2004 4.3 V6 Engine Noise

[tnhost]

I recently bought a 2004 S10 Crew Cab 4X4 with a 4.3 V6 engine. The engine seems to make a lot of noise when accelerating. Even get a ping when accelerating hard. I have 1500 miles on the engine and have been very easy with it to break it in. I changed oil at around 900 miles. The noise is very annoying. When I had 500 miles on the truck, I took it to the service department and took the service guy for a ride. He said that these trucks seem to be noisy and that it was normal. I tend to disagree. I had a ZR2 offroad extened cab before this ZR5 crew cab package and it perfomed awesome.
Has anyone else encountered issues with noise when accelerating?
Thanks

[radianguy]

What grade fuel are you running.You can try going up to the next octane level and see if that helps.

[paulsback]

Yeah when my engine starts to ping like that i usually get a tank of high test the next time i fill up and the pinging goes away.

[Stock_S10]

it could be just a harmonic noise

[BlackZR5]

My truck is the same way, it is a loud roar actually and it mostly is at low speeds.

[eti engineer]

Check the double cardan joints on the driveshaft. The ball and socket assemblies cannot be lubricated and mine turned to powder after only 3 years and less than 50,000 miles. I finally gave up on mine and had a driveshaft built from scratch at a local driveline shop. Truck has never been better.

You can also visit a website (JTR = Jags That Run) and they offer a kit you can install to line up the driveline so the U-joints aren't at such bad angles. If your truck is lowered, it makes the problem even worse. Chevy didn't do anyone any favors with their stock driveshafts. I re-built mine a couple of times before I said to hell with it and I can tell you that if you don't have a well-equipped garage, some patience, a lot of muscle and know what the hell you are doing, you don't want to attempt this.


Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

eti engineer

[sector95]

Is this a rebuilt motor? You say it only had 1500 miles on it. Did you rebuild it or was it aftermarket?

What kind of noise? The fan will make a lot of roar until the fan clutch warms up and allows a little slippage. And as "eti" eluded to, the noise might be coming from somewhere else other than the motor.

A *slight*, occasional engine knock is acceptable; the ignition control computer should sense the knock (thru the engine block knock sensor) and dial back the advance a bit.... the computer tries to give the engine as much advance (within the preprogrammed limits) as possible. An engine designed to run on 87 octane will have it's maximum advance set to operate effectively on this fuel.

The 4.3L is a 90 deg V-6 and as such is inheritantly unbalanced in it's firing. Early versions compensated by using an offset crankshaft and later engines had a balance shaft incorporated into the block. In either case, the engine sounds a bit "coarse" and that is normal. The non-balance shafted engines will tend to be a bit rougher in operation.

mike