Van Died

[sleeves]

Hey guys,,while on my way home from work my 98 Astro did a sputter and lost all power,,almost like runnin out of gas,,i pulled over and tried firing it up but nothing,,after about 10 mins it did start but sputtered and coughed and i managed to get about 1000 feet further before it died again,,any thoughts?

[RECox286]

What kind of wx was there when it died ? Rainy ? Dry ? How many miles on the old 98 ? Think (maybe) it might be time to consider a new fuel pump ? filter ? Check it out...

Bob

[scott936]

What kind of wx was there when it died ? Rainy ? Dry ? How many miles on the old 98 ? Think (maybe) it might be time to consider a new fuel pump ? filter ? Check it out...

Bob

In general how many miles does a fuel pump last

[Big_kid]

Pump life depends on the manufacturer and the life it's led. I've read of VERY short lives for aftermarket pumps, I've also read of people having no problems with them. When you turn the ignition on do you hear the pump priming?

[chevymaher]

What kind of wx was there when it died ? Rainy ? Dry ? How many miles on the old 98 ? Think (maybe) it might be time to consider a new fuel pump ? filter ? Check it out...

Bob

In general how many miles does a fuel pump last

I just called mom to verify but my vans original pump lasted 180 plus thousand miles.Second pump died after 4 years.but it was put in by shop and who knows what they put in.It looked old really old when I took it out.it could have laid in a field 4 years and not looked that bad. their red van needed one at 130 thousand. Their other two vans never needed pumps before they sold them.They generally get new cars when they reach 160 tho or so.

[sleeves]

it was rainin sideways,,van has about 256000 kms and i can here the pump priming,,someone told me to hit the bottom of the tank and try again,,kinda seems like the cave man way of fixin it

[chevymaher]

it was rainin sideways,,van has about 256000 kms and i can here the pump priming,,someone told me to hit the bottom of the tank and try again,,kinda seems like the cave man way of fixin it

It not fixin it .It just temporary.9 out of ten times when a car was towed in for a fuel pump hitting tank would get it running.Beat pushing it in.It would run till you shut it off.Then you back to square 1 will it start or not.

[RECox286]

Raining sideways, we might be looking at ignition system problems. Any codes set ? Got good blue spark ? Tracks on dist cap ? how long since plugs, etc ? OEM or better parts or cheap AfterMarket garden variety ?

21 questions is a hard way to diagnose problems... eh ? OK, keep going, we'll figure it out.

Bob

[sleeves]

so after the van sat for an hour or so,,it started first try and ran like a champ,,as soon as i made a right or left turn into my neighborhood thats when it started to lose power and sputter like it was starving for fuel,,i managed to limp it into my drive way and after sitting idleing for a minute i stepped on the gas and no probs at all no starvation or anything no sputtering,,im confused,,could this be sediment or plugged filter,,where to start

[RECox286]

The weak link in the Astro is the fuel pump. The weak link in any gas engine is the ignition system. You need to do some tests, some are easy but for some you will need some test equipment.

Get ahold of a fuel pressure test kit, and a spray bottle for misting water.

What is the engine code ? Makes a difference because you need to know what the fuel pressure should be.

When you have the engine running (after dark) spray a water mist on all the ignition parts (cap, coil, wires, etc) and watch for visible sparking (not good). Look at the plugs and cap for physical condition.

If you are not experienced, get a mechanic friend that you trust to look at the items in question. If you don't know when the last tune up was done, or the parts look bad, or you get sparks with a mist, then you will

want to obtain OEM spec or better parts and do a tune up, including wires if necessary. I like the caps that have brass in the towers, (Blue Streak, or "Select" rather than "standard" and most members will advise you

to only use Delco.) Wires should be "direct replacement" and probably should run about $50. or so. I like Bosch Plus 4 plugs, others here will say OEM only. Don't be cheap when it comes to fuel pumps or ignition

parts, period.

That should get you started.

Bob