New van, new here
Thread Starter
CF Beginner
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: Airville, PA
New van, new here
Hi,
I'm new on here and we got a new to us used van. We just bought a 1997 Chevy Astro van (base model, nothing special) with 30,000 miles on it for $5500. I did a carfax on it and the van was owned by the government, my guess is that they used the van on a base or something with that kind of miles. The van is in very good running condition and looks brand new on the inside and outside. I have known friends who have had these vans and love them.
My question is what kinds of common problems happen do these vans have, and what maintance items should I do now at 30K? I just want a heads up on what to expect.
I'm new on here and we got a new to us used van. We just bought a 1997 Chevy Astro van (base model, nothing special) with 30,000 miles on it for $5500. I did a carfax on it and the van was owned by the government, my guess is that they used the van on a base or something with that kind of miles. The van is in very good running condition and looks brand new on the inside and outside. I have known friends who have had these vans and love them.
My question is what kinds of common problems happen do these vans have, and what maintance items should I do now at 30K? I just want a heads up on what to expect.
CF Active Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 215
Likes: 0
Common things we see are fuel pumps going weak (100K is normal stock life), worn idler arms, clogged fuel injection.
Everything is actually pretty easy for any hack to repair. Swap the fuel filter right away, helps the fuel pump work easier. Get in the habit of changing it out once a year or 20K miles whichever comes first. Fuel pumps should only be replaced with ACDelco/Delphi pumps as the off brands don't last as long. Idler arms get neglected and some of the stock ones don't have grease ports. When worn buy Moog and take advantage of the lifetime guarantee. Clogged fuel injection will cause cylinder misfire. GM has some heavy duty fuel injection cleaner, use it at least once a year.
Everything is actually pretty easy for any hack to repair. Swap the fuel filter right away, helps the fuel pump work easier. Get in the habit of changing it out once a year or 20K miles whichever comes first. Fuel pumps should only be replaced with ACDelco/Delphi pumps as the off brands don't last as long. Idler arms get neglected and some of the stock ones don't have grease ports. When worn buy Moog and take advantage of the lifetime guarantee. Clogged fuel injection will cause cylinder misfire. GM has some heavy duty fuel injection cleaner, use it at least once a year.
Thread Starter
CF Beginner
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: Airville, PA
Do you guys think it would be wise to buy an extended warranty, a 30 day 1000 miles bumper to bumper warranty came with the van? We can get one that is 3 year 38,000 bumper to bumper for about $1300 do you think we should get it. We had 30 days to decide?
CF Active Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 215
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If you are the type that would rather pay someone else to repair your vehicle, then yeah go for it.
Since I do 99% of my own work I couldn't see paying for it. But then I have a copy of the factory service manual, have a couple different vehicles to drive, the attitude that if I can read it or research it online I can fix it, and in general hate the idea of paying someone to fix something that I can probably figure out myself.
Since I do 99% of my own work I couldn't see paying for it. But then I have a copy of the factory service manual, have a couple different vehicles to drive, the attitude that if I can read it or research it online I can fix it, and in general hate the idea of paying someone to fix something that I can probably figure out myself.
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