Chev 1500 4x4

[GSPatton1]

I was wondering if any of you know if this truck sucks gas bad or not.it's got a 4.3 v6.Never owned a truck before so what can u guys tell me.it's a 1990

[maxwedge]

Welcome to AF, big truck small engine, I'd say if it is running best posssible, 15 h'way and 11 stop and start. Maybe a little better in warm weather.

[jveik]

heh heh... i have a 95 K1500 with four wheel drive (hence the "K"). it has a 4.3 v-6 and the 5 speed manual tranny, this should be a good combo for mileage, right? nope. it burns a little oil and this plugs up the O2 sensor in the tailpipe and causes it to get terrible mileage. 65-75 miles an hour on I-80 on work days between omaha nebraska and shelby iowa (kinda hilly) gets me about 14 miles per gallon. when i replace the sensor and drive relatively normally in the city with stop and go traffic, it will get about 18 miles a gallon until the sensor plugs up again about a week later, whereupon it goes back to 14ish mpg. so a good runner should get 18 city and even better highway, a bad runner gets about 14 all around. kinda sucks to be me huh? needless to say i have given up on the O2 sensor and hope that i can get another 100,000 miles out of the truck (has 175k now)

[randy78]

every 4.3L i have owned or been around has been a gas hog

most are

for their size they eat lots of fuel

a 305 does alot better

especially Q jet ones

they always got around 20mpg or hair more even in the caprices and such


i have owned billions of them so i know this for a fact

it is one of the things i love about the old 305 1980s cars

they were good on gas mileage when in good mechanical condition


good luck!