Ok - know these are a preferred hauler for alotof guys. What are the pros and cons? What kind of MPG from the 4.3 Vortec? Real world input appreciated ( that’s for you rd49)
My G20 gets 17 loaded down with 2 SVs and all the gear and spares. Intake manifold likes to go on the 4.3 motors and if you run the tank low too much it burns up the fuel pumps. I put 380k on a 96 S10. Buy my G20. It as reliable as a mule.
I’m looking for smaller/2nd vehicle/runner. I had an 02 S10 with 4.3 and it was great but thinking about the Astro too with same motor.
yo! earlier models dont suffer nearly as many issues as the later ones and they drive better. they dont have the lower intake manifold gasket or spider injector problems at all Ive had a few and still have my first one. an '87 with over 350,000 on orig eng. that has been damn near 100% reliable and a '95 now and Dad has an '05 now and has had several also. avg mpg for all of them is roughly 19mpg. If Kesler was still here he could tell you alot about them. Godspeed Yo!
I've had like 5 of them. Newest was a 2000 which burned several valves towing heavy through the mountains. Older ones were rock solid. All of those had close to 300k before I got rid of them. Can't remember the mileage .
What's your cutoff for "early" vs "late" models? And agreed about Kurt, he was to Astros as Big Bird is to Town and Country.
Not power houses, but good runners. Lower intake gaskets, waterpump, fuel pump, horizontial distributor caps like to burn through if the plugs/ wires aren't maintained. That's about all I got. Really just normal shit for a Chevy. Oh- the 4L60 isn't a very stout trans but does ok in a platform like that, keeping the fluid fresh helps
94, 95, 96 had the fi spider...I think. My neighbor had one when I was a kid and it was super reliable. Don't remember what year though.
the early models have the original style nose, the late models have the newer 'bloated' nose. the TBI engines without the counter balance shaft is the best ones. Im pretty sure that is all the early ones but '94 might have the later engine. they are getting hard to find now the later ones are not unreliable, they just have more to go wrong and with the balance shaft the t-chain wears out much quicker. the biggest problem with them is the lower intake gasket thats known to leak coolant into the oil when it goes out. usually they give you a warning but sometimes not and it fries the engine.
Yo? Mines a 91, 1st gen, shorty, "RS" model. Says its suppose to have 200hp, hell if i know... However, its been a dam good van! I work on it constantly because its 27 yrs old and all parts are cheap but with endless amounts of Google info where dummies are doing trial and errors, its a peice of cake to work on. Shy of a "frame off" restoration, even though its a unibody, the engine and trans is the only thing i haven't rebuilt. Do not waste your time searching for headers constructed for an astro, nobody took the time to make any. I bought some for an S10 and built my own 2 in exhaust with a 1.75 tailpipe, cheap muffler. 18 in wheels from a jeep. Info yer looking for... Empty and with just a bike, 24 mph Full with a roof rack, 18 mph Just a bed set up in the van with my homemade 5.5x12 v-nose full with a bike, scooter and everything to hit MA rounds, 16 mph. Ask if ya wanna know more. Cheers!
Mine has a pinhole leak on the intake, front, driverside. Reading dummies on Google, if you torque the intake bolts too much, it actually stretches the block to a point where it will cause a gap on the main bearings, causing them to spin and ruin the engine. Just a bad character of the 4.3 Mine still squirts about a gallon every 10k miles... In 2 yrs, weve muscled 50k miles with no air condition. Atleast has saved on gas!!
We had one of those start on fire one day. The fuel lines in the plenum break (so we found out), well it filled a cylinder with fuel and we removed the plug to see wtf was up and cranked the engine over and apparently the fuel hit enough of a hot trouble light and up she went. My dad said to high school kids were visiting that day for an automotive class and one ran out the door and the other actually grabbed a fire extinguisher. He said he told the kid he was hired.
I had a '97. I did the intake manifold gaskets myself and I'm a f*cking accountant. Cost was less than $50 for the upgraded gaskets, it took a full weekend to do the intake gaskets, but I also replaced the waterpump while I was in there. sold it for more than I bought it for and never had a problem with the FI spider. 20mpg for me.
V8 swaps into the early vans really easy too. just get the same era TBI v8 and is all plug n play bolt-in except for the motor mount brackets which are easy to make or you can get them from 'jagsthatrun'. Ive been waiting on the V6 to die in my '87 for 10yrs now and finally decided its may live longer than I am and have been collecting SB parts and info for it recently. Ive only had to replace one fuel pump, one knock sensor, and one ignition module in it. that is all that has gone wrong with the engine but I did put a t-chain and w.pump at 250,000 just because. the late models are much more difficult to swap in a V8, mostly because of the electronics so most go with an LS V8 in those. for towing anything a trans cooler is a must on any of them. I also run a deep sump with temp sender and a in dash temp gauge, an e.fan on the trans cooler and did up an R4700 with all the good stuff the second time around.
Hahaha! well at least it will keep the carbon build up cleaned off. Ive never heard that about a bolt stretching the block though. it doesnt sound too convincing either. lol the very early ones upto '89 had a high iron content (or low nickle) in the block so flushing the coolant every couple of years is a good idea on those.
Speaking more of the intake, although its leaking on the front, not into the cylinder... there is a water temp sensor on the front that monitors the water temp not for the gauge but for idle purposes. "ECT sensor" Since ive had the van, its always idle pretty rough. Complete distributer, 2 sets of plugs, plug wires, coil, cleaned and rebuilt Trottle Body Injector unit, vacuum hose... just about anything i could think of and nothing would make it idle better. So one day i was replacing the thermostat and noticed the sensor and said fuck it, ill replace this also! And i be damn, perfect idle. Just to add, the temp sending unit on the driverside under the header is the one that runs the temp gauge on the dash...
