Oil Pump New Engine

Detailcrew · Post by **Detailcrew** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:31 pm

I own an 02 S-10 Crew which I bought brand new and it currently has 97,000 miles on it. The oil pump has been giving me problems and it finally went out which caused me to throw a rod. Now I have to put a brand new long block in it!!! I can't believe it. Anyone else have problems with there oil pump?? I have been told that Chevrolet has had prblems with the oil pumps in some of the 4.3 liter engines.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:50 pm

I am sorry to hear about your problem. I have read a lot about our crews but, haven't seen anything posted about the oil pumps. That doesn't mean that there isn't plenty posted, it just means that I must have missed it.

BADs Crew · Post by **BADs Crew** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:59 pm

127,000 miles on our Blazer, 200,000 on my 87 G-20 Van before I sold it, and 86,000 miles on my Crew. All have 4.3 all had oil changes every 3000 miles. I have never had an oil pump go out. Back in my 2.8 days I did loose one in my 1985 S-10 but I saw the gauge drop, turned off the key and drifted into a service station and had it replaced with no damage to the engine.

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 4:11 pm

As far as I know there has not been a change in the oil pumps from the beginning of time

All the small blocks use the same pump. Ours is a 350 small block , less two cylinders.
The oil pump is not a weak link.

The only thing I can directly relate to a weakness would be the oil pump drives nylon sleeve. All the engines I build get the pinned steel sleeve.

crew cab sonoma · Post by **crew cab sonoma** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:13 am

agreed. the 4.3`s use the same oil pump as the SBC V8`s... they are a proven and reliable design.

the only significant change made to them in decades, was an increase in pickup tube diameter from 5/8" to 3/4", in 93-94, on the 4.3L, and 305/350 V8`s...

that doesnt mean that a poorly made batch of them couldnt have been produced, but i havent heard of any such problems.

how are you certain the oil pump was to blame???
also, it sounds as if you were aware of having a problem for some time before the engine failure, and if so, why did you continue driving it???

Detailcrew · Post by **Detailcrew** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:38 pm

The oil pressure gauge has been reading weird over the last month and a half, the Chevrolet dealership told me that is was the oil pressure sedning unit and not the pump, so I thought everything was ok. I have changed the oil every 3-5000 miles. My mechanic told me that after doing some reseach on the 4.3 engine that Chevrolet has had some problems with the design of the engine and the oil pumps. I used to own a 91 S-10 4x4 extended cab which had 175,000 and the oil pump took a dump on that one, but granted the engine had alot of miles on it! Oh well $5,000 later and I now have a brand new engine that I can put another 100k on..Thanks for the imput gang