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Tires on it were Cooper, wasn't happy with them.
Discount put passenger one size wider on it. Bounced and sagged on the road. Do I need a truck tire? Thinking on Michelin LTX M/S. Any advise out there?
Hard to quibble with Michelin's of any sort. Premium tire and premium price. LTX's are also available at Sears/NTB under the name XC. Nothing wrong with Cooper by the way. I've been pleased with them in the past. Still have a set of load range D-rated Mastercraft Courser R/D's on a van. (Mastercraft is a Cooper company.) Good set of tires at an incredible price. I'm approaching 40k with some moderately heavy loads. They still look brand new.
But I have never been pleased with a passenger tire on a heavy van. Lots of swaying. Trouble with wind shear. Terrible ride. Not much traction in dirt or snow. And the thought of coming off the interstate--with the tires nice and hot--then cornering on the offramp, shifting almost the whole 4000-7000lbs onto that one front tire..... POP!!!!! Explorer/Firestone City. I don't know why anyone would put passenger tires on a van (or truck), except out of ignorance.
Note that not all "truck" tires have an increased load rating. Shop carefully. The Chevy factory label on the door should provide a recommended load range, tire size, tire pressure, etc. Hopefully your conversion company has updated that info because of the increased weight. If not, maybe you can call them.
I didn't find it in the manuals. They first tried
to sell me their own warranty. I've had GMAC's in the past and wanted it again. (It covers more stuff.) The dealer did say that it would be more than $2,300 if I waited more than 30 days to purchase the GMAC warranty. (GMAC wants your $ to start earning interest for them early in the warranty game.)
Terry
Does anyone know of a aftermarket company that possibly makes a retrofit that can be placed on the base of the seats & the van to allow the seats to be easily removed w/o the need of a socket wrench? I'm not wanting to impeed safety but a easy removal would be very nice when I have to remove them w/o fiddling with a socket wrench to remove (4) nuts.
I remain opptimistic. There is nothing else that compares to the AWD mid-size with decent tow capacity. I have faith that these issues can be worked through, but plan on getting an extended warranty before the factory one expires. Andy
Jim
In 8 years, the only repairs were replacement of a leaky manifold gasket and replacement of windshield wiper motor. Probably should have replaced digital instrumentation but all worked but temperature and oil pressure. Since they had "idiot light" backup and we keep vehicles well maintained, we were not overly concerned about the lack of those 2 gauges.
Too bad GM never made significant improvements in the 16 years. An easier removal/installation of middle Captain's chairs instead of the 4 bolts would have been one nice improvement. Extending the wheelbase 12 inches and adding 12 inches to driver and front passenger foot room would have been sufficient for us to buy another Astro. It would have been about the length of Grand Caravan, Odyssey, Venture but would been overall much superior to any minivan in our opinion. We love our 99 GC SE, but would have liked an Astro even better with those 2 improvements.
Quirks? It's GM. Don't forget to rotate the alternators.
Good luck!
Drew
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Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
Thanks
thanks for your assistance
2yr old son stuck pennies in the cigarrette lighter and for a brief few seconds I saw very small
sparks, before I quickly took them out .Anyway, I thought nothing of it until the evening,when i realized my headlamps,dashlights,and horn didn't work.Everything else works , brakelights,gauges,signal lights,etc..I also checked all the fuses and there all o.k.,so i'm starting to fear the wires burned out, i'm really lost,i've never had this happen to any car i've had.
Has anyone had this happen or is there any info you can help me with before I take it to the mechanic?? Please help,my mother gets back this Saturday and i want to try to fix it before she gets back,thanks........
Dealer replaced all 6 fuel injectors. It ran ok for 2 weeks, now thr problem is back as bad as ever. I have seen references to TSB 00-06-04-003 which mentions rough starts. Dealer seems willing to help, but can't figure this out.
HELP!
Thanks!
The van started stalling a couple nights ago and it's fixed, must have been a dirty fuel tank, they changed the gas and air filters and it doesn't stall anymore. But I figure 86,000 miles of dusty Texas highway construction will clog a gas filter. Wonder if it had been changed at all before...???
Or, maybe the dusty air is drawn into the underground gas station tanks as the gas vapors contract when it cools off here (usually in late December).
Just throwing some ideas out - like Judy Tennuta sez, "it could happen".
Texas Truck - r
Also, has anyone noticed unusual wear on their front tires? My front tires tend to follow the groves in the highway. I noticed that with only 4,000 miles my front tires are wearing out.
Thanx
There are issues with the fluid used in the transfer cases. See the board for this info. Apparently it is supposed to be changed immediately after you buy it. Dealer will do it.
But overall the astro is solid and proven. Allbeit not the most modern vehicle.
As for a 14' alum boat (jonboat?). You won't know this thing is behind an Astro. Towing will be no problem. Towing loads or stuffing the van full of kids and camping gear is one area where a midsize (Astro or Eurovan) or fullsize van really shines over one of those frontwheel drive momivans (that are little more than high roof station wagon versions of Camry, Taurus or Accord).
Jim
I have one other pesky problem that maybe somebody can help me with. The ventilation will only come out through the defrost vents. The blower works through all of the speeds and the air conditioning and temperature control still work but all of the air is coming through the defroster vents on the dash. I suspect a vacuum problem but do not know where to start. Any suggestions?
Jim
Also I don't have a wiring diagram. Just wondering where to find the wiring for brake controller? the rear wiring harness is nicely done.
In regard to DRUMCIRCLEs sagging problem. I'd install a set of the oversprung weight carrying rear shocks by Monroe or Gabriel.
Andy
Looking under the Astro, the anchor nuts intended for mounting the bumper on the non extended frame are present and appear much more secure. I'm considering tying it all together with a piece of angle iron. It's attaching everything to the spot welded extension that concerns me.
Does the Valley Hitch pick up the other two bumper mounting captive nuts? If not I would still be concerned.
Now our daughter and son-in law get a 1991 Astro, same color, both with 7 passenger seating. BUT, their Astro has 187,000 miles. It was purchased NEW by the selling owner. The seller got a NEW Yukon to replace the 91 Astro when they got a larger pop-up trailer.
Our Astro had 1/3 the miles but was just a regular length CL whereas this one is EXTD RS with 4.3 HO engine, tow pkg, P245/R6015 tires while ours had P205/R7515 tires. My friend drove Astro's for an airport shuttle service and one had 700,000 miles on odometer and the other had 650,000 miles. Original engines on both. The Vortec 4.3 is a great engine for long life, reliable service. I was stupid to trade in the 91 Astro with only 61,600 miles since the only problems it had were the damnable defective digital instrumentation (would cost over $1000 to replace), a manifold gasket replacement in December 1998 and a windshield wiper motor replacement in January 1999.