Ive been looking at an 1986 s10 blazer with a 2.8L engine with 169k but a couple of people told me not to get it because the 2.8 is a junk motor.
is this true? and if yes, what usually goes wrong with them?
Yes your Friends are right,head gasket ,head ,pulleys, lifters, water pump,you name it!! Friend had it in a Beretta real crap motor. Try to find a 3.2 for the chevy v6 nice pick up and dependable.
ive used as daily tripper 95 s10 replaced starters timing sets head now doing lower mains an crank one emer brake cable two coils few plugs neutral safety water pump thats 285, 000 ,, but for blazer no little more power needed it also has ramsey 8.000 on front i like the mileage haulin feed an trailors use i ton good vehicle for intended use
Personally I have neither positive nor negative opinion on this motor, other than that there was also a 4.3L available and everyone and his dog will tell you the 4.3L would be better to get, and remained available in the next generation S10, while the 2.8L was discontinued in 1993.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_S-10
I also found this bit on doing performance tweaks on the 2.8L V6, which demonstrates that at least some folks have confidence...
http://www.4x4wire.com/tech/60degreeV6/
If I recall right, this was also the same motor that was stuck into the Pontiac Fiero and my GF had one of those and it wasn't a complete basket case (though GM did sandwich it in so tight you couldn't reach all the plugs).
The 2.8 does not have the balls to be a SUV motor. It works fine in passenger cars, but when you start using an SUV for what SUV's are supposed to do, the 2.8 just can't do it. You can look for worn rings, bad compression, lots of piston slap and egg-shaped cylinders, plus the truck (if I may be so loose as to call it a truck) is 20 years old. All of your rubber suspension bushings and gaskets that haven't been replaced in the past seven years are going to be dry and cracked. By the time you put all that money into rebuilding the engine and the frame, you could buy a newer model with te guts in the engine you need. Leave that '86 for the crusher.
The 2.8 does not have the balls to be a SUV motor. It works fine in passenger cars, but when you start using an SUV for what SUV's are supposed to do, the 2.8 just can't do it. You can look for worn rings, bad compression, lots of piston slap and egg-shaped cylinders, plus the truck (if I may be so loose as to call it a truck) is 20 years old. All of your rubber suspension bushings and gaskets that haven't been replaced in the past seven years are going to be dry and cracked. By the time you put all that money into rebuilding the engine and the frame, you could buy a newer model with te guts in the engine you need. Leave that '86 for the crusher.