Oil recomemdation for 03 s10 4.3

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I have been lurking on this forum for about a month bow and have learned a great deal from all the posts and write-ups so I figured I would go ahead and post up. I have a 2003 s10 zr2 with the 4.3 in it and was debating on switching to Penzoil Platinum. The truck has about 102000 miles on it and is my daily driver driven about 60 miles a day with most of it being highway. I have been mostly running a mix between a few conventional oils such as penzoil and valvoline with a Fram filter but just want to make it last as long as possile. I bought 2 5qt. jugs of 5w-30 the other day of PP and was going to switch to a Wix filter as well from what I have read. Any input on if it is the right decision or just stick with penzoil yb would be greatly appreciated or if you have a better recomendation and why. If I do run the PP, how many miles do you think I could saftly run the oil too (Yes I know a oil annalisis would be the best for this and I just recieved my kit in the mail the other day? Once again thanks for the help!
 
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My 4.3 loves just regular Valvoline or Chevron Supreme (Havoline) Dino oil with AcDelco and Supertech filters. Clean engine, these motors are very easy on oil. I would go with a 3k severe OCI and a 5k Highway oci. Welcome to the forum.

Do you have any kind of oil consumption or leaks?

Oh one more thing, regular Dino oil at good OCIs will make your engine last just as long as with synthetic.
 
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Originally Posted By: defektes
My 4.3 loves just regular Valvoline or Chevron Supreme (Havoline) Dino oil with AcDelco and Supertech filters. Clean engine, these motors are very easy on oil. I would go with a 3k severe OCI and a 5k Highway oci. Welcome to the forum.

Do you have any kind of oil consumption or leaks?

Oh one more thing, regular Dino oil at good OCIs will make your engine last just as long as with synthetic.


Thanks for the response. The motor does'nt have any leaks and might burn a very little bit of oil if any. I might just stick to regular pyb. I just want to make sure I get whats best for the motor but if it will be the same between dino and synthetic then I will just stick to the 11 dollor bottle of pyb.
 
For that engine and that use, Id go PYB or PP, switching between 10w-30 and 5w-30 based upon the climate. AC delco filters will work great. Replace the AT fluid with fresh Dex VI evry so often and t will last a long time.
 
Unless you are trying to get to an extended OCI, I would go with a reputable dino. The 4.3L isn't too picky about oil.

At the dealership I work at, we have a '03 ZR2 with 30k miles. I'm normally not much of a blazer fan, but i've driven it a few times. Its a cool rig!

Treat it well and it should last for a long time!
 
The 4.3 seems to be a pretty hearty engine. I personally ran Mobil 1 for the first 100k and then randomly tried out RP, ST Syn, PP, Maxlife Syn, Castrol Syntec and finally settled on Chevron Supreme with either a P1 or AC filter. It seems to run a little smoother with the conventional oil, but that's probably in my head. But, the Chevron is readily available at a good price (sometimes on sale at $21/case of 12qts. most recently) at Costco. I believe any 5-30 oil will do ya fine.

I completely agree with JHZR2 that maintaining the Tranny Fluid is just as/if not more important for the longevity of this GM engine/tranny combo.

I currently have 126K on a trouble free engine/tranny with basic routine maintenance, good luck to ya.
 
i have an 01 S10 with the 4.3 and so far it has bee a great strong engine. It has 185k miles on it now. Only engine issue i ever had was an intake manifold gasket. I ran M1 5w30 in it from the time it was new up till about 150k miles with 7 to 8 k changes. After the gasket replacment, i have been running PP for about 6K changes. My wife has a new job about 7 miles from house so it is getting a lot of short trips. Personally, if you are driving 60 miles a day, i would run the PP and do 7500 mile changes. The engine is pretty easy on oil so it shouldnt be a problem. Where you live, you dont benefit much from the synthetics cold weather properties, but many believe that over hundreds of thousands of miles, synthetics off better deposit control. For me the cost difference is not that much so i feel better with the synthetic. That said, i have seen that engine and many 350s go a very long time on nothing but dino. I have been changing my transmission fluid and filter every 30k with valvoline DEX 6. Rear differential get 30 k changes with M1 75w90. I have not needed the GM additive if i use the synthetic gear lubes. Front diff gets 30 k changes with dino 80w90.
 
I've had two 4.3s and they do have a reputation for running forever. My old one is at my fathers place as a utility vehicle and still going strong after 18 years. As stated dinos will work fine. My current 4.3 is a 2000 Bravada that I got used. I use PP 5W30 and Super Tech filters. The new AC Delco filter will be Ecores just like the Super Tech for this application. I'm doing 5-6k OCIs on almost all short daily drives (10 miles).
 
Thanks for all the responses. I do keep VERY good care of the vehicle because I want it to last as long as possible. Looks like I will stick with PYB but does it really matter what filter. I have heard a lot of bad stuff about the Fram i have been using. I see a few of you are running the AC Delco filter. Is that one any better or worse than the wix? The wix is quite pricey but dont mind spending the extra few dollors if it's that much better. As far as the tranny fluid goes, I highly doubt it has been changed since new. I bought the truck with about 75000 on it and at about 90000 I was going to do a trans flush but was told not to by a guy at the dealership because it will stir up all the metal shavings and cause trans faliure? Any input on this? It seems like if I take off the trans pan it would not stirr up all this metal and im about possitive the trans filter is in the trans pan. By the way how much of a pain in the butt is it to drop the trans pan and replace the filter and fluid if you have ever done it? By the way it is a auto trans. Thanks for all the help!
 
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I have also heard a lot of bad things about tranny flushes, thats why i change mine every 30k. I feel like it is better to keep slowly refreshing it than letting it get very old then putting in fresh. I believe what happens is when you have old worn out fluid, varnish builds up throughout the tranny and when you replace the fluid 100% with new filter, the new fluids detergents break up all the buildup and ends up clogging the new filter and causing failures. Anyway, it not real hard to drop the pan. I think on my blazer there is a bracket that needs to come off to get the pan down and maybe the shifting linkage. None of it is difficult. I like to get the tranny real hot by taking a drive, than siphon out as much of the fluid as i can thru the fill tube with a small rubber hose. I makes messing with the pan much easier. Once the pan is donw, the old filter just pulls out and the new one slides back in. There is a little brass pressure oring that needs to come out when you get the old filter out. The new filter will come with a new one. If you have never done it before, slate a few hours so you can take your time and hopefully not get messy. If it is 4wd, there is also a transfer case fluid that needs to be changed. Its just a drain hole and fill hole but if you have auto 4wd make sure you use autotrak 2 from dealer. Good luck.
 
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