1993 Chevy S-10 with Various Problems

Hey everybody,

I have a 1993 Chevy S-10 pickup truck, 4.3L V6 with 99,000 miles on it. I live in central Pennsylvania. Whenever it's not summer (i.e. gets a bit cold at night) and I haven't driven my truck in a few days/weeks, it has trouble when I first start driving it.

For example. It's October, it's getting a bit cold at night. I hadn't driven my truck for a week or so and I took it out last night. It starts fine and runs, but it has a bit of trouble accelerating (not the best way to describe it...). It's more like that it occasionally has trouble accelerating (and with some hills), it will temporarily 'stutter', or jerk forward a bit, or 'lose power' for a split second. When this kind of thing happens (or I start up a hill) I just slowly ease off the gas to minimize any stuttering. If I try to power through it, it starts to shake something awful. When it's acting like this, it'll also jerk forward just a bit when I'm stopped at a red light. It's kind of hard to describe...

The weird thing is that the next day (or later that same day) it'll drive just fine, no problems at all. I've tried stopping to get gas when this was happening, but the ~5 minutes it takes to fill up doesn't seem to be enough to make it start acting correct again. But, after driving ~20 miles and letting it sit turned off for between half an hour and a day's work, it'll run just fine.

And then, all throughout summer, it'll just work like a charm. I can not drive it for weeks and it'll dive just fine, thus why I think there is a link between getting cold at night and the issue.

Could this have something to do with engine misfires? I haven't changed the spark plugs since I got the truck 9 years ago, but, then again, I've only driven it 50-60K miles...


Additionally, I'm not sure if this is related, but there is this other problem. I just recently noticed that if I put the truck in park after driving it at bit and let it idle...the check engine light will turn on. If I cut the truck off, put it back in drive, or start driving again the light goes away real quick. This could be an entirely different problem, since I only noticed it recently. The problem with the 'stuttering' has been happening for about a year now, though I know it happened one or two times 3-4 years ago (when I lived in South Carolina).

Hey everybody,

I have a 1993 Chevy S-10 pickup truck, 4.3L V6 with 99,000 miles on it. I live in central Pennsylvania. Whenever it's not summer (i.e. gets a bit cold at night) and I haven't driven my truck in a few days/weeks, it has trouble when I first start driving it.

For example. It's October, it's getting a bit cold at night. I hadn't driven my truck for a week or so and I took it out last night. It starts fine and runs, but it has a bit of trouble accelerating (not the best way to describe it...). It's more like that it occasionally has trouble accelerating (and with some hills), it will temporarily 'stutter', or jerk forward a bit, or 'lose power' for a split second. When this kind of thing happens (or I start up a hill) I just slowly ease off the gas to minimize any stuttering. If I try to power through it, it starts to shake something awful. When it's acting like this, it'll also jerk forward just a bit when I'm stopped at a red light. It's kind of hard to describe...

The weird thing is that the next day (or later that same day) it'll drive just fine, no problems at all. I've tried stopping to get gas when this was happening, but the ~5 minutes it takes to fill up doesn't seem to be enough to make it start acting correct again. But, after driving ~20 miles and letting it sit turned off for between half an hour and a day's work, it'll run just fine.

And then, all throughout summer, it'll just work like a charm. I can not drive it for weeks and it'll dive just fine, thus why I think there is a link between getting cold at night and the issue.

Could this have something to do with engine misfires? I haven't changed the spark plugs since I got the truck 9 years ago, but, then again, I've only driven it 50-60K miles...


Additionally, I'm not sure if this is related, but there is this other problem. I just recently noticed that if I put the truck in park after driving it at bit and let it idle...the check engine light will turn on. If I cut the truck off, put it back in drive, or start driving again the light goes away real quick. This could be an entirely different problem, since I only noticed it recently. The problem with the 'stuttering' has been happening for about a year now, though I know it happened one or two times 3-4 years ago (when I lived in South Carolina).

With a check engine light always check for code.
You might want to check codes when light is on.
Post back code no.

95K is a very good time for a 100K tune up.

Feed it some good AC DELCO PLUGS.
Check air and fuel filter and plug wires and cap and rotor.