Clearly the solution is to not go to school, join a more dependable carpool group and never drive out of town.

Lump

 

Well my back up is my Schwinn Varsity. but it only gets me so far...

I spent the last two days working on my Buick, had to replace the head gaskets. Hopefully that will be on the road later today so that I can tear into the this Safari.

 

So I ended up putting some water remover in my gas tank before I parked it a few days ago. Today I decided to check to see if it would still die, so far so good, I drove it 10 miles with out any problems, and I have it sitting idling for last 1/2 hour, looks like that might do the trick.

Meanwhile I decided to change the serpentine belt with a gator-back, and I noticed my tension pulley has way too much play. I decided to go ahead and throw a new one in; hopefully that will take care of all the squeaking I have been hearing.

 

I had a similar problem recently. I seriously doubt your troubles are solved that easily....but if they are I'm sure jealous. Can't say what was causing mine exactly. I replaced half the van and now it's been good for a few months.

 

Well I think you may be right about my troubles being over. Today my van died again and again. It dies, I put it in neutral, it re-starts, I get up to speed an it dies again. I had to coast 15 miles home like this. Have you figured put what was wrong with yours?

This is the first time this has happened since I put that fuel cleaner in it months ago, and I have put new plugs and wires in; which leads me to think that it is probably a fuel issue. I'm thinking that I might need to swap out injectors and the fuel filter. I have a coil laying in my parts cabinet so I might as well try that first.

Maybe I need to pick up another bottle of fuel clean...

 

I'd be looking at the EVAP system, you had the code, the gas cap may have been just part of the problem.

 

when mine did this it was the o2 sensor pegging dead lean (wrong) and flooding the engine. i watched it on the laptop over and over and over.

you have a different OS but same symptom. i would look there first

 

How has the weather been while this is happening?

Just wondering if it might be moisture/ignition coil related.

 

Its been sunny and mid 80's, but kinda of humid.

 

So today I bought a fuel filter, some o-rings, and some iso-heet. Now I am going to go to work on it.

I decided to look at my EVAP system, and so the next test is probably a smoke test. I don't have a smoke machine so I decided to make one out of stuff I have laying around. Some guy on you tube was testing it buy blowing cigar smoke though the system. Here the set up I'm using.

I'm using some tubing that was laying around, a cashew jar, a fish tank air pump, and swisher sweets.

 

So I could not be happier with the smoke set up; constant smoke being pushed through my EVAP. I unhooked the the tube that runs into the purge valve and ran my smoke through the tube to my charcoal canister. The only problem is no leaks! So the question is: why is there a massive air leak code?

M

 

Don't forget there are two valves:

Vapor canister vent valve (near gas tank)

Vapor canister purge valve (under doghouse on top of manifold)

You can supply 12V to both directly at the connector (polarity isnt an issue) and test them.

I'm not sure how the smoke will flow through those while they are connected.

Is there any chance you have a leak around the fuel pump? Either the pump could be cocked or the pressure valve could have popped out or something. I would think a massive air leak would not be as much of a problem as a stuck valve that was creating a vacuum inside the tank.

 

There's a link in my signature that might lead you to a possible cause and testing. The key to finding a problem is don't assume anything, start at the basics otherwise you'll be chasing the problem with alot of $$$.

 

Tested the purge valve, taste like grandpa; he always did like swisher sweets. Thanks for the tip about the 12V test. Works, now to test the vent valve. I thought about hooking up my nebulizer to it after tasting it.

 

When my 99 had similar symptoms of losing all power while driving down the road, it would sometimes re-start and other times wouldn't. That problem ended up being one of the small wiring connectors in the firewall pass through block. The particular circuit with the bad connector controlled power to the ECM / fuel pump etc. The symptoms were all over the place, including sometimes being able to read the codes and other times the OBDII port would have no data. It would run for hundreds of miles with no issue, then that connector would heat up enough to break the connection and kill all power to the van. Because of the safety mechanism built into the ECM, it would kill power to the fuel pump.

My mechanic spent weeks trying to trace out wiring and even though he thought it was fixed on 2 different occurrences, it died on me again about a month later, after we had moved to AZ. That time I had it towed to a very good auto electric shop and they found the connector issue. That 3 cent connector ended up costing me hundreds of dollars in labor before we found it.

There are some safety mechanisms built into the ECM that will kill all power to the fuel pump to prevent a fire if the ECM detects a problem. Don't rule out a short in wiring somewhere if your current fixes don't resolve the issue. Sometimes the problem has to present itself multiple times to narrow down the correct fix.

Hope you find it easily. Those couple months were the closest I have come to getting rid of my van - even after replacing the engine, and it was all caused by a 3 cent electrical connector.

 

I gave the vent valve the old breathalyzer test with and without power, it's doing what it was made to do. It came apart in two pieces but the valve works.

 

So I know that there are no leaks between the purge valve and the canister. I know that both valves work mechanically. I guess the next step is inspecting the fuel pump. I put off replacing the fuel filter today because it is rusty as all get out. But i assume it will be a good time to replace it when have to pull the pump, since it's connected.

Know of any common places these like to short at? I was having electrical Issues last year, but after replacing bulbs and fuses I haven't had those issues since I replaced them.

 

So you both got me thinking about fuel pumps and shorts, so I crawled under the safari where I could think about what is going on. I started looking for spots were the wiring might be rubbing against the frame. I found this under the wiring cover right next to the fuel tank.

So I deduce that the previous owner had replaced the fuel pump, maybe it is a short somewhere, maybe corrosion in this splice, maybe the pump is cockeyed. ..

 

There are several ground points under the van that will also corrode. I'm not sure if there is a diagram on here anywhere with all of the locations. I do know that the fuel pump relies on a grounding point that sometimes corrodes based on other posts that I've read. Since you're under there, might be worth finding the ground points and cleaning them.

 

The Evap system opens those valves and does checks on itself. Try running the van with the evap solenoids disconnected. A huge problem in the Evap could be causing a massive lean condition in the van causing it to stall. Restarting would restart the Evap cycle again.

 

I'm using some tubing that was laying around, a cashew jar, a fish tank air pump, and swisher sweets.

I can't find a 'Cashew Jar' and can't afford the cost. They ARE expensive. Monte Cristos should work tho.

Mike

 

Your dance with the EVAP system was what made me think something may be wrong with the OP's van.

Have you had any luck yet FOS?

 

LOL

His / Their Van is much newer and has a completely different system, solenoids and such.
And I like the way that Van is "Dyeing" - I hate that too - you get to the store and the seats are Blue ...

Mike

 

Today I spent time taking the doghouse off, replacing the ignition coil, replacing the cap and rotor, and getting it put all back together. Took it for a 10 mile test drive, no issues, no dyeing just like last time. Part of me still thinks that the particular gas station that I filled up at 5 months ago is watering down their gas or something. My wife filled it up there just before it died this time around, and Its driving fine now after I put that Iso-Heet in the tank.

 

It just hit me. .. the first time it died it was raining like crazy. Every time my wife gets gas at that station she also gets a car wash because then knock 20 cents off per gallon, and there is this splice in the fuel pump's wiring which is kinda exposed.

I think this might be the major problem causing it to stall.