but this kind of shows that many of us are a little more concerned about our oil than we need to be!

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I agree, with some engine designs it doesn't seem to matter what you do in terms of oil changes, they'll still last forever. Such is the case with engines like the Chrysler slant six, the Ford 302 and the Chevy 350 (which this 4.3L V6 engine is based on actually, but with 2 cylinders lopped off) as well as a few others.

Try this with a Toyota V6 sludge monster though and you'll get a rude awakening. And someone from another message board sent me an email telling me that his mom has a relatively new Hyundai Santa Fe, she went almost 20k on it and never changed the oil, and now the engine is severely sludged up and the dealer tells her it needs replacing (but they won't cover it since she's never had an oil change!) I told him to buy 3 bottles of Auto-rx and see how that works out before getting a new engine.

 

[wrangler]

Guys, don't worry. My roommate has an 89 IROC-Z with cheap dino oil and has been in the engine for a good year plus. The oil looks like thick black tar and his oil pressure gauge is stuck on high. Once he gets around to changing his oil I’ll make sure I take a sample.

 

[Fatal0E]

When I was 16 I had a 96 Sonoma 4x4 with the 4.3L, I loved that thing, abused it horribly and it ran like new till I traded it for a 99 Silverado, the 5.3l vortec failed me 3 times in 10 months

and I babied it.

 

[pscholte]

quote:

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Originally posted by wrangler:
...The oil looks like thick black tar and his oil pressure gauge is stuck on high...

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I think I am going to be sick!

 

[Chris B.]

quote:

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Originally posted by Fatal0E:
When I was 16 I had a 96 Sonoma 4x4 with the 4.3L, I loved that thing, abused it horribly and it ran like new till I traded it for a 99 Silverado, the 5.3l vortec failed me 3 times in 10 months

and I babied it.

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How did it fail you? The 5.3 is proving to be a "bullet proof" engine. That is a bummer you had a bad one!

 

[Fatal0E]

5.3 is the replacement for the old 350 right?

They told me rocker arms. First noticed it at 2500 miles, I changed the oil and there was a lot of long skinny bearings stuck to the magnetic oil plug, engine ran fine though. Took it in and I think it was rocker arm bearings, they said they replaced everything effected. Then at 22,*** miles a rocker arm failed, ran on 7 cylinders. Then again at 34,*** another rocker arm. Did my own oil changes every 2500-3000 miles, Pennz 10W-30, Napa Gold filters. Never raced the thing, didnt tow with it, only got to try out the 4wd twice

. Had all kinds of little glitches that never got sorted out. After the 3rd failure and the mechanic pointing me to the loaner Geo Tracker, I traded it off on a Dodge with the Cummins, 70,000 miles, some really hard miles, not even a burnt out lightbulb.

 

[Drew99GT]

Ah, the cummins is the ultimate man's toy

**** those things run good!

 

[MolaKule]

The 5.3L engine is a good one once the "chinks" are worked out.

A friend of mine was having what he thought was lifter noise at about 7,000 miles on his 5.3.
It turned out to be the timing chain tensioner. Of course GM replaced the timing chain and tensioner at no charge.

QC seems to be a bit lax on certain engines and years. I don't think it's just a GM problem.

 

[Chris B.]

That is pretty bad! I would think the dealer would give you a new engine at least! I have 9,000 miles on mine now and I hope I don't have those problems!