New to me. 1998 Chevy Silverado 1500 4x4 with a 4.3 liter motor?

[DalesCarpentry]

I have allready posted this in the pickup truck and SUV section of this site. This section has a much bigger viewing so I posted here as well. Matt and GB if you feel it does not belong here then delete it but I would really like the input of the guys from this forum seeing as they all know me.

I just bought a new to me. 1998 Chevy Silverado 1500 4x4 with a 4.3 liter motor. What are the pros and cons? I am finally going back to work and bought this truck today. It has 124,000 miles on it. The blue book on it is close to $6,000. That is in excelent condition. This one is in great condition and only has one rust spot. It is surface rust on top of one of the bed rails. It measures about 1"x5". I plan to touch it up. I figure the blue book on this one in it's condition would be between $5,000 and $5,500. I got it for $4,000. I have owned two other Chevy Silverado's. One was a 2003 1500 4x4 with the (I think) 5.3 or 5.7 liter motor and the other one was a 2003 2500 HD 4x4 with the 6 liter motor. I loved that truck!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It passed everything but the gas station.   The thing is when I opened the hood I was surprised and shocked.    I was like where is the motor? It turns out it has the 4.3 liter motor in it and looks very punny as compared to what I am used to seeing under the hood of my truck. I drive anywhere between 40 and 80 miles one way every day to work. My last 6 liter Silverado only got around 11 or 12 miles to a gallon of gas. From what I have read on the net it looks like this one will get between 17 and 20 miles to a gallon of gas. My last truck had a 34 gallon tank and when gas hit $4.00 a gallon it cost me over a $100 to fill it up and I did that twice a week. It was killing me. When I told my wife it only had a 6 cylender in it she said well it will be better on gas then. She is right and I don't really like the trade off but if gas hits $4.00 a gallon again I might just be happy I bought this one. This truck seems to run very well and stronger that I thought the 4.3 would. I would like to hear some input from you guys and what do you think? What do you think of this 4.3 motor? Thanks Dale 
 
 
 

[mirage1988]

The 4.3 is a good motor, it is basically a 5.8 (350) with two cylinders chopped off. They vibrate a little more than the v8 due to the uneven crankshaft timing but chev fixed that by putting in a counterbalance shaft. Had a 4.3 in a jimmy, very good truck, wish I still had it This one should get much better mileage than your last truck. My 2500 with the 6 liter gets 12 on a good day! Good luck with the job! I got laid off today from the cabinet shop I was at. (second time laid off this year, Im on a roll ) Got a few cash jobs lined up though, should make it a few months anyway.

[mirage1988]

oops- double post

[DalesCarpentry]

The 4.3 is a good motor, it is basically a 5.8 (350) with two cylinders chopped off. They vibrate a little more than the v8 due to the uneven crankshaft timing but chev fixed that by putting in a counterbalance shaft. Had a 4.3 in a jimmy, very good truck, wish I still had it This one should get much better mileage than your last truck. My 2500 with the 6 liter gets 12 on a good day! Good luck with the job! I got laid off today from the cabinet shop I was at. (second time laid off this year, Im on a roll ) Got a few cash jobs lined up though, should make it a few months anyway.

Thanks I hope it runs good for me. I am sorry to hear you got laid off again. That just plain sucks. I hope the cash jobs work for you. Many times when I get to working for a person they find other projects for me to do. I hope that will be your case. Dale

[mirage1988]

The pups are going to their new homes this weekend, that will help a little with the cash flow anyway!

[DalesCarpentry]

The pups are going to their new homes this weekend, that will help a little with the cash flow anyway!

What are they? They look like little Boxers. Dale

[mirage1988]

They are boxers Dale. The moms name is kitty Second litter for her, they were all sold before they were even born. Wish I had a lot more kittys

[oldandslow]

Back to your question, Dale, I drove one of these trucks off and on when I was working part time. It was an excellent truck. More power than you would expect and very good gas mileage. Some of the other people that drove it kind of abused it but just ran and ran with no mechanical problems. The company still has it and it is still going.

[Spanky]

My brother in law sold his 1500 Chevy with the 4.3 in it last year.
It had 271,000 miles on it and still didn't use any oil. Those 4.3's are good engines.
Check out the cab corners real good for signs of rust bubbles under the paint.
If you find any... fix it now before the cab corner rots out.



Spanky

[DalesCarpentry]

My brother in law sold his 1500 Chevy with the 4.3 in it last year.
It had 271,000 miles on it and still didn't use any oil. Those 4.3's are good engines.
Check out the cab corners real good for signs of rust bubbles under the paint.
If you find any... fix it now before the cab corner rots out.



Spanky

Thanks. There are no rust bubbles anywhere. Dale

[30-30man]

I have a late 80s model S-10 with a marine 4.3 I salvaged out of an 89 Sunbird boat.  The boat had rotten floors and the OMC cobra drive was worth more money than the whole boat would have brought intact.  It was a 250hp version with a 4bl carb. We changed the manifolds and water pump.  Then we made a link for the carb. I sold the parts and paid for my beater S-10 almost. The only thing I had to buy was tires. It does great.  I use it mainly to haul feed and dead turkeys out of the buildings at my farm.  The thing has a lot of torque and it will pull everything I have even a 24ft camper I have.  Don't expect a great gas savings though. Mine is thirsty but it may be that I have a carb and the whole marine block thing going.  The best truck is one the bank doesn't own.  Everyone laughs at my old beater until they drive it.  It does have some pep.  My nephew wants to take it to the local drag strip.  I don't know if it's that fast though it does move down the road.

[dpe.ahoy]

I had a 98 Silverado with the 4.3 Vortec but was 2 wheel drive.  Great truck and really suprised me how much power it had.  I got better than 19mpg on the road.  Still see the truck once in a while and the kid that bought it still has done nothing but plugs, wires and oil changes.  Gas is on the rise here, so I think you'll like it.  DP