This is OT, but I need some help. I have a 1986 Chevy S-10 w/ the V-6 and Automatic. This thing has 98000 miles and looks great. My problem is...the damn thing drives like it has a 500 lb. rock on the bumper...but it doesnt...It just drags ***. When I floor it...it doesnt want to respond. I thought maybe the 'Cat' was plugged, so I took it out and put in a pipe... Its still the same. I checked the timing...the injectors seem to be okay (visually becase I dont know of a way to test them)...good oil and ****** seems okay. Tires are full to 35 psi, all vacuum hoses are hooked up...no exhaust leaks. What the heck am I missing. What can I do... Help please...this is my work truck...and I would like to fix it ASAP. Thanks! Any suggestions for me to check or possibly replace?
fuel filter? if it's injected. is the cat hallow, i've seen some clog the muffler. also check to see if it's advanceing not sure but that early year might still be centrifical (sp?) advance.
Is it making and funny noises? I sold one to a friend (second mistake, the first was buying it) and after a while he had a similar problem. wierdest thing... He had been replacing smog pumps (air inj.) every once in a while, figuring that the one's he was getting were just ****py rebuilds (which they were, but...). He had a bunch of mechanics check it out, and finally one figured out that the mount for the smog pump was broken, somehow causing the pump to fail sooner, and the noise of the pump was triggering the knock sensor and retarding the timing. Now, I'm not saying that is even close to your problem, just interesting. Check the basics, (tune up parts, timing etc...) and do a compression test, I have heard (yes, hearsay, but it happend to mine) that these motors burn valves more often than their 8cyl brothers (I have no Idea why though). -Nate
These things were known for rounding the camshaft, though that would usually happen before 40K, but a compression test IS in order. Maybe also pull a valve cover and check that all the valves are actually opening... Vacuum check would be a real quick indicator of a problem, too, and that'd take about 15 seconds... Cosmo
:woot: someone beat me to it... fellow s10f'er? ok you're an 86, and i'm not sure off the top of my head when they stopped carbing the 6's and went to tbi, but here goes if you have TBI (when you take off the round air cleaner you will see 2 injectors instead of a standard carb, but externally looks like a carb) anyhow yeah, the 220 tbi has all sorts of sensor garbage on the top. Any number of them going bad could cause this, as well as a bad ignition module. If the check engine light comes on, you can get the codes out of it by shorting a specific 2 pins on the ALDL diagnostic connector (the dash check engine light) will communicate the code number by flashes. I can't remember specifically what pins but if you search on S10F you should find it. It will first flash a code 12 to tell you that everything is communicating ok (all codes are flashed 3 times, code 12 would be one blink, pause, and then 2 blinks) and then on to the actual stored codes. If you don't have any stored codes, I'm guessing a sensor is fubar and giving the computer the wrong value, or maybe your ignition timing control is shot (the latter case may or may not give you a code). I had a similar problem once, and it didn't throw a code half the time it was having it. Would have no balls, act like all of the timing advance just suddenly disappeared. Exhaust manis would start glowing when throttle was held down enough to keep it running. Turns out one of the contacts in the electrical connctor for one of the TBI injectors was loose, and would intermittently (especially when wet) lose contact and I'd be running lean as hell on half the fuel, but all the sensors except the o2 thought things were perfect, so I'd get a lean out code once in a while. Hope this helps, if not, check S10Forum.com and post up a question in the appropriate forum. We have 2 v6 forums, one for the 2.8 and one for the 4.3 . They are entirely different engine families, the 2.8 being a 60 degree and the 4.3 being a SBC derived 90 degree, so be sure you post in the correct forum. New members are always welcome, many people stop in for help and it grows on them :-D
The one I have ran, but quickly clogged up the cat because it had sat a while. Then with that cut off it would only run the last time as long as I dumped gas down it. Hey, just like my '50. So I pulled another complete TBI off a supposedly running 2.8 - it was free, truck is going to be crushed shortly - and threw it in there. Some one of these days I'll mess with it again. The consensus at the time seemed to be a shorted injector. The only other 2.8 I've had was a CCC version in an X-car, and it would hesitate and run ****py now and then, but it was because the carb was screwy and I never found an '80 I could get a carb and distributor from and ditch the computer junk.
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