Old77's 1989 S10 tinkering project

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Old77

Old77

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bucket said:
Maybe the gauge reads lower than it should? In which case, warm could actually be really hot.
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:shrug: today it definitely read hot but no coolant overflowed and nothing burst or anything. Definitely wasn't happy. I'm going to go out and check on it again here in a bit.
 
Old77

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Well, just hopped in it. Hasn't ran since this morning so it's cold and she's definitely down a cylinder. You can hear it and it's lacking power. So I'm having it towed from work to my house and I'll start poking at it and decide what to do from there. Not sure if it's a lifter or valve or what. Was driving fun and normal the first half of my trip to work this morning. :shrug: She does have 267,*** miles on the clock so could be just about anything.
 
Old77

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I’ve got coolant coming out of the exhaust. Looks like head gasket failure
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bucket

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Old77 said:
I’ve got coolant coming out of the exhaust. Looks like head gasket failure
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Well that's unfortunate. It could also be a cracked head or block. Taking it apart should provide answers.
 
Old77

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bucket said:
Well that's unfortunate. It could also be a cracked head or block. Taking it apart should provide answers.
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Agreed. I’m going to start taking it apart before assuming anything. If it’s a cracked block there’s some big boy decisions to be made then
 
Old77

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78C10BigTen said:
And here come the LS guys!!! TAKE COVER!!!!! lol
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Eventually I do have plans to V8 swap (possibly LS/possibly not) but was not planning on that this early since its main purpose is still to be my kids first rig while they save for their own vehicle. If I throw a V8 of any kind in this thing that is no longer going to be a thing lol
 
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Honestly, I'm certainly not any kind of LS fan boy, but this is an application that an LS would probably be my first choice in a swap. Not the typical junkyard 5.3, but something way more fun like an LS3. Just for an example.
 
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Old77 said:
Eventually I do have plans to V8 swap (possibly LS/possibly not) but was not planning on that this early since its main purpose is still to be my kids first rig while they save for their own vehicle. If I throw a V8 of any kind in this thing that is no longer going to be a thing lol
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Chuck a factory 4.3 in it! I LOVE mine! Runs like a raped ape!
 
Old77

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animal said:
So that's when you will ask your wife what to do? :shrug:
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LOL We will discuss for sure. She did suggest pulling the S10 into the garage (giving up her garage space) while I tear into it. That's a big deal for her so gotta give her props and supporting the efforts as well as she can. I'm going to get it moved into the garage today. We'll see what happens.
 
Old77

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Another quandry I'm having is a buddy of mine has been asking me for a while to sell the truck to him. Part of my brain wants to start tearing into it and get the thing torn down but then the lazy part of my brain wants it to leave the driveway LOL He's got plans for it (if I sold it to him) and it'd go to a good home but I have plans for it, too, and never have had plans to sell it. If I was to sell it, there's a K5 for sale local for $4,000 that I'd probably try and go haggle on to get. I don't know......... Just spewing out the dialogue that's in my head.
 
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