What happened to all the S10's

[idahovette]

@SirRobyn0 My Mother bought a new Celebrity, 1988, 2.8. Good car, til the paint started falling off. GM bought a repaint, better quality than original(what wasn't?) and she ran it for a few years, then traded it for an Equinox!!??? The Celebrity ran like crazy and got around 25-30 mpg when she drove it, me not so much! Kooper left me high and dry, gone to college so I will finish? it soon and he can drive it when he gets home for Thanksgiving

 

[78C10BigTen]

My first car was an 87 celebrity wagon. 2.8L. Ran great!

 

[Midnightmoon]

I had a '85 S10 Blazer with the 2.8. I went through 2 engine's in 332K miles (it was on its 3rd when I sold it). I loved that little thing. Too bad the rust got to the point that it was no longer able to pass inspection here in PA.

My father had a 1998 2x4 S10 regular cab truck with that ZQ8? I believe suspension package....16" aluminum wheels, slightly lowered, etc. It was a 2.2L 5-speed. I loved that little truck. He put 250K on it before he sold it off. I know I don't have any electronic pics of it. But. I'll try and find one in an old album that I could scan.

 

[bucket]

Did someone say Celebrity? Lol

 

[Rusty Nail]

Oy vey!

 

[SirRobyn0]

@SirRobyn0 My Mother bought a new Celebrity, 1988, 2.8. Good car, til the paint started falling off. GM bought a repaint, better quality than original(what wasn't?) and she ran it for a few years, then traded it for an Equinox!!??? The Celebrity ran like crazy and got around 25-30 mpg when she drove it, me not so much! Kooper left me high and dry, gone to college so I will finish? it soon and he can drive it when he gets home for Thanksgiving

Ya mine to, I never got 30, but it would do 28 on long trips. Really pretty amazingly good mileage. At the time I had Grand Parents in Hay, Wa. Which is on highway 26 near Colfax if you happen to know where that is. I was driving over there pretty regularly to help them out when I could. And I was working almost 40 miles from home, so I really turned the odometer on that car quickly. Unfortunately despite me keeping maintenance up on the car I started having transmission troubles one day (about 130K), and later that week spun a rod bearing.

The other thing I remember about the 2.8 is how smooth and quiet the engine was. The 2.8 was a narrower engine in it's V than the Buick built 3.0 and 3.8 of the same time period, so another nice thing about the 2.8 was in a transverse mount like the Celebrity it was easier to reach the back plugs, unless it was equipped with an air pump.

I had a '85 S10 Blazer with the 2.8. I went through 2 engine's in 332K miles (it was on its 3rd when I sold it). I loved that little thing. Too bad the rust got to the point that it was no longer able to pass inspection here in PA.

My father had a 1998 2x4 S10 regular cab truck with that ZQ8? I believe suspension package....16" aluminum wheels, slightly lowered, etc. It was a 2.2L 5-speed. I loved that little truck. He put 250K on it before he sold it off. I know I don't have any electronic pics of it. But. I'll try and find one in an old album that I could scan.

That's about right for the 85, with 2.8, about 100K or just a little more per-engine. By 98 the engine packages were much better, but to me the 85 and the 98 are completely different rigs.

 

[Turbo4whl]

2.8 L ... engine from hell. Good job security for whoever worked on them. (Like the Fords I work on now)

 

[CRM]

I had a '00 S10 Blazer for years. Loved it. The transfer case had issues so I sold it to a lady right down the street who just had to have it. See it nearly everyday on the way to work.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Midnightmoon]

2.8 L ... engine from hell. Good job security for whoever worked on them. (Like the Fords I work on now)

As a young guy, I sure got a lot of experience because of that engine. That was the first one that I pulled myself and the first engine I ever tore down on my own. Sentimental to me, not necessarily in a good way, but sentimental none the less.

 

[bucket]

All this trash talking about the 2.8 v6. Yeah the early ones kinda sucked, but the '85-'89 MPFI (gen 1 and gen 2 both) were damn fine engines.

 

[Turbo4whl]

All this trash talking about the 2.8 v6. Yeah the early ones kinda sucked, but the '85-'89 MPFI (gen 1 and gen 2 both) were damn fine engines.

"kinda sucked" You are being too kind. They just plain sucked!

 

[SirRobyn0]

I had a '00 S10 Blazer for years. Loved it. The transfer case had issues so I sold it to a lady right down the street who just had to have it. See it nearly everyday on the way to work.

You must be registered for see images attach

My Dad did something similar when he sold his 78 GMC K20. He'd had it since 80, and it was his baby. I should see if my mom has any pictures of it. Anyhow sold it because he wanted something that got better gas mileage, so of all things in 96 he bought a new Ranger which he would later regret, but took him a year to sell the GMC cause he wanted it to go to someone that would take care of it. Well it went to guy a few miles away, who removed Dad's light bar, and his brush guard. This was a bush guard that he had built himself, next thing you know one of the custom wheels is missing the grill is busted and the body that was once straight was all dented up on the passenger side. To bad it was a nice truck, if I'd of been smarter back then I should have bought it.

All this trash talking about the 2.8 v6. Yeah the early ones kinda sucked, but the '85-'89 MPFI (gen 1 and gen 2 both) were damn fine engines.

I agree but also disagree, the early MPFI systems seemed to have issues with the injectors, but they did do redesign on the rods, which fixed that issue. Not sure when 90ish? And of course the 3.1 was based from the 2.8

 

[Bennyt]

The Cameo and Sonoma GT's are my favorites of the bunch. I've seen none of them in recent years.

Only 2000ish Cameos made and 800 Sonoma GT's. Very hard to find.

 

[Bennyt]

Cash for Clunkers.

obama killed all the good cars and trucks.


I always wondered why a Cyclone or Typhoon clone wasn't ever more popular...seems like a natural thing to me. /shrug

The SY/TY's were expensive and few willing to pay the money like they are now. I see Hellcats, Trackhawk's, TRX, ZL1 Camaros, GT500's almost daily and none are less than $70k

 

[bucket]

My Dad did something similar when he sold his 78 GMC K20. He'd had it since 80, and it was his baby. I should see if my mom has any pictures of it. Anyhow sold it because he wanted something that got better gas mileage, so of all things in 96 he bought a new Ranger which he would later regret, but took him a year to sell the GMC cause he wanted it to go to someone that would take care of it. Well it went to guy a few miles away, who removed Dad's light bar, and his brush guard. This was a bush guard that he had built himself, next thing you know one of the custom wheels is missing the grill is busted and the body that was once straight was all dented up on the passenger side. To bad it was a nice truck, if I'd of been smarter back then I should have bought it.



I agree but also disagree, the early MPFI systems seemed to have issues with the injectors, but they did do redesign on the rods, which fixed that issue. Not sure when 90ish? And of course the 3.1 was based from the 2.8

I bought one once with a bad engine, an '86. It had spun bearings and a broken crank BUT, it's because the PO had jacked the car up by the oil pan to do an oil change and the pan was flat up against the oil pickup. But other than that one, I've had no troubles with them. This style:

You must be registered for see images attach

...is the Gen 1 type with iron heads. Used in '85-'86 in the front drive cars, Fiero through '88 and also the F-body through '89.

The front drive cars got the aluminum headed Gen 2 starting in '87. Yes, there were some injector reliability issues, but it was no different than ANY mpfi GM engine of the era.

Besides, the Chevy small block and big block, they are my favorite engine family. I've had a bunch, serviced a bunch and I love them.