Okay, I figured I would start my introduction with a bit of backstory. Back in 2012, I bought a '91 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, that I planned on fixing for a cheap truck that my dad could drive. He drove it for a while, great truck until the bench seat gave out. After putting some other seats in it, only the smallest of people could fit in it. Anyway, long story short I sold it last Friday and began looking for an S-10. I found a really nice one that needed a fuel pump, and I changed it out and paid $800, but the guy totaled it while he was bringing it to my house. So I gave him a ride home, and he was nice enough to help me find some trucks. After looking for what felt like ages, I stumbled across a cheap '93 4X4 S-10 Blazer for $700. Only problem is the original owner passed away, and his family can't find the keys, and it is locked. I'm gonna go see it tomorrow, but i've already seen much of it from pictures and I like it a lot. I've already secured the truck with a deposit, and should be bringing it home by Sunday.

The catch here is that i'm mostly a ford guy, and the only GMs we have are a '79 Caballero, '91 Blue Bird MiniBus, and an '83 Diesel El Camino.
I'm hoping to get some insight on what i've heard are reliable, but problematic trucks.

 

For the 4.3l, depending on the year, there have been issues with the lower intake manifold (LIM) gasket leaking and sometimes failing catastrophically allowing coolant to drain into the lifter valley and into the oil sump.

Related is that, also depending on year, there could be an issue with the mixing of Dexcool antifreeze with the traditional green stuff causing a brown muck for form.

Definitely an issue for your vintage and for many years later is leaky oil cooling lines that run from the back of the block to the remote oil filter. The gaskets where the adapter for these lines attaches to the block can also leak. Had both the lines and the gaskets go on my old '92 2dr 4x4. The gaskets failed (nearly) catastrophically with lots of oil being lost but not so much that the engine was in danger of being damaged.

I also had the fuel pump go out on my '92.

 

Thanks, I have experienced the gaskets fail on my dad's old Silverado. I have a Vortec to put in it, but its been sitting on a crate for 6 years, probably needs a rebuild