4.3 liter GM engine?

Question

Having to buy a pick-up truck and have become interested in Chevy and GMC, possibly a new one.
Could someone tell me about the reliability of the 4.3 liter GM engine. Is it known to have "many" problems.?? Is it a durable, dependable engine??
Thank You for your replys.
RL

Answer 1

The 4.3 is an amazing engine. My 1994 C1500 has a 4.3 and I never went more than a few hours without doing burnouts and speeding. It just wouldn't quit, even after jumping things daily, staying at the rev limiter, doing 40 in first and 80 in second. And actually, it's faster than my other truck with a 350. It should get better fuel economy than the 350 too.

Answer 2

one of the best engines of all time. the 87-93 models were the best but the 92 s-10's were the best ever the only thing I've seen wrong with those years were the egr and if you don't keep the oil changed the oil returns in top of the motor tend to stop up causing seizure. the CPI units are crap. they are made of plastic on the inside and costly to replace and even if you buy a new one from the dealer it will go bad again and again, so look for the tbi it is flawless to know the diff. look at the Vin.# if it has a "z" it is great , if it has a "w" not so much. the older 92's got about 28 mpg. and a hell of a lot more power than the 94 and ups which are lucky to get 12 mpg . w/o hyper-tech chip. tranny is also very good ,auto or man. 2wd s-10's and sonomas are light in the *** and its hard to take off on wet roads or gravel hills they have difficulty going under 70 also. my 92 would roast the tires at 75 mph. but i would run it to 74 in 3rd gear . my 94 wont do that and it is supposed to have 30 more hp. the 4.3 is truly remarkable they both have over 250,000 miles but they are also Vin "z" with orig. tbi injectors. ran hard and not put up yet poor maintenance too!!!

Answer 3

If you want more cubic inches, then you either have to stroke and bore the block (as already stated) or do an engine swap. A bore and stroke job may not yield much and 4.5 ci is thought by many to be the upper limit for a V-6 due to combustion path and or flame travel. So that leaves an engine swap to a V-8. If you want more horse power out of your engine, there are other paths besides increasing cubic inches. Look for some Jimmy forums

Answer 4

4.3 Gm Engine

Answer 5

The 4.3 vortex engine is the main power plant for a long time in chevy trucks.I work for a chevy dealership in ohio and find the 4.3 one of the best engines made in the last 20 years.STRONG-VERY DEPENDABLE-AND CHEVY TOUGH. We run our 4.3 parts trucks well over 200k with very few problems.

Answer 6

My Dad's 1993 Chevy pickup just turned over 221,000 miles and his 4.3 litre engine has never been apart and still carries over 60 pounds of oil pressure. Seems like a pretty good testament to me. Dad's a maintenance fanatic...3 months/3000 miles whichever comes first.

Answer 7

Very good reliability for a domestic make. I'm on my second Blazer. The first Blazer was a 94 with over 200 k miles. Over time (12 years) a plastic peice on the fuel injection system became brittle and had to be replaced. Along with new gaskets it ran like a new one. I tinkered with it too much and messed up the timing, then traded it in. I hear of them lasting 3 to 400k miles with routine mantainance.

Answer 8

Man these engines are great. I have one in my '93 s10. I've hit the limiter at 158 kp/h with no problem. although it doesnt have the power of some of the bigger engines i still came within half a car lenth of beating a 5.3 litre. burnouts are easy to do and speeding is very easy to do. and it is great on gas. there are better but this is one of the best for a truck. oh btw i have 82000 miles on my engine and its never been apart.

Answer 9

The 4.3 is a great engine I have had this engine in two different cars and it is a good engine!!!

Answer 10

From experience i can tell you that the internals are strong but the engine management The linear egr valve on these things clog up regularly, maintenance is a pain if you don't have the proper equipment. also check to see what kind of fuel injection is it CPI or SPFI make sure you get the SPFI fuel injection system. Those are the major things that i can remember off the top of my head.