2000 Astro 4.3 AWD 190k miles approx
Problem One:
Random Coolant Leak. Randomly loses all coolant. No rhyme or reason to it. It happened so scheduled an appointment. Leak didn't happen again of course for months.
So when we took it into to the shop, they did the uv sensitive dye and checked while it was cool and while it was running/warm. Couldn't find a sign of the leak. They thought maybe it was a bad cap and changed it.
It went about a year and then leaked again. Same thing. Dumped all the coolant. VERY careful while driving, the temp gauge is watched like a hawk so if it even STARTS to overheat it's off the road and coolant level checked. It's definitely not been driven overheated to crack or warp the head.
We've had it for YEARS and kept maintenance up on it and the problem didn't start until about 2 years ago. It's been in and out of the shop trying to diagnose it. No obvious signs of an intake leak. No muddy oil, no steam in the tailpipe, no oil in the coolant. Pressure tests show no signs either when the diagnose attempt took place. Definitely an intermittent problem but it happened two times in the past couple months after not happening for nearly a year. Makes me wonder if whatever the problem is has gotten worse or is about to be really bad since it is happening more recurring now.
We have an appointment set up in about 2 weeks to attempt to diagnose it again.
Any ideas on what it could be? Water pump going bad? Want to try to have a few ideas, even off the wall ones to check out.
Problem Two:
Missing when it snows.... and only when it snows. If it has run during a snowstorm and then shut off, sometimes it has trouble starting. Sometimes it misses so badly it will shut off. We avoid driving it in snow now until it's diagnosed to prevent damaging anything. We live in Maine so snow is a frequent occurrence. It would be nice ot have our "goat" of a vehicle to use during the major storms.
New plugs and wires at 175k. Ignition Coil and all surrounding wiring has been changed.
No obvious crack in the distributor cap but could this be the culprit?
This van runs like a top aside from these two problems.
The guys we take it to are the best in the area. Takes two weeks to get in... at all times. They're fair priced and don't overcharge. They also listen if we have any ideas. Looking for suggestions to have them check out since the problem isn't obvious with the tests.
Just to put it out there again, we're using the vehicle very infrequently right now (which is a pain but rather safe than sorry) since the problem has the possibility of being major if driven.
Any help would be great!
Problem One:
Random Coolant Leak. Randomly loses all coolant. No rhyme or reason to it. It happened so scheduled an appointment. Leak didn't happen again of course for months.
So when we took it into to the shop, they did the uv sensitive dye and checked while it was cool and while it was running/warm. Couldn't find a sign of the leak. They thought maybe it was a bad cap and changed it.
It went about a year and then leaked again. Same thing. Dumped all the coolant. VERY careful while driving, the temp gauge is watched like a hawk so if it even STARTS to overheat it's off the road and coolant level checked. It's definitely not been driven overheated to crack or warp the head.
We've had it for YEARS and kept maintenance up on it and the problem didn't start until about 2 years ago. It's been in and out of the shop trying to diagnose it. No obvious signs of an intake leak. No muddy oil, no steam in the tailpipe, no oil in the coolant. Pressure tests show no signs either when the diagnose attempt took place. Definitely an intermittent problem but it happened two times in the past couple months after not happening for nearly a year. Makes me wonder if whatever the problem is has gotten worse or is about to be really bad since it is happening more recurring now.
We have an appointment set up in about 2 weeks to attempt to diagnose it again.
Any ideas on what it could be? Water pump going bad? Want to try to have a few ideas, even off the wall ones to check out.
Problem Two:
Missing when it snows.... and only when it snows. If it has run during a snowstorm and then shut off, sometimes it has trouble starting. Sometimes it misses so badly it will shut off. We avoid driving it in snow now until it's diagnosed to prevent damaging anything. We live in Maine so snow is a frequent occurrence. It would be nice ot have our "goat" of a vehicle to use during the major storms.
New plugs and wires at 175k. Ignition Coil and all surrounding wiring has been changed.
No obvious crack in the distributor cap but could this be the culprit?
This van runs like a top aside from these two problems.
The guys we take it to are the best in the area. Takes two weeks to get in... at all times. They're fair priced and don't overcharge. They also listen if we have any ideas. Looking for suggestions to have them check out since the problem isn't obvious with the tests.
Just to put it out there again, we're using the vehicle very infrequently right now (which is a pain but rather safe than sorry) since the problem has the possibility of being major if driven.
Any help would be great!