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Comments
Could you or some one else elaborate on the preventative measures? I have a 2001 Astro van and just hit 3000 miles. Will bring it in for first "checkup" (do I have to go to Chevy? I wouldn't but post re. brakes and other hidden maintenance problems worry me).
Should I have Chevy change all fluids to synthetic???
Happy with vehicle. Only problem so far was rear door misalignemnt which was corrected by dealer.
Hope to keep this vehicle a long time.
Joseph
No, I would not change the fluids to synthetic until after the original factory warranty period. And I doubt that the dealer would add any lubricants except Delco by GM.
The GM specification is to change the differential lube at 15000 miles if used for towing. Transmission at 30,000 when used for towing. And there are other severe duty conditions where these intervals apply.
Good luck, you should not have any serious problems. It is one tough truck, yes---like a rock.
My 97 Astro was a program vehicle that I purchased with 26,500 miles in early 1998.
Under warranty I had a Serpentine belt replaced, one fuel injector just after I bought it. The sliding door adjusted, and some ignition wiring routing recall. I just received the second notice about the seat belt buzzer recall. I guess I'll meet the government specification.
I also pulled the DRL fuse to shut off the daytime running lamps. The 97 does not have auto on. I hate those lights being on all the time.
The brakes are not a problem area with these vans. I drove the 94 company driver 85,000 and the only repair item was spark plugs and serpentine belt. The brake caliper slides on a small bushing that slides in rubber inserts, probably O-rings, and this is on of the areas that needs the silicone lubricant at each tire rotation, so I hear. They were binding when I removed them.
I like the synthetic oil, Mobil 1 especially due the the higher withstand temperature before degradation starts.
It's a good idea to go to the dealer for the first couple of oil changes at least. As long as you keep maintenance records there should not be a problem with warranty.
You done good. There is a site on Edmunds where a lubrication Engineer says that not all synthetics ar really synthetics. He is connected with some synthetic lubricant supplier or marketer that I've never heard of, but he reported that Mobil 1 is a Synthetic. He posted a lot of good information, but at the moment I don't remember how I got to that information. An I even use some Castrol, but he said that it is not a synthetic. I don't know! It is worth your time to go find the info. as it is rather in depth and informing.
There are several other discussions about engine oil, synthetics, and oil analyzing over in the Maintenance and Repair Board.
Steve
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SUVs, Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories Message Boards
We had the rotten, doofluss GM digital dash that had defective coolant temp and oil pressure that started working intermittently after a couple of years. However, both always worked when we took it in for service until about 7 years old when neither worked any more. Due to exorbitant cost of a new instrument module and labor, we did not get it replaced. Meanwhile, our daughter got a well used 91 Astro RS EXTD and the digital dash in it with 188,000 miles on odometer still works perfectly.
My good friend drove Astro vans for a airport shuttle service and one had gone 700,000 miles and the other one 650,000 miles with original engine in both. He says the 4.3 L Vortec
engines will last forever.
Would I buy another Astro? YES. If GM would take the advice of Avro1 and extend the front to provide decent leg and foot room for driver and front passenger.
Our 91 Astro got 23 to 24 MPG on trips and overall average for 61,600 miles was 20.7 MPG. I loved the great gas mileage with the large 27 gal fuel tank, the great visibility, and overall excellence of the Astro.
Can't imagine where your water comes from, please let me know when you cipher this.
If you have not tried it, I would treat the seals with a heavy silicone. I would use one in a trigger spray bottle.
GM recommends silicone treatment of the seals on several of their vehicles.
Just like a Timex they just keep on ticking. Why can't it be like the Siena where the site is always near the top postings?
We just had our first snow since I got it and I am very pleased with the AWD and the anti-lock brakes. Mine has the 3.42 with locking rear axle.
Sammy
I enjoyed the Timex analogy - I found my watch on a beach back in 1971 and wear it perhaps a week a year. Just wore it traveling last week and it cranked right up and kept good time. Yep, it's a Timex :-)
Steve
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SUVs, Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories Message Boards
We traded in our 91 Astro CL as I felt it would be too expensive to do repairs. It cost $335 labor to replace a leaking manifold gasket. It cost $32 labor just to replace the air filter.
When we mentioned the fact that the battery on most new GM vehicles is very inconvenient, the salesman said "You can have it towed in to get the battery replaced". My response was I will NOT have my vehicle towed to the dealer to replace the battery for a large fee and be charged twice as much for the battery as I can buy it elsewhere when intelligent design would place the battery where it is accessible.
It is true that the engine access is frightening, and due to the intimidation, maintenance repair shops feed on that. They want extra payment to change the spark plugs. Actually, the engine access is not all that difficult. Just because it looks impossible to work on the consumer is charged the flat rate hours X2. It is not unlike disk brake jobs. Disk brakes are much easier to replace than drum brakes, but shops charge a premium for disk over drum brakes. I pull those front pads and lubricate the pins before breakfast, or replace the pads for that matter.
Spark plugs do require about an hour to replace.
Replacing the transmission and differential lubricants is messy due to the lack of a drain plug, but that saves $00.50 on production cost. I use a mortar mixing container from Home Depot to drain the oil into. I find the astro easy to work on, not that there is that much work or maintenance required.
I really like my rock.
Checking mileage on an Astro is next to impossible. After nozzle cut off it will hold another 5 to 6 gallons until absolutely full. Then we are probably filling the vapor recovery canister.
You're right about filling it with gas but I have to say that my 01 doesn't keep filling at the end like the 98 did. Even though those people at GM keep grinding out what appears to be the same vehicle, there are some very minute changes.
Maybe the spider weight was the problem. After vacuuming off the spiders and spider webs I could probably pick it up with no problem. I think this is an uncle willie design as GM would not have designed such a monstrosity without coercion. Although they did the DRLs and auto headlamps. So now I'm not so sure.
Car feels like it is swaying on the highway - sounds like others experience this as well. Very hard to handle, and we're not towing anything. Probably happens because the darn van is always out of alignment!!
Accelerator is starting to stick when depressed.
Driver's side power window is making a "thud" noise when powering up the window.
Pins in side window latches keep falling out. Finally used some super-glue on them.
Periodic problem putting the vehicle in gear - it just doesn't move! This happens so seldom so of course it can't be duplicated at the dealer when we take it in.
I'm really disappointed in the van. I've always had very good performance from GM products.
I drove the 97, that I now own, 14,000 miles with no sign of unusual tire wear or steering control problems. I did have it aligned just after I bought it in early 98. It had a slight pull to one side.
The re circulating ball steering is from the dark ages, and there are, I think, 13 grease fittings to lubricate. I lubricate these every 3000 to 5000 miles. Would have been nice if GM would put rack and pinion steering in this truck. But with the problems of the Delphi setup on a their cars, maybe that wouldn't be a good idea either.
I just put TOYO 800 ultra's on the van. These have 100,000 mile tread wear warranty provided they are rotated and balanced every 7500 miles. This service came with the sale.
Good alignment shops are hard to find. I figure it's about one in five that do a good job. I find that a dedicated wheel and alignment shop is usually the best choice. It's about like finding a good Dr. or dentist. Once you find a good one you need to go back to the same place.
Tie rods seem weak and are an expensive replacement when they go (my experience was tread wear on outside of the tire)but i think you should crawl beneath and seek out your zerk fittings, put a premium set of shocks on, and hopefully you'll handle alot better.
My current safari had leaking shocks at 25k and warranty replaced them. When I get to 50k or so I'll put radial matics or something similar all around.
My throttle was sticking and I took it in to be de-carbonized the sticking gas pedal was very aggravating and wd 40 etc wouldn't solve the problem.
I'm still waiting to hear if anyone else has had rough starting and rough idling when cold. Involving a plastic filler hose for the gasoline that leeches onto the fuel and clogs the injectors. Service bulletin no. 00-06-04-018. GMC wouldn't extend warranty for repair (abt. $500) Problem is peculiar to certain model GMC and Chev trucks from '97 to '00.
I'm not complaining too loud i like these vans they're tough and practical.
One tire was defective and the van shook. It took me 3 trips back before the tire store accepted my statement that at least one tire was out of round. when they finally located the bad tire, the Astro was perfectly smooth riding again.
I still think the Astro is one of the best minivans/ midi-vans made and has many advantages over any Front Wheel minivan. Some are: Astro/Safari are REAL trucks with truck reliability and endurance. I prefer panel doors to the liftgates. I like the 27 gallon fuel tank and powerful 4.3L V6 with the excellent road mileage of 23 to 24 MPG that we always got on road trips. Overall mileage was 20.7 MPG for the entire time we owned it.
Based on your post I just ordered, from shock warehouse, two KYB monomax shocks for the front of my Astro. I already had replaced the rear shocks with Monroe gas charged load levelers.
I thought I wanted Bilstien but the KYB have about the same spec. and at half the price I thought it was a no brainer and went with the KYB.
I had bragged on this site about how I was to get this fantastic fuel mileage by: addition of synthetic fluids, replacing brakes and lubricating the calipers, turning of the DRLs, the TOYOs with 44 psig, K&N air filter, and Marvel Mystery oil. Well! It got just under 19 mpg. But it was driven by family members, loaded, and bucked an Oklahoma head wind of 30 to 35 mph on the return trip of 220 miles. Shut my mouth! this was the worst highway mileage ever recorded on this van. I get 14+ mpg pulling the 30" Award travel trailer.
I can only attribute the low mileage to wind and the drivers. Got to put the blame somewhere.
It is interesting that this van did not come with gas charged shocks.
Yes, gas mileage........I'm convienced that you can get about anything on these vans. I don't think that I've ever seen better than 19. But I have to tell you that I don't pay for my gas so I don't pay that much attention to it either
That Award must be one of the light towables. I have considered going to something lighter so I don't need such a heavy duty truck to tow.
Jim
The 30' Award trailer weighs a nominal 4000 lbs. It is a European design, mfg. near Ottawa, Ontario. They even sell reconditioned units. Go to your search engine and type in Diels Distribution and you can get more information than you will ever need.
Oh! we must talk about the Astro. I have 3.72 gears and a 5500 Lb. tow rating. You have 3.54 ratio. The 3.23 geared unit is rated 4500 lbs. Awards promotional literature pictured the Astro pulling a 30' unit, and this was when the 165 HP Astro was the norm.
There is always a picture of a 24 ft. Award in trailer life classified. Ad by Diels distribution, or Award Recreational Vehicles.
That's just it it's a Mystery. Seriously though I have used this stuff in the fuel of and on for years, and it does increase highway mileage by 1/2 to 1 mpg. I have driven more than 1 1/2 million miles over the past 40 years or so and have checked this many times. I don't know what it does to the Oxygen sensors on the newer vehicles however. The Astro has three oxygen a about $70.00 a pop. I would hate to plug these.
By adding lubricant to the valve train and upper cylinder area the friction is reduced. After two stroke engines are lubricated with solvent and oil.
Check Bob Winters the oil man. He has a top oil made from soy bean oil and claims an increase in mpg with this additive, along with all the other benefits. If you haven't done so, you should visit his site. He is a petroleum engineer and has a lot to say about lubrication.
The oil guy is bobistheoilguy.com.
I suppose this should be under maintenance, or pat will delete these post.
If you need directions to the infamous Engine Sludge! discussion, just ask.
Steve
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SUVs, Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories Message Boards
You can check it by opening up the spare tire cover and reaching underneath the carpeting. It's a good bet you'll find that the padding is soaked.
I followed the instructions in post #99 and it seemed to do the trick. I ended up tearing out and replacing all of the padding from the front seats back. It's a lot of work, but I didn't have a choice.
Good luck.
I have just bought a 2002 Astro AWD. I had very good service from my previous Astro and had no reservations about buying another. I am satisfied at this point with the 2002 with one exception. When the sliding side door is opened, an inspection of the carpet just inboard of the trim strip, beside the middle bench seat, right where you would step into the van, reveals three depressions approximately 1/2 inch wide, 1/2 inch deep, and 5 to 6 inches long, and about 30 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the van.
These depressions are visible in the daylight, but not very offensive. When the sliding door is opened at night, the courtesy light for the sliding door shines across these depressions, and they look horrible. I took off the door trim strip and felt the rubber backing of the carpet and it was deformed exactly where the depressions were. I had my local dealer replace the carpet, and the replacement carpet had these depressions too. He called another dealer and asked him to look at the Astros on his lot, and he saw the same thing. He said the carpet looked like a tractor ran through the van. The service manager and I agreed that there wasn't any sense replacing the carpet again if they were coming from the factory that way. He suggested I contact customer assistance while he contacted the zone service manager. I received a call from customer assistance about a month later, and was told that the zone rep looked at a few Astros, and said the carpet was OK because every one he looked at was the same way. I was also told that mine was the only complaint they received. I asked if I could talk to the zone service manager because he obviously didn't look at the depressions in the dark when the courtesy light was shining across them. I was told that customers weren't allowed to talk to the zone service managers. I requested that customer service then, request the zone service manager re-examine the Astro carpets in the dark when the courtesy light was shining accross the depressions. I was also told that since the zone representative saw these depressions in the other Astros that it was a "characteristic" of the vehicle, implying that nothing would be done about it. These depressions may be a characteristic of 2002 Astros, but are a bad characteristic, and not a characteristic of previous years, as I owned one before this, and have looked at several lately. I'm sure that if the right person at General Motors sees these depressions at night, something will be done at the assembly line, and with the carpet supplier.
These depressions probably havn't been caught at the assembly line because they don't build them in the dark.
At this point I'm still waiting to hear from customer assistance. If anyone else has a new Astro and sees these depressions, call customer assistance right away. They appear to be going to blow me off if I'm the only one complaining. If anyone knows of a way around customer assistance
with General Motors please post it and E-mail me.
I'm sure General Motors doesn't want it's products to appear this way, but I need to get to someone who really gives a #$@*&!!!
I thought he called himself a "lubrication specialist"
Sounds like a JiffyLube guy (I dare not say "tech").
Snippeth again
>If you need directions to the infamous Engine Sludge! discussion, just ask.
Oh yes, the sludge discussion. The terrible Toyota led conspiracy, joined in by all consumer groups (ie consumer reports) and government watchdogs, resulting in lies and coverups about Toyota engines inherent design flaws and short life span.
The sludge pond is usually stocked with salesmen peddling Dodge minivans (and other Americun cars).
Nobody goes here so I'll just amble on by myself.
I just had to give the thing (97 astro)some TLC so today I installed KYB Monomax front shocks. Also pulled a spark plug for inspection at 41,000 miles. The plug did not show any signs of seizure but I put Anti Seize on the threads and put it back. Plug looks as good as new.
I like to work on cars for relaxation, but this thing is boring. I have to try and find something to do to it.
I enjoyed reading about your Astro success.
May I suggest that you get another Astro/Safari one with a worn out engine and swap a new 5.3L chevy engine in it. There exists a kit to mount it, they say it is one of the easiest swaps and the drive train is amply able to handle it even AWD. Next get taller springs in the rear and crank the torsion bars up front to fit 255/16 all terrain tires on it. It would be a project van. That should relax you and help keep this discussion lively.
I am very interested in the Safari/Astro vans as a way to get the whole family and the boat to more distant destinations. My Trooper is equip with the third row seats but the extra space in a Safari/Astro would make longer trips much easier on the kids and therefore easier on me.
Since I am not an owner I don't feel qualified to start a Safari/Astro owner's club. But I wish one of you would do it, please!
Thank You
boxtrooper
I have a Trooper that my kids love to be in. It has 118K miles. I go out of my way to make sure the kids enjoy the vehicle that I enjoy that way I get to drive my Trooper when the family is along. I have added a third row rear facing seat and a CD player with repeat. I drive it "bouncy" once in a while when they ask. I upgraded the suspension as a way to keep it fun longer and avoid the expense of a replacement as long as possible.
So, in my opinion, paint is worth it if you want to keep the van a while. Yours must be a well built one not to have any troubles in 120K and 15+ years. There are many aftermarket things you can do with an old Astro.
I found another Astro discussion page on http://forums.vmag.com/
Ok now, we have the chance to purchase a 2001 Astro Executive model. It has 2900 miles on it. Sweetened to the max. It has the dutch rear door. The dealership is asking $21,900 should we jump on it? Should we back off. It technically is a used vehicle, but it is only 3000 miles old. The start use date was 4/01, so not even a year since manufacture. Any suggestions out there? Also, what are the common problems to look for?
Thanks for your help,
Paula