2000 Chevrolet S-10 ZR-2 from North America - Comments

3rd door handle broke at 65,000 miles.

Hood handle broke at.

Clutch wore out at 35,000 miles.

Oil line leak at 60,000 miles.

Clutch line leak at 72,000 miles.

Power windows will not close when going over 50mph. Odd air pressure forces them out at the top and they will not fit into the track. Sometimes opening the rear wing fixes the problem.

This truck replaced my old 1991 S-10 2wd, short bed, regular cab with a 4.3L v6 and 5-speed. I put 200K miles on that truck and it still ran great. This new one has had some problems, but overall its been pretty good. I'm a very big fan of Chevy's 4.3L Vortec V6.

Its not as quick as the old truck, but I love the shift-on-the-fly four wheel drive. Of course, the 4wd is also what makes it slower. Thanks to the 4wd, good suspension and quality tires, this truck handles like a dream on snow.

The clutch plate wore out at 35k, but I take partial blame for that. I put 5 motorcycles on a trailer and towed them from St. Louis to Atlanta and back. The engine has enough torque that you feel you can do that and get away with it, but the clutch plate (mine is a manual) obviously couldn't take it. GM replaced the clutch plate under warranty.

The last 15K have been kind of bad. The 3rd door handle broke, which seems common from other reviews I have read.

An oil hose broke spring a leak while I was going down the road. The oil pressure gage warned me and I got off the road quickly, a quart of oil got me back home. A $25 OEM replacement line from the local auto parts store fixed the problem.

Recently, my clutch line started to leak. Every 5 days or so I have to add brake fluid to the reservoir or I lose my clutch completely, not a fun experience while in traffic. Unfortunately, it looks like the leak is at the slave cylinder, which requires a transmission pull in order to correct. I'm guessing the actual problem is minor, but because the transmission has to be pulled to get to it, it is going to be an expensive repair unless I do it myself.

I replaced the original tires at 65,000 miles. The old tires wore well and had great traction. My new tires are more of a road tire since I don't do much off-road driving.

Overall, I really enjoy driving this truck. It handles well. It tows great, though it needs a stronger clutch. Whenever it snows, my wife drives the truck and I take her car. I haven't found a snowy road yet that I was afraid to take this truck down. I've even used it several times to pull people out of the ditch during bad winter weather.

My biggest complaints would be the weak clutch, the oil line and clutch hydraulic line going bad sooner than I would expect, and the smallish extended cab area.

In regards to the less-desirable weak S-10 clutch: According to my '98 owners manual the towing capacity of the 5-speed 2WD is 4000#. In reality, the factory told me that my 2WD ext. cab is only 3500#. How mis-leading! The automatic tranny 2WD says 5000#, and the 4WD auto. is even more due to the lower differential gear ratio.

I talked with a local clutch specialist, he said the S-10 flywheel is capable of handling a 12" clutch disc, yet the factory cuts corners by installing only an 11". He advised either replacing the standard 11" disc with a Kevlar lined one, or upsizing to a 12" disc with a new 12" pressure plate. Either choice would increase the capacity and reduce slippage. I took it a step further and replaced the stock clutch assy. with a 12" Kevlar disc, 12" pressure plate, new throw-out bearing and replaced the pilot bearing with a brass bushing. I also had the flywheel resurfaced to eliminate any possible ridge where the 11" disc did not cover before introducing a new 12" disc. The new clutch works excellent and I tow my 4000# travel trailer with my 600# ATV in the truck bed with little effort and no over-heating as from an auto. tranny w/o a aux. cooler. This seems to be the best solution to the problem w/o also changing the differential gears. Doing so would increase towing capability more, but reduce your mileage and require speedo adjustment. The 4.3L Vortec engine is very strong, but I wouldn't recommend pushing it much over 5000# total load weight.

And if you're planning the clutch upgrade, you might want to remove all, but the front two cab mounts from the frame and raise the cab 5" at the rear to clear the bell housing from the floor in order to get the tranny out. Big job!