hi all
first post!! I've been lurking here while hunting for a van and registered when I finally took the plunge. making this post after my first day driving it.
purchased a 1994 Astro EXT AWD Cargo that someday i hope to use as a weekender/adventure/budget camper. that's the dream anyway - I bought it for cheap, it's been sitting for the past five years and it's got a ways to go.
regardless of how the camperizing goes I'm excited to have a low-risk beater vehicle to learn on and experiment with! this van won't be daily driven and i'll be able to mess with it as I'm able to. i'm pretty mechanically clueless, i'm hoping to use this van as an opportunity and a sandbox to learn in.
i can already tell that this board is going to be a great resource for me, i knew i wanted to start with a ground-zero build thread. today we took the van out for it's first real driving in five years. i drove it about 15 miles the night I purchased it but other than that, she'd been collecting grime and cobwebs.
quick assessment from the driveway:
today, feeling brave, we took it to emissions testing to see how that'd go (spoiler alert: it didn't).
the van made it to the testing site A-OK, about 5 miles in city traffic and even driving ~55mph on wide-open roads with no issues. stopped to get gas on the way. sat in line for about 30 mins with the other, respectable cars at a nice idle with no issues. failed the test but was told it was close, the tech working encouraged us to get it going at higher speed and for longer before bringing it back in again.
on the drive home, in city traffic, it died coming to a stop at a light. started again but died at idle, would only stay running when the pedal was down. we let it cool down while we walked to the parts shop, returning with a bottle of Lucas Deep-Clean fuel system cleaner. dumped that in, and let it run for a bit in place before putting it in drive - it made it home, dying once more at a stop and again as it slid up to the curb. tried it again a little later and it started fine, drove around the neighborhood no problem, coming to stop and start, accelerating and idling fine.
our current thought is that some old gas/junk/debris had collected in the tank while it sat for five years and adding new gas today kicked all that up. that junk could clog an already dirty fuel filter and contribute to some noxious emissions, right?
maybe the bottle of fuel cleaner helped, maybe it didnt. next steps will be changing the fuel filter and doing a general spark plugs/wires/oil change-and-check because that's stuff it surely needs done anyway! maybe will help illuminate what happened today. probably will add more fuel system cleaner periodically too, for superstition if nothing else!
first post!! I've been lurking here while hunting for a van and registered when I finally took the plunge. making this post after my first day driving it.
purchased a 1994 Astro EXT AWD Cargo that someday i hope to use as a weekender/adventure/budget camper. that's the dream anyway - I bought it for cheap, it's been sitting for the past five years and it's got a ways to go.
regardless of how the camperizing goes I'm excited to have a low-risk beater vehicle to learn on and experiment with! this van won't be daily driven and i'll be able to mess with it as I'm able to. i'm pretty mechanically clueless, i'm hoping to use this van as an opportunity and a sandbox to learn in.
i can already tell that this board is going to be a great resource for me, i knew i wanted to start with a ground-zero build thread. today we took the van out for it's first real driving in five years. i drove it about 15 miles the night I purchased it but other than that, she'd been collecting grime and cobwebs.
quick assessment from the driveway:
- runs and drives pretty well all things considered
shifts smoothly
rear brakes groaned initially but seem OK after just the short drive home
heater/AC work but only on high(vacuum tube issues?)
blower motor makes a loud obnoxious whine
all exterior lights work but the cluster lights and dome lights don't work
temp gauge doesn't work
fuel pump buzzes (common with astros?)
stereo is totally shot
it has an aftermarket security system/keyless entry that works on everything but the slider.
today, feeling brave, we took it to emissions testing to see how that'd go (spoiler alert: it didn't).
the van made it to the testing site A-OK, about 5 miles in city traffic and even driving ~55mph on wide-open roads with no issues. stopped to get gas on the way. sat in line for about 30 mins with the other, respectable cars at a nice idle with no issues. failed the test but was told it was close, the tech working encouraged us to get it going at higher speed and for longer before bringing it back in again.
on the drive home, in city traffic, it died coming to a stop at a light. started again but died at idle, would only stay running when the pedal was down. we let it cool down while we walked to the parts shop, returning with a bottle of Lucas Deep-Clean fuel system cleaner. dumped that in, and let it run for a bit in place before putting it in drive - it made it home, dying once more at a stop and again as it slid up to the curb. tried it again a little later and it started fine, drove around the neighborhood no problem, coming to stop and start, accelerating and idling fine.
our current thought is that some old gas/junk/debris had collected in the tank while it sat for five years and adding new gas today kicked all that up. that junk could clog an already dirty fuel filter and contribute to some noxious emissions, right?
maybe the bottle of fuel cleaner helped, maybe it didnt. next steps will be changing the fuel filter and doing a general spark plugs/wires/oil change-and-check because that's stuff it surely needs done anyway! maybe will help illuminate what happened today. probably will add more fuel system cleaner periodically too, for superstition if nothing else!