put cap on spark plug smaller and this rain will not keep you from useing your astor

 

The distributor is right under the engine cover, toward the rear. It is situated on top of the motor and unless someone hoses off the top of the engine I can't imagine water getting to distributor.

 

Hello everyone, new user here.
I have a 1999 astro with starting issues, mostly wet conditions.
Be patient its a long story.
I have changed everything that has to do with electrical as follows:
3 caps and rotors ( 2 autozone ones and now back to oem)
new wires (autozone)
Plugs (bosch)
ignition coil (autozone)
ignition module (autozone)
Crank shaft sensor ( Napa)
Dielectric grease on every connection that has been removed, IE, wires to cap, coil, ignition module, and crank sensor.
Also have checked fuel pressure. 65psi cranking and 60 running. even when it wouldn't start it still had 65 psi at cranking.
It has not started several times in wet weather but for the life of me I can't figure it out.
My last effort I took it to my friend that owns a shop. He had it for a month. The 2nd day he had it it was raining and cold. codes showed bad crank sensor so he replaced it. Still no start. He ran the battery down cranking so put the charger on it. Next day it started right up. It continued to start every morning and evening at his shop. He had his scan tool hooked up at all times as well the fuel pressure tester.
Oh ya and when it doesn't start it is getting a signal to the injectors and it is getting spark to the wires.
So assuming it was fixed he had my son, who works for him drive it home in the rain. Next morning, yup, it wouldn't start for him. Cranked it for like 20 seconds and started to run the battery down, so he charged the battery.
It started right up with the battery fully charged, still wet out but not raining anymore.
So now my friend says that the battery is bad and I need a new battery. Its 1 year old. Granted it is from wal-mart and not a good battery, but it has 12.25 volts after sitting for the night and with key on 11.9 volts. My 2009 f-150 has 12.35 v after sitting and 11.75v with key on. I really believe my friend is at a loss and wants to give up. To shut him up I was planning on getting a agm battery.
The van runs and drives great in dry conditions, all parameters on the scan tool are in specs while running. It only has 103,000 mi on it
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for any help

 

Try clean your battery termanals.

 

had that problem, replaced dist. cap rotor and walla no more problems

 

Goldwing Guy, I think you have hit the proverbial nail on the head. I have had this problem for about a year and it has gotten worse and worse. I thought maybe I had a ground problem, but the last two times this has happened (today during the rain...) I have wiggled the power wires going to the coil and coil module. The truck has started twice and run for awhile immediately after touching these wires. I'll be replacing mine as well and will report back if it cures the problems.

 

I have had all of these problems before on all of the astro vans ive had in the past, only buy the gm wires, plugs, distriburtor caps and rotors and coils, and you will never have those problems.

You really dont know the amounts of money i wasted learning those lessons.

 

I have been through this just like John above, identical, I just replaced the battery last week because I could put my battery charger with the 200 amp start mode on my old battery and it would fire up great every time, but after cooling off you would have to crank it 4 seperate times before it would barely start, the crank always sounded strong, but it still wouldn't fire. the extra 200 amps would do it, so I take the battery to autozone, they put it in the machine in there store, test it, battery good. So the guy says, bring the whole van up here, we can check the charging system. So I do, the tester they use outside comes up bad battery when its hooked up in the van. tested it twice to verify, took it out, back inside, the tester acts like its going to be good, comes up bad, replace battery, checked in van, new battery good, charging system good, did good for 2 days, then back to the same problem. Guy at autozone said to clean all of my wire connections from the battery. I am contemplating new cables, We also have hesitation when its wet out. No dieing yet, got to get this fixed so my show car can get back in the garage!!

 

I know that I'm probably a little late to enter this discussion but I just recently found a possible answer to the problem. For the last two years whenever it rained, my 2002 Astro would refuse to start. In addition when it did start it would drive rough like it was missfiring. My mechanic replaced the distributor cap several times, performed a major tuneup, checked and double checked the system etc. You get the picture.

The quick fix that I discovered was to place a hair dryer under the hood beside the oil refill pipe aimed toward the back/distributor area for about 10 minutes befor trying to start the van. This would allow me to at least start the van but it would still run rough.

Two weeks ago I took it in again and this time my mechanic found the problem. My distributor cap was cracked again. My mechanic decided to check the distributor itself and discovered that it appeared a little loose. When he checked further he found out that the bushings and bearings were badly worn. He replaced the distributor. Ever since the van has started and run like new even after an all night rain and sitting for 3 days.

Hope this helps

 

try the ignition coil. you may have spark but not powerful enough. 15 minute job and about $50. I have had this 2x on my 2000 Astro Van.