CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[dculberson]

[aspec2]

Phil

I had a similar problem and the dealer kept changing the fuel pump. The vehicle was under warranty. When the warranty ran out and I still had the same problem, I too used the "turn on the key and wait for the lights to go out solution". Now to the solution. It was the anti-theft system. I had a bad door switch that caused the car to think it was being stolen. It would start, rev, and shut down. I replaced the switch and have not had the problem for over a year. The dealership is long gone. I did find the service manager at his new place of employ.

Walt

[Phil Smith]

[Phil Smith]

Boy, I've been proving Murphy's Law for about the last 2 months. It's almost daily that something new goes wrong. The latest:

I got my van inspected yesterday. When they were done they gave it to me running. When I got home and turned the key off and opened the door, the chime went, "Ding, ding, ding..." It would not go off until I closed the door. Soon afterwards I had to get something out of my van. When I opened the door the chime went off again. Close the door it would go off.

I had no idea what the problem was. It seemed harmless, so I wrote it off as another quirky thing about the van. Something the inspector did made the chime flake out. No biggie.

Well I get in my van this morning and the electrical is completely dead. Nothing comes on. It quickly dawns on me that the chime was probably warning me that my headlights are on! The inspector must have turned them on during his inspection, and forgot to turn them off! I've never turned them on before, so I have no idea how to turn them off. I disconnect the battery because I assume the lights are still on.

You think the battery will recharge if I buy a charger? Also, once I tried to jump it off (or jump someone else off, I can't remember) and couldn't get a good connection on the tiny bolts on the battery with the jumper cables. How the hell do you clamp on to those little bolts?

[ronholm]

[ronholm]

[Phil Smith]

If others deemed the hot tub inoperable and they gave it to you, I wouldn't mention it. They have a new one and they're happy. Why chance spoiling it for them.

My son came over to take me to the parts store. I had to either buy a battery or a charger. I decided that it would be best to buy a battery. If my battery didn't charge, I would be SOL until tomorrow because my son works nights and wouldn't be available to run me to the parts store again until tomorrow. Plus, he doesn't live in my area and I don't want to impose on him anymore than necessary.

My battery wasn't very old, so the parts store gave me a new one for free. I felt a bit guilty taking it, but what the hell. I told them I had drained it, offered to pay and they refused.

I guess Murphy's Law gave me a break for a change.

[Phil Smith]

[dculberson]

Whatever you do, avoid getting the grease on the contacts themselves. It will act as an insulator. I have had fuel pump relay problems where cleaning all the dielectric grease out of the socket made a big difference. Tightening the sockets (by bending them in slightly, using a small screwdriver) made an even bigger difference.

I wouldn't bother greasing connections inside the cabin of the vehicle. On the ones you do grease, just get it on the housing or seams of any rubber boots.

I don't remember; have you replaced your distributor, cap, and wires lately? A cracked distributor cap (even a small crack) can cause damp weather starting problems.

[cbe317]

Hey Phil,

Next thing I would do is check the oxygen sensor and mass airflow circuits. If Humidity is making a difference in how the van operates then I would be 90% sure your problem is in one of those two circuits. Sounds to me like it is the oxygen sensor circuit. This is one circuit on GM cars that does not alway give a code when malfunctioning. I live near Savannah, GA. The most humid place in the world. I have had cars do exactly what you describe but only when the humidity gets pretty high. Especially GM's. Check the connectors first. Clean them, and see if that helps. If not you may need to look at replacing these sensors. It's a good idea to replace these every 5-6 years regardless of mileage. They both are around $100 each for your van. Easy to install too.



Hope this helps. Let me know what you find.







C.

[JustGreg]

Hi Phil,
Still at it eh?
You can literally pack the electrical connectors with dielectric silicone. Most mechanics do.

The O2 sensors can wreak all kinds of havoc if bad. I've installed them before in a Ford Club Wagon I had (it had 2) only to have one of them be a dud right out of the box. That drove me nuts trying to track down as you don't REconsider it in your continuing diags after having just replaced them. Don't get any Never Seize on the sensor when reinstalling or touch the probe. It creates a hot spot that burns them out quick. (Like touching a halogen bulb while replacing it).

Another thing can be the crankshaft sensor or the MAP sensor. Have you read the codes out the vehicle yet? There are so many sensors to consider that throwing money at it in the form of sensors that although successful in the end just can't beat a freebie sensor readout at AutoZone.

I'll trade ya....I have a 97 Lumina 3.2 with either a bent pushrod or a spun connecting rod bearing. I REALLY didn't want to have another car payment....and I'm too old to do what I used to do in my younger days which was yank the engine and bench it.

Good luck!

Greg

[stefuel]

Pull the distributor cap off and check the underside of it for carbon tracks. Then pull the rotor and inspect the under side of it where it slides onto the shaft. Look for carbon build-up there.

[banzairun]

often, if the car has 2 oxy sensors (or 4 for dual exhaust), you usually only have to replace the first one which is between the engine and catalytic converter. The second one is between the cat and muffler, and is basically just there to sense if the cat fails. The second one can cause problems, but only the first one is usually used by the computer to adjust fuel mixture (long-term fuel trim) and you'll often see quite a big jump in fuel economy after replacing it. My '99 Tacoma with a ¼ million miles on it was getting roughly 260 miles per tank (17 gals), after replacing the sensor I was back to 310 miles per tank, basically what it got when new.

[ronholm]

[derfla]

give this a try. works off of vacuum to regulate fuel. I have seen this fix a few gm's in your vans millage range. at the very least make certain the hose attached to it is tight and free of rubber decay.


http://www.car-stuff.com/cs_auto/mmpb/chevy/astro/fuel_pressure_regulator/standard/cs45e54066ceab5?roicid=B1172613097W45e4a7e90676a&roikwd=Chevrolet+Astro+Fuel+Pressure+Regulator

[Phil Smith]

Thanks for the responses!

[Phil Smith]

[jask]

Both times what seemed to fix it was replacing some sort of small electrical device that bolts onto the ignition coil. It has about a 4 connector plug that plugs into it. I can't remember what it's called. His scanner showed this part to be bad both times he worked on it. The last time he worked on it, just hooking up his scanner and resetting everything fixed it! The problem with this fix is it was short lived


that sounds like the ignition control module,these can often be zapped by people disconnecting batteries while the engine is running,reversed polarity or even a bad voltage regulator causing a voltage spike. it is pretty unusual to see 2 or 3 of them go in such a short period of time~! it is an easy part to replace yourself if you want to give it a try.

[derfla]

http://z.about.com/d/autorepair/1/0/N/c/84945233.gif

[dculberson]

Sorry for the conflicting input - if you did have a very solid connection the grease probably wouldn't cause a problem. But it can, and has for me, so I'm careful not to get it in the sockets or on the pins.

The o2 sensors are usually on the exhaust manifold or on the downpipe leading from the exhaust manifold. Just look for a device that has wires going to it that's screwed into the manifold or exhaust piping. There shouldn't be any other electrical devices on the exhaust pipes themselves. I think a 2000 model has four o2 sensors, unfortunately. Rock Auto (www.rockauto.com) has Bosch o2 sensors for your van for $65 each. How many miles on your van? They're 100,000 mile parts.

The thing that has me doubting that's it, though, is that the o2 sensors don't affect starting ability. When the car is cold, it runs in "open loop" as if there aren't o2 sensors at all. They can't do their job until they're warm, so the car just ignores them until the coolant temp sensor tells the ECU that the car has reached full operating temp. Also, if they're reading out of range, the computer should figure it out, store a trouble code, and turn your check engine light on. If that's not on, your o2 sensor and catalytic converters are probably working okay. (Probably but not definitely; you know how cars are.)

Given that the mechanic replaced the ignition module and it helped previously, I'd say it's related to that. Unfortunately that's a pricey part on your car! ($92 on Rock Auto?!) It is very unusual for so many to fail so quickly. I have never replaced one more than once on any given car, including cars I put 80k miles on that were "prone" to ignition module failure. Unfortunately, figuring out what's causing it to fail could be very expensive, time consuming, or both.

And I know from personal experience that working on an Astro is no fun.

PS: Derfla, if you edit your link to this:
http://z.about.com/d/autorepair/1/0/N/c/84945233.gif
it will help fix the text wrapping problem this page has right now.. thanks!